CHAPTER SIX:
THE LAST WISH!
The idea of finding an old, used sock from under the sofa, and tactfully holding it on someone’s face, more so, the face of his newly married wife, was as hilarious as it was daring. My brother probably risked his marriage for sometime, while actually executing it, and making her breathe through the sock that was indeed among the most foul smelling objects on the planet. But this stunt, believe it or not, changed the whole course of the night from that point.
My Boudi, probably due to the predicted effect of ‘that’ strong smell, actually started to show signs of recovery. Her stand on playing Antakshari all night softened, and she didn’t mention it again. My brother could sense the improvement as he lay down on the bed, and continued with his on-the-spot composed songs. The next one was on the concept of ‘smell’.
I was still positioned outside their bedroom, my laughter still seeing no signs of subsiding, when my Boudi called out for me. I composed myself and alerting them first with a throaty sound, stepped inside their bedroom. My sister-in-law was now sitting upright, inside the mosquito net clad bed, while my brother was laying down next to her, with his eyes closed as he was singing something that had more ‘Lalala..’, than actual words. My Boudi looked at me and commanded me to stop my brother;
– “Raju, make him stop. What nonsense is he singing?”
My brother opened his eyes briefly and with an innocent smile, declared;
– “Stop? I have only started. I am feeling so happy today. I am going to sing all night.”
That ‘all night’ part of this statement made me very nervous, as I spotted the similarity with the other ‘all night’ proposal. Over the next twenty minutes, I stood there and watched my brother slide down the slope of no return, as the mood changed from initial amusement of watching someone talk rubbish, to a far more serious concern about his mental well being. While I persistently kept asking him to stop singing and try getting some sleep, anything said to him was met with one singular response. He would narrow his eyes till they disappeared within their slits, puff up his cheeks, and give us a never seen before smile;
– “Hi Hi Hi Hi….”
– “Dada, it’s almost 2:30 am, please stop this and get some sleep!”
– “Hi Hi Hi Hi….”
– “Are we going to stay up all night and watch this madness? Please, try to sleep”
– “Hi Hi Hi Hi….”
My Boudi fell absolutely silent, as she watched her husband with disbelief. I turned to her and spotted tears in her eyes, as she started to weep softly;
– “Raju, what will happen to me? It’s not even a fortnight that I got married, and now I am about to become a widow!”
– “What? No one is becoming a widow. What are you talking about? He is just high, he is not dying!”
– “Then what will I do? How will I spend my life with someone who has gone mad? What if he becomes mentally challenged?”
I was about to respond, when I spotted a shadow behind me and turned around, to find my mother standing behind me. She had silently walked up the stairs and entered the room, without any of us noticing. My Boudi noticed her and quickly adjusted her sari over her head, as a mark of respect. I looked at my mother, her face was gloomy with dark circles around her eyes.
– “What are you doing here? When did you come up?”
She stayed silent for a while, then with a deep voice spoke up;
– “What have you done to us? What is going to happen now?”
– “It’s nothing Ma, he will sleep soon and wake up all fine”
– “All fine? That’s a lie. I couldn’t sleep for so many hours myself. I heard you knocking on the window, but I couldn’t even make a sound with my voice, couldn’t even move my limbs. Only now, I finally managed to pull myself up from the bed and opened the door.”
– “Okay, but now you are fine, right? You have already come up the stairs and you are now here.”
– “Yes, I am. I heard all the noise from downstairs and figured something is wrong. But do you know how long it took me to walk up the flight of stairs? Maybe half an hour!”
– “Hi Hi Hi Hi…. who is this fat lady?”
My brother had opened his eyes, seen my mother, and these were the first words that escaped his lips.
Quickly realising that my mother’s presence will not be helpful in any way, I insisted that she go back to her bedroom downstairs, and try to get some rest. I even accompanied her down the steps and indeed, she took five times longer than usual, but in the end, she was back in her bed.
– “Ma. dada will be fine, but I need to be with them now. Boudi is fine, as you saw. Now, I don’t want you to add to the trouble we already have. Are you going to be okay?”
– “Yes, will you be able to manage it yourself? Are you sure he will be okay? What have you done to our family!” I sensed her voice tremble a bit.
– “I’ll handle it. Don’t close the door tonight. I’ll check on you again later. Good night!”
After having successfully dealt with my mother, I started walking upstairs with a little more sense of achievement. I even told myself loudly, “Mom will be fine, Boudi is fine now, only Dada needs to sleep now, Sintu should be…”
My conversation with myself was interrupted by the sharp noise of the telephone ringing again and this time, I knew who it was, even before I picked up the call.
– “Mota? What is going on? I tried calling you several times and your phone was engaged. How are Dada and Boudi?”
– “Yeah well, Sintu, first tell me, how are you?”
– “I am completely wasted, but now feeling much better. I think I will survive the night. What about you?”
– “I have a severe head ache, but otherwise, I am okay”
– “And Dada-Boudi?”
– “Boudi is getting back to normal. However, Dada is going downhill. He is just laughing now”
I ended the conversation citing my need to be upstairs to take a stock of the situation, and Sintu wisely agreed.
Back upstairs, I found my Boudi weeping loudly and my brother laughing out aloud, in his now trademark style;
– “Hi Hi Hi Hi….”
Once he saw me next to him, his smile widened as he extended his arm towards me and said aloud;
– “Bhai, hold me quickly… I am flying. Hold my hand, please… CATCH ME, BEFORE I FLY AWAY!”
I held his hand as he kept repeating how he felt weightless, and how it was what he had wanted to do all his life, to fly.
Then he suddenly became serious and in a firm voice stated;
– “Bhai, I think this is the end for me, I am flying too far away, I don’t think I can find my way back home. I should have prepared a will before today. Make sure your Boudi inherits all my assets.”
That, to be honest, got even me scared for a moment. I had seen numerous people lose control and throw up, after taking stuff more than they should, but no one had talked about their will or inheritance. My Boudi was staring at him, her eyes moist from weeping, and she was too shocked to speak. I held onto his arm and tried to muster all the strength in my voice;
– “Nothing is going to happen to you. You are just wasted and too naive to know what it feels like. Cut the crap and go to sleep”
My brother’s eyes were now glistening with tears, and he told me, he wants me to do something for him.
– “Go and fetch Chanchal!”
I knew Chanchal Roy, or Khokon da, as we called him fondly. He stayed three houses away from us and was a very good friend of my brother. I admired Khokon da myself, and he was a few years older than me.
– “Dada, I will call Khokon da first thing in the morning. Now close your eyes and…”
– “No, I want to see him now! I may not be there to see the morning sun.”
– “But it’s three in the morning and he would be asleep..”
– “So wake him up. He will come, if he knows this is the last time he will see me”
– “Stop it! I am not waking up people at 3 in the morning.”
– “Please Bhai, this is my last wish, don’t you want to fulfil your brother’s last wish?”
I looked helplessly at my Boudi. With her teary eyes, she pleaded me as if to say ‘Please respect his last wish, or his soul would not find peace’.
So in the dead of the night, I had to leave my Dada and Boudi, and walk some eighty metres to a neighbour’s house, with the intention of waking someone up. I didn’t want to wake everyone up, so instead of ringing the door bell, I went straight to the corner of the house, as I knew that was Khokon da’s room, and softly knocked on the wooden window, which was closed, since it was still pretty wintery.
– “Khokon da? Khokon da? This is Raju. Khokon da?”
He responded at the fourth knock and opened the window, as I apologised for the disturbance, and embarrassingly explained the story of Siddhi, my brother and his ‘last wish’.
Khokon da laughed after hearing this, and told me to wait while he gets dressed, and after a few minutes, the two of us were walking back to our house.
– “How bad is it? How much did he drink?”
– “He drank three glasses, it’s pretty bad now, he needs to sleep. Maybe you can make him do that.”
– “What about you? Are you okay? You must had taken at least as much as him?”
– “Yes I did, but I am fine, I think”
I had left the door open, and the two of us entered and walked up the stairs to their bedroom, as we kept wondering what might be going on, while I was away.
