It was in October that Mrinalini had called up Ma to announce her engagement. Ma바카라s first reaction was, 바카라My God, Mini, are you drunk?바카라
Mini smiled at the memory. Ma had asked her if she was sure; after all, she had been alone far too long. But Mini had made up her mind. 바카라I바카라m ready for a new life, Ma.바카라
***
Mrinalini Lahiri was born in Santiniketan. Her Baba taught at Kala Bhavana and her Ma read Philosophy. As soon as she could walk, Mini was packed off to school with her sisters Bela and Sarojini. Classes were open air, there were no walls, and the students sat under the shade of shimul and chhatim trees. Mini would roam the campus, chasing ducklings and kittens, pretending to be a Baul, singing pretend Baul songs. Little Mini was growing up to be a very happy child; three months after her third birthday, her Baba died.
Ma stayed on at Visva-Bharati, she didn바카라t have the heart to uproot her daughters from the idyllic life they had grown used to. The Vice Chancellor바카라s household was looking for a caretaker and she promptly took up the job.
India had been free seven years now but there was cynicism in the air. The powerful were scrambling to usurp the fruits of Independence; the young were forgetting the lives of Gandhi and Subhas. But the feisty mother of three held on to her little world of idealism. At bedtime, she would recite the works of Kalidasa and Vyasa, and after work, she would frequent the library to know if the latest Leela Majumdar book was in yet. Sitting on the kitchen floor, chopping vegetables on her boti, she would tell her girls about karma and kriya, and over dinner, they would deconstruct the recipe바카라s seeds, roots, grains, and herbs. She would get the girls canvases for birthdays, and on certain days she would stop their Mathematics homework, to make them write essays in English.
The year 1971 was a watershed year. The country went to war. Bela left for Lady Hardinge, Sarojini joined All India Radio, and Mini, who had just finished her degree in Agriculture, won a bursary to study Agricultural Chemistry at McGill.
바카라I can바카라t go, Ma, who will look after you? Canada is so far, and so cold, and you did read about the blizzard, didn바카라t you? And French is so difficult, and we don바카라t even know anybody there, and Ma I don바카라t want to fail you!바카라
Ma looked into Mrinalini바카라s eyes. 바카라Look, Mini, it is all right. Don바카라t feel guilty about wanting to leave.바카라
***
Life at Mac was as exciting as it was overwhelming. There were a few missteps but Mrinalini soon found her stride. Everything was so new, yet so familiar. The campus was green and endless, and her quarters not only had the charm and comfort of home but a spectacular view of the lake as well. Locals were devoted Francophiles, as committed to their language as her own people were to theirs, yet they were less formal and more friendly, patiently helpful with her French and her Ginny-come-lately ways.
At school, she got the scope for academic inventiveness. The freedom and support helped her open-up her wings and be unafraid. She wore a short skirt for the first time, had her first sip of wine, and went to her first Jazz concert. She realised she had never laughed so hard before, and she was elated her friends found her exotique. She spent time working on a farm, and the host family taught her beekeeping and woodworking; plumbing and welding too. During the holidays, she was invited by the herbarium curator to her house for dinner. That is where she first met Arunachalam Krishnamurthy.
Arun was from Bombay and an uninhibited Kishore Kumar fan. Between dessert and coffee, as the children were being tucked into bed, he introduced the gathering to Raat Kali Ek Khwab Mein Aayee and Ek Ladki Bheegi Bhaagi Si. Maybe it was because he kept glancing at her, maybe because she was the only Indian girl there, she had to join him for the obligatory duet. They sounded beautiful together, and that night, Mini saw snow for the first time.
In between her work on Salmonella Inactivation in Aqueous Peptone, she found time to meet Arun at the library, or the Centennial Centre, or the John Abbott grounds. Mini knew Arun wished to stay back at Mac, and she resolved to continue their courtship long-distance. However, Arun바카라s newfound allegiance to his Tamil Iyer roots was hint enough for her to not hope for a future with him. She was the one to call it quits. She returned home to Ma armed with a post-graduate degree, a bruised heart, and a gallon of maple syrup.
***
Mini spent the next four years wading through insipid work and uninspired men. Her Programme Head바카라s vision for the department seemed to end at her 바카라sleeveless Bengali바카라 arms; his sharp tongue never failed to lash out at her 바카라foreign-returned바카라 ways. What stung her more was the realisation that she was letting small people make her feel smaller. Bela had bought a house, Sarojini was engaged, and what was she doing? Wasting her time in a system that let perfectly good work go waste in the pothole-ridden sludge of the boonies because nobody had thought to build a cold storage!
Yes, there were a few good men she met during those gloomy PUSA days, but none she had the mind to wish upon herself. And then one fine day, at an FAO symposium on Food Irradiation, who does she bump into but Mr Bombay himself.
바카라You look good in that hair, Mrinal!바카라
바카라You look all worried yourself, what are you doing in these parts?바카라
바카라Looking for you.바카라
바카라Shut up, Arun.바카라
바카라No seriously, I have a job proposal for you. I mean if you바카라re looking for a change that is바카라 Seeing somebody? Ah, that look!
Okay, okay, just don바카라t kill me for asking. Are you free for dinner tonight?바카라
바카라What바카라s the occasion?바카라
바카라That we are going out for dinner.바카라
Arun now worked to promote social justice through food sovereignty and was looking for someone to help him set-up the model in the East. He insisted that had they not met serendipitously, he would have sought her out. 바카라Mrinal, please think about it seriously.바카라
The decision was made for Mini when one of her lab assistants ingested a beaker of indoxacarb for grievances guessed at but never established. Mini joined Arun, and they were together again. Passionate, young, driven, they didn바카라t have the time to start a family, so they never felt like formalising their relationship. Ma was happy that Mini was happy, and Arun바카라s people바카라well, they were never happy, so why even try.
Nineteen years after they had first met, Mrinalini had a hysterectomy and Arun had an affair. This time Mrinalini gave him the privilege of leaving first.
***
Hi Mrinalini,
I바카라d like to connect with you on LinkedIn.
Tashi Lachungpa
Filmmaker, Farmer
www.sangbum-farmstay.com
Mini removed her glasses and peered at the profile picture. She had seen this face before, the aristocratic nose, almond eyes, calm smile바카라 She clicked on 바카라Accept invite바카라, then Googled the name. Of course! Under the man바카라s Wikipedia and website entries was a YouTube video by a June Lachungpa. She clicked on the link.
Mini knew this video well. A pretty, kohl-eyed girl in a bob, singing a soft ballad. An apprentice had posted the video on her Facebook wall: 바카라You must watch this! #SoEmotional.바카라 It was a popular post, what they called viral nowadays. She hummed the melody, she still remembered snatches of it. June바카라s lyrics scrolled in on the bottom of the screen.
August the ninth
Nineteen ninety-three
Lost in vapour, lost memory
Her voice, sedated, calling me
White tiles, a window, a pine tree
A man rocking his baby
To sleep
바카라She sings just like Sarojini,바카라 thought Mini.
June바카라s image faded away, and in its place appeared a slideshow of black and white photographs. A young woman with delicate cheekbones sat under a quilt, nursing a steaming cup. The same girl, all dolled up in a saree. Posing in front of the Taj with a young Tashi. A close-up portrait, wing-tip eyes바카라
I have a wish
That I could find
A love as lovely
As my daddy
I have a wish
Oooooooooo [x8]
By my bed
In reverie
He told me of a girl born free
She showed him what he바카라s meant to be
A daddy rocking his baby
To sleep
Tashi in a turtleneck sweater and bell-bottoms, a mic in hand. Cutting a birthday cake, his woman looking on. On top of a camel, looking shocked. Under a banner that read: Gawa & Tashi. Seaside, Gawa in a bikini바카라
I have a wish
That I could find
Such a Knight 바카라n바카라
Be his Lady
I have a wish
The pictures were coloured now. Gawa in hospital scrubs, a little June in her lap. Gawa with a shaven head. June and Gawa in matching bakhus. All three in front of the Pyramids. Eiffel Tower. The Tower of Pisa. On board a sailboat. A Moroccan medina, Tashi carrying his wife in his arms바카라
Mini clicked pause and sat looking at the grainy image. Tashi was smiling through wet eyes, and Gawa looked straight at the camera, proud and defiant.
***
When Tashi came over to meet her with his proposal for a documentary on Affordable Cold Storage Equipment for Rural Farmers, Mini was surprised to see how old he really was. Of course, his profile said he was born in 1949, a year before her even, but she had been thinking of him only as Gawa바카라s Tashi. When she mentioned the video, he looked embarrassed. 바카라Oh that,바카라 was all he said.
Mrinalini바카라s part was shot within a month, but Tashi kept in touch with her. Tashi was amazed to learn that Mrinalini had never married. Two months were all he took to gather his courage and ship a pot of dendrobiums to her doorstep. His handwritten note read:
paths, travel weary
stop voyager, rest a while
winter was
spring is
Mini바카라s reply was a simple text message: 바카라Yes.바카라
***
By ten o바카라clock, the peon at the Family Court was sleepwalking through his job. He collected documents and photographs and verified the applicants. He offered no congratulations, his own marriage hadn바카라t turned out well. Weary and impatient, he longed for a cigarette break. When he called out the names of Mrinalini Lahiri and Tashi Lachungpa, an elderly pair came forward. He craned his neck to look behind them, but there was no one else there. He was confused. He glanced at their IDs, and let them in. He ignored the vibrating cell-phone in his shirt pocket, and wondered where he had seen the old gentleman before.
