On the fourth day morning, Swati made her tea and thought she should give one cup to Mr. Badal. She knocked at the partition door. There was no response from the other side. She thought he must be sleeping.
In the afternoon, Mr. Tanmay came and gave her food packet and informed her that he has come to know about two vacant Flats. He said he would come around four in the evening and take her along to show her the two Flats.
She was about to open the packet when she heard Mr. Tanmay's voice calling Mr. Badal loudly. He was knocking at his door and calling his name, but the door was not opening. She came out and asked, "What happened?"
“Badol da is not opening the door.”
They tried to peep in through the window. They saw that Badal da was fast asleep lying on his bed. He was breathing heavily. Luckily the window was not closed from inside. Mr. Tanmay opened and again shouted his name several times. There was no response from Mr. Badal.
Swati was panic-stricken. She also called his name loudly. Two ladies and a man from the neighboring flats rushed to the house. One of them brought a long stick with him, and he and poked Mr. Badal with it. He opened his eyes and sat on his bed. He looked at the faces of the screaming people crowded in his window. He was still dazed, and his eyes were blood red. He stared at the people for a while and then again rolled back in his bed. He was ill and was not in his senses. It was decided to break open his door.
Swati suggested breaking the partition door instead. Many volunteers came forward to help, and the partition door quickly broke open with their joint efforts. Badal da was burning with fever and was in delirium. In the next half an hour, he was loaded in an ambulance and taken away to the Company Hospital by Swati.
In the Emergency ward, a doctor examined him. Hospital staff fixed an intravenous (IV) line, pushed a few injections through the IV line and drew blood for necessary tests. When he settled a bit, he got transferred to the observation room.
The doctor asked in detail how everything happened. He also looked at his medical book. After half an hour, his fever came down and he started recognizing people. Swati asked him how he felt. He shook his head to indicate he was feeling better.
He was taken to the ward for further treatment. Swati was asked to wait outside as it was male ward, and ladies were not allowed inside except during the visiting hours. It was time for doctors' rounds in the department. Swati requested the ward sister to call her when the doctors examine Mr. Badal. She had brought all his reports and wanted to show them to the senior doctor.
The senior doctor looked at the file, turned the pages, stopped and read from it, and then handed the file to the junior doctor. He turned towards Swati and said, "Now he is having some other problem. We will take care of him."
After three days, he got discharged from the hospital. The doctor briefed Swati that he was suffering from some stomach infection and depression and needed to be adequately taken care of.
"You know these are the patients who commit suicide. Someone should talk to him and keep a watch on him. Do not allow him to lock himself in the room," the doctor had said.
Swati brought him home. She found that his mobile phone was damaged. Maybe he intentionally dropped the phone on the floor to cut himself off from the world. She was not able to recover his children’s number. She gave the mobile phone for repair and called Nivedita.
“Do you have Anupriya’s number?” She asked her daughter.
She was not in touch with her since she left for Hyderabad.
Swati had started cooking herself. She cooked for Mr. Badal also. She had engaged one housemaid who came and cleaned the house, including Badal da's room.
She did not repair the partition door and always kept a secret watch on him whenever some sound came from his room.
In about a week, Badal da got much better. But he talked very little. Most of the time, he was sleeping, maybe under the influence of the medicines that he was taking. One day he went out and brought the carpenter to fix the partition door.
Swati called him in her room in the evening for tea. He came after the maidservant persistently requested him for about fifteen minutes. He sat down with his gaze fixed on the floor.
Swati greeted him with a smile, “You look better today. Have this dish. I have made especially for you,” she placed a plate of hot Samosa in front of him.
Badal da took one from the plate and started eating. Swati also picked up one in her hand and said, "So Mr. Landlord. Let us decide the rent of this portion."
He nibbled at the Samosa and said, “Nothing…… you have to pay nothing.”
“Why so?” she asked.
“Your rent is adjusted with the expenses on my food and towards the salary of the maid.”
Swati objected, “No-no, the food doesn’t cost anything. I cook for myself and I share a little with you. The maid comes to clean the house and she cleans your one room also. I am not spending anything on you. You have to charge rent."
Badal da didn’t say anything until he finished the second Samosa. Then he picked up the cup of tea and said in a flat tone, “Then you have to find another house. You decide what you want.”
Swati didn't expect this answer from him. He was calm, and he had said firmly. She thought he must be emotionally balanced now.
She said with a smile, “Then who will look after you?”
"I am grateful to you for whatever you did. I know I have started depending on you. If you decide to go, then I will have to manage myself again. But it is my problem. You are free to decide for your own good."
“Arre baba, when did I say that I want to go? I am just asking. Rather, requesting you to charge the rent. Let's decide on seven thousand per month rent that includes my electricity bill and maintenance charges. …...And don't tell me that you will be in a loss because you can easily get around twelve thousand for this apartment. But I will compensate your loss by cooking food for you and arranging for cleaning your room and clothes. And that is final. Please don't argue with me. I will not give a single rupee more than just seven thousand."
She said in such a way that Badal da could not hold his smile. He said jokingly, "I never knew you were such a stubborn lady. Let us bring down that amount to five thousand, and we will keep that money separately for any crisis that may come our way in the future.”
So that was agreed between them. Badal da, after this meeting, came back to life very rapidly. He took his breakfast and dinner in his room, but Swati served him lunch mostly on the dining table in her portion of the house.
He started taking an interest in the household work. He would bring vegetables daily and ‘Maachh' (Fish) on the weekends. One day he bought some flower pots and a book on gardening. He spent his time now with the potting of plants and taking care of them, while Swati cooked food, got the house clean.
One day Swati sprained her leg. She was moaning with pain. Badal da took her to the hospital on his bike. The doctors said that one of the small ligaments of her ankle joint got torn. They advised for operation. She remained there for five days. When she came back, she had plaster in her leg.
Badal da did not allow her to stand in the kitchen and cook. The housemaid cooked the food. They ate it together. Many a time when the maid was absent Badal da had to wash utensils and broom the floor. He did happily without any complaints. Once, he tried his hand on cooking also. The food was worse than the maid's food.
Swati would ask him not to venture. He always promised that he would do everything with perfection. But every time he did things clumsily. She would laugh and encourage him by saying that he would be able to do it better next time.
One day Badal da cooked ‘Maachhe’r Jhole’ (Fish curry) under Swati’s guidance. The taste was not bad this time. In fact, it tasted good. He got so excited that he declared that he would cook everything from then onwards. That day he sent away the maid and cooked ‘Aaloo-postu’ and ‘luchi’. The food was horrible. But they enjoyed eating it.
The doctor had said that he would remove the plaster on Swati's leg after four weeks. During these four weeks, Badal da had developed mastery in cooking steamed rice, ‘daal', mashed potato, ‘Khitchuri', fried fish and ‘paes' (rice and sugar boiled in milk till it became creamy).
Swati had commented that now he can survive on his own cooked food when she is gone.
He asked seriously, “Where are you going?”
"Why? I may leave you behind one day when I am no more,” Swati said innocently.
Badal da became sad. He said, “It is enough in my life. Everyone who mattered in my life has left me. Now before you leave me, I will leave this world.”
Swati did not mean much when she had said that, but Badal da revealed his true feelings. That night both of them could not sleep. While living together, they started liking each other in a short time. The thought of parting ways with each other was disconcerting to both of them.
Next day Swati asked a very awkward question to Badal da, “What did you mean last evening? I could not understand properly. Are you thinking of marrying a divorcee?
“No, but why are you asking this question? Are you thinking of marrying a widower?
"No, not at all……I just thought you should not be daydreaming," she started laughing.
Badal da joined in her laugh.
The plaster was removed. Very soon, she was able to resume her routine household work.
Swati was a talented lady. She had a complete selection of Ravindra rachanawali, Sharat rachanawali and many books written by writers he had never heard of. She also wrote poems of love and beauty of nature. Badal da liked to listen to her recite one of her poems.
She encouraged him to read the books, “You know, books are man's best friends. They always encourage you to live your life with extreme satisfaction."
But reading a book was not his cup of tea. He never could follow the storyline and always got confused with the names of the characters. He also did not try his hands on writing poems.
"In this old age, I have learned to cook my food, and that is enough for me. I cannot learn more skills,” he had said.
Once Swati scolded him, "Why do you sit all day long in the house like a woman? You should read the Newspaper, go out and meet your friends, discuss politics with them. You should spend time with your friends."
“I have not made any friend,” was the short answer from him.
But Badal da had made friends. The dogs outside his window had become his friends. He would feed them every day from his food, which Swati gave him every night. Swati had no idea why he had a better appetite at dinner.
He was not ready to go for the morning walk and meet the morning walker friends again. He was not interested in movies.
In the evening, Swati would sing Rabindra Sangeet on her harmonium. The ladies from the neighborhood started visiting Swati's house almost every evening. Very soon, she began giving lessons on Rabindra Sangeet to many children of the colony. Men and women of the colony were happy to include her as a member of the ‘cultural committee’. They requested Swati to prepare song items for the ‘Pujo’ function, which was approaching very fast.
Badal da also looked very happy and satisfied with his life. He did not bother much that his children never called him or enquired about his health. Swati explained one day that the world has changed and the children are struggling to survive in their world. With all this in their lives, one can understand if they didn’t find time to talk to him.
"See, after moving to London, Nivedita also has talked to me only once. Let us support them by managing our lives properly. Please don't give them an extra burden. It is not that they don't love us. It is because they are so busy now that they hardly get time even for themselves.”
Badal da remembered what Babla had said that day - Please try to learn to live without us around. He smiled and murmured, “Yeah, I am slowly getting used to living without you.”
Swati also tried to teach Rabindra Sangeet to him. But he was a disaster at singing. Moreover, he did not have any interest in music. Then she asked him to try his hands in acting. In the role of a serious-looking character in the skit, he acted like a comic character. His dialogs did not synchronize with his gestures. At last, the children requested Swati to replace him with another uncle of the colony.
But now he wanted to participate. He was very disappointed with his exclusion from the skit. While the children of the colony practiced for the function, he sat in a corner with a depressed look.
One day an idea crossed his mind.
Swati observed that most of the time, he bolted the partition door from his side and listened to Hindi songs on YouTube. Actually, he started practicing aerobics on the songs in front of the mirror. The more he practiced, the more he got convinced that he danced very well. He planned to give a surprise performance on the stage in the Pujo function – a solo dance on a popular Hindi song.
But some other surprise was waiting for him, which was going to change his entire life.
