Rabindranath Tagore

“ Asha, standing with bowed head, kept fidgetting with the ends of her draperies, and wept silently.
Mahendra said, "Why are you scolding the wife, Kaki? 'Tis I who have kept her up here."
"A nice thing to have done to be sure!" cried Annapurna. "She's but a child and an orphan, what should she know of right and wrong? But what sort of training are you giving her?
"Well," rejoined Mahendra, "don't you see that I've got for her a slate and paper and books? I've made up my mind to teach her to read and write, and I don't care if people speak ill of me, or whether you get angry." ”

“ The idea of Asha in tears gave Mahendra a bit of a shock. "Why should Asha be weeping?" he queried.
"You don't know that," said Vihari bitterly, "and you expect me to know it!"
"If you're angry because your Dada is not omniscient you had better blame his maker." Mahendra said this lightly, but he was astonished at Vihari's emotion. He always had an idea that Vihari was not burdened with the troublesome thing called a heart—when had he managed to acquire it, he wondered. Could it have been from the day they had gone together to see the maiden Asha? Poor fellow! ”

“ Binodini—"You know the ways of the world, my friend. How can I stay here for ever? What will people say?"
Vihari—"Oh let people say what they will, their gossip doesn't matter. Your soul is far above the petty things of this world, you alone can protect this helpless innocent from its cruel touch. Sister, forgive me, at first I knew you not; and like a low-minded wretch I allowed myself to harbour unworthy suspicions against you. I even went so far as to believe that you envied poor Asha her happiness;—'tis a sin even to talk about all that I imagined. ”

“ The fact is you love only yourself. You have not that in you which can allay the burning thirst for love that consumes me, heart and soul. I now for the last time warn you to leave me alone, to cease to pursue and shame me with your shamelessness.
You have called me cruel: that may be true. But it is because I have also some pity left that I have decided to give you up. If you reply to this letter then I shall know my only refuge is in flight.
She had no sooner read through the letter than Asha felt as if all support had been taken away from her! ”

“ The making the rainy day into night and the moonlight night into day. The getting so habituated to each other as to lose all delight in companionship and yet be afraid to free oneself from its toils! Verily lies the curse of the life of indulgence in the evanescence of its pleasure, the permanence of its bondage.
When things had come to this pass, Binodini one day threw her arms round Asha's neck and said, "May your good fortune last for ever, my dear, but am I not worthy even of a glance from you because I am destined to sorrow?" ”

“ Without glancing this way or that Mahendra marched straight up to the door where Binodini was standing and said: "Binod, I'm not such a coward as to leave you alone here to be reviled by these villagers. I must and shall take you away with me. If afterwards you choose to forsake me, do so, I'll not seek to hold you. I swear by yourself that it shall always be exactly as you wish. If you take pity on me, that'll be life to me—if not I'll take myself off your path. Many a time in my life have I been false to my trust but do not mistrust me to-day. ”

“ In the centre of the halo of her outward brilliance a heart honeyed with true feeling could still be discerned, her womanhood had not yet been scorched to the core by the arid frivolity on the surface. "Binodini may look like a light-minded girl," thought Vihari, "but I seem to catch a glimpse of the vestal virgin within." He sighed as he realised how little human beings could know even of themselves, and how the immediate circumstances brought out one particular aspect of a character which to the world at large appeared for the time to represent the whole personality. ”

“ To resume afresh the play of their wedded life in the now deserted household seemed to her somehow unseemly. Mahendra on the other hand, in a spirit of reckless rebellion against this unsympathetic household of his, proceeded to exhaust in one blaze all the candles of his love carnival, in a desperate attempt to maintain the festivity of their union in the midst of this ominous solitude.
With a little fling at Asha he would say, "What is the matter with you, now-a-days, Chuni? Why need your heart be so overcast at Kaki's departure? Is not our love sufficient unto itself?" ”

“ Binodini was silent for a time, and then with a steady gaze fixed on Vihari she said: "For whose sake should I? For your Asha? Have I no feelings of my own to be considered? Must I renounce all claims to happiness in this world that your Asha may prosper, that Mahendra's household may prosper?—no, I'm not so good as all that, I've not read the sacred books quite so well! For the sacrifice I make what do I get in return?" ”

“ Suddenly she was afraid and drew Mahendra to herself in a close embrace. Mahendra could feel the tremor in her, and said: "Fear not, Chuni, our good Kaki's blessing is on you, you need have no fear. She left home and everything she had in this world for your sake; no harm can come to you!"
Bsha braced herself up and took courage, accepting her husband's benediction as a talisman; and repeatedly taking in imagination the dust of her aunt's feet she prayed: "O mother, may your blessing keep my husband from all harm."
The next morning Mahendra left without saying good-bye to Binodini. ”

“ Ah, thought Mahendra, if only it were possible to wipe out with the darkness which filled the sky the story of the few days, revolt which had upset his domestic life, and to peacefully take his old place beside Asha on a mat spread on the open terrace! No questions asked, no explana­tions to render, the old trust, the old love, the old happiness! Alas! it is just that little old place which is so difficult to get back in this world. Mahendra had lost for ever his share of Asha's mat on the terrace. Up to now Mahendra's relations with Binodini had been free. ”

“ But Binodini would not stir. The languid midday breeze brought in the meaningless murmur of the cocoanut trees which fringed the garden wall. Mahendra's heart began to beat faster and faster, and Binodini's breath quickening in sympathy, stirred the hair over his forehead. Neither uttered a word. "Floating as we are on the eternal stream of creation," Mahendra was thinking, "what can it matter if one's boat momentarily touches a particular shore,—and even if it does matter, for how long after all can it matter—?" ”

“ Rajlakshmi could hardly contain herself. Mahin must be so furious with his mother, she concluded, that Vihari did not care to read out to her how strongly he felt. Like the toss of the sucking calf, the thought of Mahendra's anger, while it pained Rajlakshmi, drew forth, as well, an overflowing tenderness. She at once forgave Mahendra. "Let him be happy with his wife," she said to herself. ”

“ Annapurna was lost in thought. Vihari, that jewel of a boy! How could he have possibly changed so that Chuni couldn't bear to talk of him! Alas for unkind fate, why had not Vihari married Chuni? Why had Mahendra snatched her away from his very hands? This was the first time since her retreat that Annapurna shed tears. "Oh, poor boy!" said she to herself. "If he has done anything unworthy, how much he must have suffered to have made him do it." ”

“ In the afternoon Binodini would insist on doing up Asha's hair herself with consummate art, and on supervising her toilet for her husband's home-coming. And Binodini's imagination would veil itself to accompany the gaily-bedecked young bride to the love-tryst with her husband.
Some days Binodini would not let Asha go at all. "Do stay with me a little longer," she would plead; "your husband is not going to run away. He's not the elusive stag of the forest, but the pet deer tied to your skirt." Thus would she chatter to detain Asha! ”

“ The advent of a third person revived the waning passion of the newly wedded couple.
Asha had no gift of witty repartee,—Binodini's store was inexhaustible; so Asha felt it a great relief to be under her wing. She had no longer to strain herself in the increasingly difficult task of keeping up Mahendra's spirits.
Mahendra and Asha had from the very first pitched their love too high. How were they afterwards to attune it to the key of everyday life? How was Asha to supply anew the intoxication which Mahendra in the hour of re-action seemed to be moping for? ”

“ Annapurna smiled to herself, greatly relieved. "Indeed!" said she. "That's why, when Mahin was here, he never even mentioned your Eyesore?"
"That's just like Him," cried Asha indignantly. "If He doesn't like anybody, it's just as if He hadn't seen or heard or known of such a person!"
"And if he does like a person," said Annapurna with an affectionate smile, "he can't think or talk of anything else in the world, That's also just like him—eh Chuni!"
Asha was silent, and returned the smile with downcast eyes.
"And what news of Vihari?" continued Annapurna after a pause. ”

“ I wish all of you every happiness, but no part of it depends on me."
Vihari was silent for a time, and then said, "Fate is indeed unkind to Mahendra that it has made him part with you."
"Don't say that," said Annapurna with a little start, "Mahendra hasn't in any way annoyed me. But unless I go there can be no peace in the house."
Vihari looked away in silence. Annapurna then took out a pair of gold bangles from the folds of her sari and said, "Keep these bangles, my son. When you bring home your bride, put these on her wrists for me with my blessing." ”

“ Mahendra said, "Vihari, don't you give up this girl."
Vihari would not give a direct reply but said, "She reminds me of her aunt, she must be as good."
"I trust," said Mahendra, "that you are not feeling the burden which I placed on your shoulders so very heavy after all!"
"No, I think I'll be able to bear it," said Vihari.
"Why sacrifice yourself? I'll relieve you if you like. What say you?"
Vihari gravely turned towards Mahendra. "Are you serious, Dada?" said he. "Tell me truly while there is yet time. ”

“ Things had got so mixed up in every single room that nothing could be found when wanted. One of Mahendra's surgical instruments had done duty as a kitchen knife, and thenceforth gone into hiding in the dust-bin. His college notebook, after performing the functions of the palmyra-leaf fan, was reposing under the ashes of the kitchen grate. Mahendra was hugely amused at this unusual topsyturvydom, but Asha felt it more and more keenly. It seemed to the young girl to be a sacrilege to be watching with a smiling face the household welfare being borne away on the tide of self-indulgence. ”

“ Like the angry bee which puts its sting into anyone crossing its path, Binodini felt she wanted to burn up the whole household in her wrath. Why was there always some obstacle in her way? Was she ever destined to fail? If happiness was not for her, she would justify her evil star by overpowering and bringing down to the dust all who had stood in the way of her desires, of her success. ”

“ But to have dared to bring Mahendra to the village by writing letter after letter—this brazen openness was too much! The shameless hussy must be sent out of the village.
The next morning Binodini was sure that a reply from Vihari would come. But there was no letter. "What hold has Vihari on me?" Binodini began to ask herself. "Why am I here at his word? Why did I give him to understand that my whole life was his to command? The only need he has for me is to use me to save his beloved Asha. I am to have no wants, no claims of my own, not even a line of a letter—so mean, so contemptible am I!" ”