I came out of my room and went to the dining room. Dad was sitting at the center of the table and Mom was right next to him. I got seated next to Mom.
As my keen eyes wafted around the table looking towards the source of the very familiar and delicious aroma, I was both elated and crestfallen to discover that my intuition was on the spot and mom had served my all-time favorite chicken curry with coconut milk for dinner.
Mom looked at my face and said "What happened beta, you look sad? Is anything bothering you?"
I looked angrily at mom. Mom knew very well that I don't like anyone calling me 'Beta'. I don't really know why, but this was one of the many things which started irritating me to a great extent after all the fiasco with Abhinu. The boy I loved the most is being referred to as a beti(daughter) all the time when he is the one whom everyone should be calling a beta. It felt like I was an equally responsible perpetrator of injustice meted out to him when I am allowing this to happen.
I replied "Nothing Maa... I am just missing Joe, today is the last day of his vacation and he is still not with us. I miss him."
"Why does, Joe dada have to stay away from us in a hostel?"
Mom tugged at my right cheek and replied sarcastically "Awww... how sweet... you miss your brother... Haa.."
I hugged Mom and replied sadly "Hmmm... I miss him... What he has done for Abhinu in the past 5 days is something I can never repay him for..."
She looked at me and said "I know, if it was not for him, I would never have believed anything you have been telling us about your Abhinu." she paused and then continued "Fear not, sweetheart, your friends belief in the Sankat Mochan and your belief in Mother Mary and St. Christopher has brought a lot of people together who now cares about him. Do you trust us?"
"Huuu... what?" I grinned.
"I said do you trust us? Your dad and me?" my mom asked.
"Of course I do mom," I replied.
"Then I want you to know that right now the only way to protect him is by letting the Banerjee's believe that we don't know anything." Mom replied.
My strange and shocked expression at her statement made mom say again, "You heard me, we are trying to find a way to rescue your friend. Till then we want the Banerjee's to believe that we don't know anything."
I replied, "I promise, mom..."
Dad kept listening intently to our conversation and started his dinner. As dad took the first morsel, mom stopped him, "Jairus, you forgot to say grace."
We had never said grace on the dining table before so I was a bit confused but extended my hand. We held our hands together and as Mom was about to recite grace, Dad interrupted and asked me "Darling why don't you say grace?"
We closed our eyes and I said: "O' Mother Mary, We thank you for the full plate of food and please bless the hands that prepared it. Please bless Joe dada with the smartness to be a great man one day, and finally please give strength to Abhinu to endure for a few more days."
As I opened my eyes, I saw dad smile at my prayer.
He looked at me and replied, "Have faith dear, once your Aunty Sengupta finds the proof, we should be able to rescue your friend in no time."
We didn't say anything after that and continued with our dinner. After I was done with my food, Dad instructed me not to worry about anything and asked me to go off to sleep.
I wished good-night to mom and dad and went to my room. As I got on my bed I picked up the album once again, pondering about the past. I saw another pic, where Abhinu was holding a brown teddy in his hand. That was the day when Soham and Grihamani gifted a stuffed bear to Abhinu post his transition to Geeta.
I remember seeing him happy after a very long time. We were best friends for 2 years, and my love for him is so strong that I can feel his every breath. I could actually count the number of days in the past 7 years I saw him happy.
****THINKING****
It was probably 3 months since the unfortunate incident with Soham. I say 3 months because, after the christening ceremony, I didn't go to their house for a whole month because of our exams. Abhinu never attended school after the incident with Soham.
Not a single day went by, when Abhinu was tortured or abused by the family members, either by Aunty, Darika, Garima, the worst among all of them being Aamaya di.
During his days in Kolkata, if any guest would come to their house, the family would never allow him to meet anyone, other than me, Soham and Grihamani. Aamaya di used to say that they had to do that because they didn't want any outsider to know about his existence, and just so that he doesn't try anything funny, they used to tie him up and would ask Rahat the gardener, to keep a watch over him. Abhinu was really scared of him.
That day was no different. I remember Rinku and his mom had come over to their place. Aunty was expecting a baby so they came over to congratulate her. Rinku had recently joined our school and he is in my class.
As Rinku's mom was waiting for Aunty to come out of the bedroom, I saw her getting up and walk towards the bookshelf which was placed right next to the couch. She adjusted her spectacles and started browsing through the books. Aamaya di who was sitting on the couch, stood up and stood next to Rinku's mom.
"You have a good collection of books? Do you read them all?"
"I love to read them. Especially that..." pointing towards the book I Spit on Your Grave: Vengeance is Mine "is my favorite. Its a thriller about vengeance by an author. I have read the book atleast 6 times." replied Aamaya di.
As aunty was going through the books, she saw 2 medals lying on the shelf. It was placed inside 2 glass boxes.
As she picked up one of the boxes, Aamaya di excitedly said: "I and my sister Aarohi were awarded this medal last year, by the IG traffic, Kolkata police because we saved 8 children from a burning bus."
"What!!!" I don't believe it. She outrightly lied to Rinku's mom about the medal. That medal was won by Abhinu and not Aamaya di. For the sake of Abhinu's safety, I ignored the remark.
Aunty looked excited and extended her right hand to commend her, "Congratulations, I am really lucky to have met you."
Aamaya di gave a broad smile and replied "Thank you, Aunty. I was just doing what any person would do for a friend." She paused a little and replied, "I couldn't see my friends agonizing inside a burning van."
"I would love to meet your sister Aarohi too. You know, it's not every day you get to meet Bravehearts who have won the Presidential Medal of bravery," replied Rinku's Mom.
Aamaya di bowed down and with a sad face continued, "Actually... Aarohi doesn't stay with us anymore. During the accident, she suffered severe injuries to the head causing her to suffer from Infantile amnesia." She paused for a while, took a deep breath and replied, "She is currently undergoing treatment. She doesn't remember her past and has deluded herself into believing she is someone called Geeta."
Aunty let go of Aamaya di's hand and replied in a sympathetic tone, "Oh... I am sorry to hear that. I will pray to God that she gets well soon." With these words, she seated herself on the sofa. I could really be a mute spectator to the outrageous lies and charade fed by Amaya di to a stranger.
I was pulled out of my angry stupor by the sudden sound of both Rinku's mom and Banerjee Aunty's phone ringing together.
Aunty looked at Rinku's mom and said, "I am sorry, Mrs. Sengupta, but I need to go somewhere, it's important. I am really sorry about this."
"No no, it's fine... actually I have to go too. It's my husband. He is back early from his tour." As Rinku approached her, she continued." Mrs. Banerjee, if it's ok with you, I can go and drop you wherever you want to go."
"Oh... its ok Mrs. Sengupta, you don't have to do that. I can manage it." Aunty replied.
Rinku's mom insisted, "Its fine, Mrs. Banerjee, you shouldn't be taking a lot of stress. Besides, you are expecting a child. I insist. You don't have to worry about my husband. He makes me wait for months, He can wait for me for a few hours."
Aunty suddenly laughed at her reply and without resisting much asked Aamaya di to get ready.
As Aamaya di was getting ready, I saw Rahat leaving the room. I asked aunty if everything is alright. She replied, "Grihamani and Soham were kidnapped 3 days ago. There was no ransom demand or anything. However today early morning someone dropped them in front of their doorsteps."
"Do they know what happened, where were they?" I asked.
Aunty replied, "They were very traumatized, and were unable to say anything. There are deep lacerations on their body and since morning they have been wanting to meet Geeta. They have no idea who their abductors are."
About 15 minutes later, Aamaya di came out and they left. I told aunty that I will stay at home until they are back. Before leaving she bent down a little and whispered in my ear, "Your friend is in the room and she might need your help."
As they left, I dashed into Abhinu's room ignoring everyone present in the house and found him lying on the bed and struggling to release himself off the bindings. Without wasting a second, I released him of his bindings.
As I let go of the binds he hugged me tight and started crying like a baby. He was relentlessly sobbing and shivering as if something unfortunate has happened. Lately, he has become more sissy, his attitude changes whenever Soham or Grihamani is near him. Even with Soham's constant ragging, he has never cried, but something must have happened that had probably hurt him.
I let him cry on my lap and finally after a lot of coercing he finally opened up. He sat on the bed still holding on to my hands continued "Every time Rahat kaka comes and keeps a watch over me, he keeps touching me in places which makes me uncomfortable. He stuffs a piece of cloth in my mouth to stop me from making any noise."
"Have you tried telling aunty or uncle about this? You know, dad always says that if anyone tries to touch you inappropriately you should always let your parents know about it." I asked.
"I tried telling them, but they don't believe me. They think I am lying. Rahat has been working there for more than 10 years and they trust him a lot." As he wiped the tears off his eyes, he continued "aunty told me the other day that for my sake we will be leaving Kolkata forever."
"That's good news. Atleast, that way Soham will not be able to bully you anymore." I replied.
He looked down and replied "Hmmm... that's true." Still sitting on his bed he bent down and hugged me once again and with a faint voice continued, "If I stay with this family, a day will come when everyone who knew me will forget that I even exist. Even if I die, I bet no one will come to visit my grave. I just hope you don't forget me like everyone else."
I didn't know what I should be saying to him. However, I caressed his long thick hair reassuringly and said, "Remember you, me and Aarohi, we made a promise ALL FOR ONE... ONE FOR ALL. It was probably God's will that you picked up Aarohi's name that day to keep her memories alive. I promise you, I will not rest till the day you are rescued from the clutches of these retards."
It felt like my words brought a glimmer of hope in Abhinu and he let go off me. As I got off his bed, I saw something tattooed on his back. I caught hold off him and pulled down his skirt a little. He was wearing a crop top, and he had carefully hidden what was tattooed on his back by wearing the skirt above his waist to hide what was written there. Taking a closer look I found that "THIEF" was written on his back. Abhinu pulled the skirt up hastily.
"What the hell is that?" I asked angrily.
He replied, "Remember I told you that I ran away from home a week ago."
"Yes... what about it... What has that got to do with this..." I asked impatiently.
"I took all my money which I had saved in my piggy bank to run away but they kept saying that I stole the money, and to teach me a lesson they decided to permanently inscribe the word "THIEF" on my back."
He got down on his knees, folded his hands together and cried, "I swear on my dad, Monika, I didn't steal the money. I am not a thief."
I bend down, caught hold of his shoulder, picked him up and hugged him as tightly as I could. "You don't have to explain to me, sweety. I know very well you can never do such a thing." As tears started to roll, I continued "I cannot bear to see you sad. Every time I look at your photo it makes me feel so helpless. But it's my promise, I will not rest till I find out a way to take you away from here. It's my promise."
Finally, I replied, "Forget about everything, let's go to the balcony, I want to talk to you about something."
He didn't say another word and we started to walk toward the balcony holding our hands together. As we were walking, I could sense that he was limping.
"Why are you limping. And why are you wearing such uncomfortable clothes?" I asked.
He replied "Aunty tells me that since I am not going to school anymore, it would be good to wear a set of formals clothes and follow a set of rules in the house. She wants me to wear the uniform and these pumps everyday during the day. She thinks this way I would get the feeling of school at home with the only exception that I don't get to study."
He continued "These shoes" pointing towards the shoes he was wearing "gives me blisters on my toes, but aunty wants me to wear them all the time."
These shoes that he is being made to wear have pointed pencil heels. Being a girl I could understand how uncomfortable it is to wear and walk on heeled shoes even for an hour, but here aunty is making him wear it all the time. What has gone wrong with the family all of a sudden?
"And what are those rules that you need to follow?" I asked.
He showed me a piece of note that was pinned to a wall near his study table. I started reading the rules that aunty had set and jotted down for her.
1. Wake up at 5:00 a.m. every morning.
2. Wear formal dresses from 8:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. 5 days a week.
3. Make sure that your sister's uniform is clean and ironed properly.
4. Always eat food with aunty in her room only. The dining table is out of bounds.
5. Keeping sure your sister's room and the house is clean once they have left for school.
6. Going off to sleep once every member is asleep.
7. Address everyone in the house as sir or ma'am till we feel that you have learned your lesson.
9. Seek permission if anyone is in the room while entering.
10. Listen to every order your sisters say or ask you to do, No replying or talking back. Respect everyone in the house. You should start addressing Darika and Garima as your elders.
11. No more, basketball, videogames, TV, music or stepping out of the house.
12. If there are any guests in the house, I should stay inside my room and not come out.
13. You will be punished if you don't follow any of the above-mentioned rules.
"Wow... that is cruel, you should be standing up to them. Why don't you tell uncle about it?" I asked.
"Aunty has convinced uncle that whatever she is doing is helping me control my anger issues, so uncle is also not saying anything."
It was very evident to me that these rules were clearly defined because they wanted to make a slave out of Abhinu who would do all the work of the house for them. I decided not to push further. Deep down I couldn't believe that people could bully someone to such an extent.
As we were walking towards the balcony, there was something that kept bugging me. It was point number 12 about not stepping out of the room when guests are at home. They never mentioned anything about tying him up.
Curiosity got the better of me and I asked him "Why did they tie you up today?"
He replied "The other day, one of Uncle's friends came over our place. As usual, I stayed in the room however Darika ordered me to come to her room. I was in a dilemma whether to step out of the room and meet her or ignore her and remain in my room."
"Either way I would be breaking a rule and punishment was imminent. Since Darika's room is downstairs I decided to take another chance at my freedom and stepped out of the room. I hoped that uncle's friend would see me and enquire about it."
"It turned out that uncle's friend was actually none other then Rahat kaka's friend who knew about me, and was asked to come over to check if I acted funny."
"They were mad because I broke a rule and no matter what my sisters do they are never at fault."
Aamaya di came up with the idea to keep me gagged and bound and Rahat standing guard by the door to keep an eye on me."
Finally, we reached the balcony. We went and sat on the folding chairs. I took his hands and held them tight and said: "I want you to promise me something."
"What?" he asked.
"Never quit practicing karate. It will help you be mentally strong, overcome all the abuses and make you physically strong."
I stood up and I let go off his hand and pulled his up, I kissed him on the cheek and hugged him tightly. Tears of joy were flowing through our eyes.
I finally said "If my love for you is true, one day I will find out a way to take you away from here. In school you gave me a reason to live and be good at studies, now it's my turn to reciprocate. I will protect you."
As we were busy in our own world, we heard Darika shout "GEETA, YOU DEAF GIRL... WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE... SOMEONE IS RINGING THE DOORBELL GO AND OPEN IT..."
I shouted at Garima "DONT YOU HAVE ANY MANNERS, HE IS ELDER THAN YOU. CANT YOU GO AND OPEN THE DOOR YOURSELF." I paused for a while straightened my hair and then shouted again "AND FOR YOUR INFORMATION HE IS A BOY NOT A GIRL GET THAT RIGHT. IF I HEAR YOU CALLING HIM A GIRL AGAIN YOU WILL HAVE TO EAT LIQUID DIET FOR THE REST OF YOUR MISERABLE LIFE"
She looked at him and mumbled "I will see you later princess?" and went to open the door herself.
A while later Soham and Grihamani approached us in the balcony. Upon seeing Soham, Abhinu took a step back fearing that Soham might bully him again.
Soham said "Abhinu, please don't be afraid, we have learned our lesson. we just want to talk to you about something."
We saw them carrying a big box with them. Soham suddenly gave the box to Abhinu and said we have got this gift for you. As he took the gift in his hand, both of them bent down on their knees just like the same way Soham makes Abhinu do it whenever he visits their place. They wrapped their arms around his legs and said: "Abhinu, please forgive us for taking advantage of your misery."
"All the while we thought it was funny, but now we have learned our lesson, we know how it feels. Those people have taught us a lesson in bullying which we can never forget. We promise we will never make fun of you ever in life."
I was very much surprised and shocked by their words and gesture. I don't know if their apology was sincere, but it was pretty evident from the fear and the plea in their voice that they were scared and wanted his forgiveness badly. I don't know who scared them but it was evident by there is someone who is protecting Abhinu without his knowledge.
I saw the look of embarrassment on Abhinu's face when they were begging for forgiveness, and he was trying to let them go, but they kept holding him tight and kept insisting: "Uness you say that you have forgiven us, we won't let you go."
It was probably one of the happiest days of my life seeing them touching his feet and begging for forgiveness. Finally, after a lot of coercing, he finally forgave them.
He opened the box to reveal a beautiful brown stuffed bear inside it, I saw the most beautiful smile on his face when he held the bear in his arms and without saying another word, he hugged both of them and said "Thank-you for this wonderful gift."
The way Abhinu hugged the stuffed bear, it showed signs that he is accepting and succumbing to his life as a girl. Being happy when playing with dolls or stuffed toys is a sign of acceptance of his current self.
Thinking about those difficult days, I finally know that, the time has come for Abhinu to have a safer life. All these days, no one believed in me, but after today, I feel that it is time for Abhinu to be free as a bird. Still clutching the photo album to my chest, I dozed off to sleep.
TO BE CONTINUED...