Another News

1966:

Sindhuja sat on the dining chair helping with light kitchen chores while Kaaki was busy preparing dinner, Srinath hovering in the background. It was a Saturday evening, almost everyone was home busy in their own stuff.

The telephone rang. Tapesh who was sitting on the sofa studying, went to pick it up. 

"Hello?.....Yes....Yes, I'll call her; No? Okay...." He called out, "Feluda! It's from Boudi's home... They're asking for you."

Sindhuja looked up in surprise. Who exactly is it? Why're they asking for him? 

His face had similar expressions as he went to the receiver. 

"Hello? Yes..." She saw his eyebrows furrow and then a complete change of expression. 

"How?..... No but, her condition... Yes, I will inform...."

She couldn't understand what was going on. He put down the receiver after a few more minutes and she immediately asked, "What is it?"

He had a weirdly blank expression. Kaaki also came out of the kitchen. "Why were they asking for you?"

He slowly took a chair and sat in front of Sindhuja. "Sindhu, you need to be listening to me quietly."

"Why, what's happened?"

"Don't panic like this! Listen."

"I'm not, but you're making me anxious now...."

He took a momentary pause. "You had got that letter from your father last week, right?"

"Yes, Baba was sick again so he had called for me. We sent a letter replying that I can't come because it's almost my third month... What about that, did he ask for me again?"

He took her hands and held them, which was very unusual of him in front of Kaaki and Tapesh."Sindhu... Your father..."

"Yes?? Speak up, Mitter Babu!"

"He's... No more."

Everyone around stared in dumb shock. She froze in place, not batting an eyelash, not even breathing. He waited keenly to see some reaction from her, but there was none. He was afraid she might not really breathe if this continued, so he shook her shoulders now, calling her name. She remained still for a moment and then, blinked her eyes, as if realising what he said slowly. She looked away from him. 

"No, no.... This isn't true. You're playing tricks, aren't you? This isn't..."

He took her hands again. She stared into his eyes, desperately finding the answer that she wanted to hear. But she couldn't find it. He slightly moved his head sideways and back, repeating what he said with his eyes. Her eyes widened in shock and then shrunk back in helpless acceptance, letting down a tear of grief. She opened her mouth to say something, but her voice didn't come through. Instead, the world around blurred and spun, and she closed her eyes listening to voices around shouting her name.

There was a sudden cramp in her stomach which forced her to open her eyes. She found herself lying on their bed, him sitting on one side with a grim face and Kaaki on the other. They both noticed her wake up at the same time and rushed to help her sit up, but there came another terrible cramp. She winced clutching her stomach as he ran to the drawers to get her pills. He quickly fed her a pill and made her drink water. She gulped down everything, but there were more merciless cramps on the way. And there was blood too.