Excerpt – Bipradas
Feigning ignorance, Bipradas asked, ‘What did he do?
I haven’t heard anything.’
‘That’s not possible,’ Dayamoyee sounded sceptical. ‘That boy does not have the gumption to do anything without your knowledge. My money supports him, yet he spends all of it to get people from Calcutta to incite my tenants against me. You should stop his Calcutta allowance.’
Bipradas was taken aback. ‘What are you saying, Mother? Not pay for his education? You do not want him to study?’’
Dayamoyee replied, ‘What is the need for that? Have you forgotten that episode when a bunch of students from my father-in-law’s school came protesting that the foreign system of education was ruining our country? You became furious and chased them away. Now that your own brother propagates the same idea, should you not act? How do you justify this?’
Bipradas was taken aback. ‘What are you saying, Mother? Not pay for his education? You do not want him to study?’’
Dayamoyee replied, ‘What is the need for that? Have you forgotten that episode when a bunch of students from my father-in-law’s school came protesting that the foreign system of education was ruining our country? You became furious and chased them away. Now that your own brother propagates the same idea, should you not act? How do you justify this?’
Bipradas answered, ‘There is an explanation, Mother. I cannot stomach it when schoolboys who have failed come complaining, but it does not bother me when someone like Diju, who has a master’s degree, condemns foreign education.’
‘But what about when he uses my money and incites my tenants against me?’ Dayamoyee queried.
Dwijadas, who had remained quiet until then, spoke up, ‘Not a single penny was spent from your estate for yesterday’s rally.’
She had not looked behind her since she had entered the room, and she did not do so even then. It was to Bipradas she turned. ‘Ask that wretched boy how he got the money? Did he earn it?’
‘But what about when he uses my money and incites my tenants against me?’ Dayamoyee queried.
Dwijadas, who had remained quiet until then, spoke up, ‘Not a single penny was spent from your estate for yesterday’s rally.’
She had not looked behind her since she had entered the room, and she did not do so even then. It was to Bipradas she turned. ‘Ask that wretched boy how he got the money? Did he earn it?’
Just then, the sound of tinkling bangles could be heard through the curtains. Bipradas listened attentively and said, ‘Ah, there is your answer, Mother. If your own daughter-in-law provides the money, who is going to stop it?’
Dayamoyee then understood and said, ‘That’s it, isn’t it? It is all Sati’s doing! I had forgotten that as a rich man’s daughter, she receives an annual allowance of six thousand rupees. And it is she who gives money to her precious brother-in-law.’
After a pause, she resumed, ‘When your father-in-law came seeking you as the groom, I discouraged marriage to a girl from that family. One Anath Ray of that family went to England and returned with an English wife. There is nothing too outrageous for them.’
Bipradas smiled, but said nothing. He well knew that poor Sati would never be free of that stigma. Mother could never forget that some Anath Ray from her family had married a westernized Bengali woman.
After a pause, she resumed, ‘When your father-in-law came seeking you as the groom, I discouraged marriage to a girl from that family. One Anath Ray of that family went to England and returned with an English wife. There is nothing too outrageous for them.’
Bipradas smiled, but said nothing. He well knew that poor Sati would never be free of that stigma. Mother could never forget that some Anath Ray from her family had married a westernized Bengali woman.
Observing that everyone had gone quiet, she relented and said, ‘Let us leave it for now. Kailashnath is calling me. I will settle this issue when I return.’ Then she left.
