Special Thanks to my parents and groomers, who
taught me English, and made my language use strong
enough to write another book, thanks to my friends
for encouraging me as soon as they came to know
about my intensions, and of course, not to forget,
to my special friend, who supported me a lot in my
work.

~Riya Bagchi,
Author of One-fourth of my Life.








PART-1
Reunion

 
Daydreams and Memories
She was so happy that fine day. Dressed in her
shabby Ghaghara-choli as was the custom of her
village in an ordinary small city in India, she
felt she looked perfect enough to impress her
lover returning from America after eight long
years. Never in her life had she ever been so
excited. That seventeen year old girl had a dream
in her eyes that day, a dream of getting married
to her childhood sweetheart and settle abroad with
him, far away from the small village, its
backwardness, its outdated traditions and its
hatred for women.
Pankh, as she was called by everyone, was a

favourite of her sweetheart Rishi parents. They
had seen her being born, brought up so nicely even
when the conditions were not really favorable, her
father’s income being too meager to support
a girl child, her food, education. Surviving
amidst inequalities, the beautiful girl grew up to
become more beautiful each day. Her father started
searching for a perfect match for her to get her
married and settle at her husband’s place,
freeing him from supporting her life forever. That
innocent girl, aware of these facts, never cared.
Her own life was filled with blossoming love, and
romance. Her beauty kept her thoughts still awake
in her sweetheart’s heart.
That day, her mother felt death of her wishes,
her desires of seeing her daughter stand up on her
own legs, aiming high, aspiring to build her
career, and what was happening instead- she
meeting her lover who was back to India to woo her
again, and distract her forever.
“Mom doesn’t know anything. Her
usual love and affection towards me. All Indian

parents act that way.. you don’t care, One
day, I shall fly away with you far away from this
place, live in another world, with you and me, me
and you..” Pankh would tell Rishi.
“..And our kids..??”
“Ohh please don’t start it
again..” She blushed. “Tell me when
are you coming here, I am dying to see you
dear”
“will soon be here, to see you and get our
marriage fixed. Till then do prepare yourself to
impress my parents.”
“They are already impressed since the very
beginning.”
“I know darling.. work emergency, talk to
you later, goodnight” Rishi hung up.
Sitting in her balcony, she would glance at the
beautiful trees, flowers blossoming during the
spring season, the wind blowing, without the
scorching heat of the summer months, drizzles and
fragrance of flowers, the weather and the nature
appeared so joyous, as if the whole surrounding

was happy about her lover returning back to her.
“When you return, we shall go to watch
movies, you must be doing that almost every day,
after all you grew up in such a rich and advanced
country. We shall go to shop, shall enjoy, get
engaged and get married, and then I shall fly away
in an aeroplane and live in a deluxe apartment
with you in America. We shall raise kids, have a
beautiful family, watch them grow, sing, dance
together. We shall enjoy so much. Please come back
soon, see how I look now, and let me steal a
glance of you, I don’t even know how do you
look now, we were so small when we were separated,
I almost have forgotten how you were like”
She said to herself.
Her phone beeped. A message from Rishi
“ Babes, tell me ur address. M in d
airport,
wl b soon @ ur place. Msg me as soon as u
receive dis “

Her heart skipped a beat. Oh my.. He is coming,

He is coming after such a long time, after all
these years of waiting, he is finally back!! She
was so happy, her happiness had no limits. She ran
about the whole house crying,
“Mamma..dada… he is coming, finally to
meet us all!! He hasn’t forgotten
us!!”
Her mother hugged her. “God bless him. He
didn’t forget us all after all. But
don’t distract yourself, for my
sake!”
“Stop worrying about me, mom” she
laughed, “I am no longer a kid who has to be
controlled by you. I am mature, all almost grown
up. Within a few months I shall be 18, perfect for
marriage”
“Are you not thinking too much?”
“I am thinking less, ma. There are a lot of
happiness in store for us. Rishi is a nice man,
intelligent over the years. What more, he is back
from America just to see me. Ma, he loves me so
much!!”

Tears rolled down her mother’s cheeks. Her
daughter felt her physical maturity was enough,
but she still was a kid, a kid by heart, she
didn’t even realize the evils that may
snatch her happiness once and for ever.
Her daughter looked at her and hugged her.
“I know you are so happy, no need to
cry.” She said as she rubbed her tears off
her eyes.
‘She doesn’t even understand what
this tear is for, and she is talking about her
marriage with Rishi!’ a worried mother
thought.
Pankh didn’t care. Why should she? She
knew her choice was so fine, nobody, not even God
would be able to separate those lovebirds. She
went upstairs, to her room, and locked the door.
She opened up her cupboard with loads of new
dresses, jewellery, make-up kits (though she
didn’t need them, she was naturally gifted
with beauty and charm) gifted to her by Subhash,
who used to send them across the continents

frequently. Each item had a story to tell, a story
of love, a story of longingness for each other.
She was so madly in love with him, her Rishi, she
couldn’t share him with anyone.
Wearing one dress and the other, she
couldn’t make out what exactly would suit
her, would let her Rishi fall in love with her
again, little did she know that for Rishi, those
pretty clothes meant very less as compared to her
pretty face and pretty nature. He fell in love
with her every day.
She finally chose a yellow Ghaghara choli, and
minimalistic make-up. Her phone beeped again. She
looked up
“r u there? M still waitin 4 ur rply”
She replied:
“your message sent me Goosebumps!
I am now so excited to meet you.
And we havn’t shifted from the last
Address. Meet me where you had left us”
She at times felt guilty when she couldn’t
reply in chat language or in English as the half

American did. Born and brought up in a totally
neglected part of the country, Hindi was her only
known language. She at times felt as if one day
Rishi would leave her, since she was not into his
world, they were both so different- but when
Subhash encouraged her, and pacified her that
there was nothing as such, she used to feel
relieved. Slowly this became her habit. She began
caring less about it. She knew their love was so
pure that it didn’t matter what language
they spoke, or where they were from. It was only
the heart that had to be taken in account- the
heart s who longed for each other, the hearts
which were stolen from them and were, according to
Subhash, in each other’s systems,
exchanged. She loved him so much.
“Help me wash the dishes before he comes,
Pankh!” her mother asked her.
“Why not!” She was willing to do
anything to keep her mother happy, except
studying.
Her dainty fingers scrubbed the dishes, and

started appearing rough, with the fragrance of the
dishwasher. She was happy to help anyone,
especially when it was the case of helping her
mother; she was deeply attached to her. With her
swift rubbing and scrubbing, anybody could tell
that she was doing that for long! Of course! She
was, though her mother never wanted her to. She
would steal a glance now and then on the road
outside; to check if he was there or not, but
would disappointedly return when there
wasn’t any sign of him.
Her dad was really happy. At last her
mother’s wishes would come to an end-her
wishes to see her daughter study. “Women are
for spending their lives in the kitchen and
serving their husbands and raising kids. Why spend
money on them educating them? What’s the
use of all these degrees to a woman when she
finally has to spend her life at her
in-law’s place in the future?” He
would ask. He was happy that unlike her mother,
the daughter always agreed with her father. She

considered him to be great for thinking that way,
would fight with her mother to stop her own
education. ‘Finally the girl would get to
live her life, I don’t care whether
it’s a love marriage or an arranged one,
all I know is that she is grown up, she is
seventeen.’ Her father thought, tears of a
fatherly happiness rolling down his happy cheeks.
Pankh loved her dad a lot, tears from his eyes
were something which made her really upset. She
went and hugged him.
“You are choking me kid” He laughed.
“You won’t die. Look as how thin I
am!” she laughed.
 

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