The Ship reached the shore of the Bay Of Bengal. The little girl descended down the steps of the ship, holding Batuk's hand with her left hand and a doll along with the diary in her right hand, she finally stepped down. Her blue English hat was covering her forehead and her collared English Frock made her look like a little doll. Her brown beady eyes were like baked clay in sunrise mist. Her curly hair is tied with blue ribbons into two ponytails. She looked around the country she belongs but never lived here. Amidst the Indo-English crowd, he pulled Batuk's hand, "Anirudh kaha hain?"

"Don't call them by their name" Batuk repeated the same thing once again and pointed his fingers towards a car parked at an end.

She saw at a distance, a man standing in a suit, vest coat and a golden rimmed spectacle.

Batuk and she walked together towards him, "Dada" uttered Batuk and both the brother embraced each other after 3 months. Batuk's journey to Germany n Back to India took almost 1 and 1/2 months each. Suddenly Anirudh's eyes stopped at her and he gave a pleasant smile but she immediately hid herself behind Batuk.

"Kya huya?" Asked Batuk Softly.

"Will he shout at me?" That was the first thing she said. After reading the diary, this was the first impression she had of him.

Anirudh sat on his knees and forwarded his hands, "yaha ao".

She peeped out a little and then hesitated to come out.

She placed her little hand on his hands.

.........................................

Bondita slowly opened her eyes and saw Anirudh sitting beside her, holding her hands tightly and pressing his forehead to her hands.

"P...pati ..ba..ba..bu..babu" she faced difficulty in uttering it due to her weakness. Hearing her voice, Anirudh raise his head and immediately cupped her face, "tm....tummm. thik to ho? Tak..leef to nehi"

"Mein thik hu" she assured her and tried to sit up straight. Anirudh placed a cushion behind her and helped her to sit. All of a sudden she remembered that her pati babu is not hers anymore and all colours got drained away from her face. She lowered her head and drops of tears landed in her hand, "mein ye kamra chor dungi" she said softly.

Anirudh let out a sigh and held her hand tightly, "maine vivah... wo maine vivah nehi kiya"

Bondita looked at him in disbelief.

"Wo Charu aur mein, hum bass tumhe samjhana chahate the ki...tum jo bhi kar rahi ho..."

"Galat kar rahi hu" she snapped in and completed his sentence, "bohot...galat" she almost choked while speaking.

Pati babu placed his finger on my lips, "shhh".

All of a sudden he pulled me closer, hugged me, and broke into tears leaving me in shock. After all these I am supposed to cry instead he was crying profusely as if he wanted to do this for a long time. As if he wanted someone to hug him and hear him cry. He broke down in front of my eyes and I have never seen him like this.

I realised the tremendous pressure he was going through and when he needed me the most, I wasn't there. I couldn't control my tears as well. Pati babu separated me from herself and murmured, "excuse me!" Before marching into the washroom.

"Kya huya pati babu?" I asked him but there was no response. I was very weak but still got up with the support of the best and walked toward the bathroom door.

Knock knock!

"Pati babu kya huya hain apko?"

I was worried for him because he never acts so weirdly. He would at least respond but he wasn't. I placed my ears to the door and could hear him sobbing inside. At that time my heart got shattered into small fragments and this time I banged the door instead of knocking, "ek bar mujhe andar to ane dijiye please".

Oh God!

I don't know for how long he was holding this within him. What have I done? I sat near the door and continued to speak to him, "ha mein buddhu thi, apki Bondita bohot galat thi par abh mujhe andar aney dijiye na,ansu aur dard chupane se wo kaam nehi ho jaate" I pressed my forehead to the door and wept silently, "hum to dost hain na? Apne dost se itna gussa" I knocked at the door again and again.

Seeing no other options, I took out the key and opened the door because if I knew he won't open the door by himself. With the help of the key, I opened the door and found him sitting on the floor, under the shower with his feet crossed. He was all wet and with the water, flowing down his tears.

"Pati babu!" I gasped and rushed towards him. I cupped his face and patted his cheeks, "ap kuch boliye na...mujhe share kijiye, mein to Sakhi hu na apki". He wrapped his hands around my torso and rested his head on my chest and continued to cry. I patted his back to give him comfort. I allowed him to cry and witnessed his emotional outburst.

"Ap meri taraf dekhiye" I cupped his face and made him look towards me. With my thumb, I rubbed off his tears, whatever felt like tears because we were under the shower and it was difficult to distinguish "bohot rona dhona hogaya abh sab accha hoga".

"Bondita" he cried once again. I kissed his forehead to calm him down, a gentle kiss that's it. "Apna rotey huye bilkul acche nehi lagte, rakhshas babu lagte ho, dekhiye hasiye meri tarha" I grinned forcefully and he chuckled at my antics with crying. "Hum na ekdusre k liye kaafi hai Shotti" I pinned my throat and he pulled me on his lap in no time. Wrapping his hands around my waist, he placed his head on my back and we both closed our eyes.

Binoy was sitting on his rocking chair, holding his head. Sampoorna sat near the mirror with much guilt that was eating her up. Her relationship with her husband was strained as well. He was not talking to her so she decided to start a conversation. As usual, she went near him and started giving him a head massage but to her surprise, he stood up and glared at her furiously, "dur raho tum mujhse Samjhi.

"Mujh se galti ho gyi, mujhe pashchatap hain" she cried, "ap mere sath is tarha bartav maat kijiye".

"Pura ghar natak company hain!" He murmured and stormed out of the room. Sampoorna's rubbed off her tears and was about to follow him out of the room when Kaka blocked her way. She was unable to look into his eyes out of fear but he smiled pleasantly and placed his hand on her head, "hum samjha denge Binoy ko".

A perplexed Sampoorna raised her head and looked at him.

"Jab humare bahu bete ne tumhe maaf kar diya to hum kaise naraz ho sakte hain?"

I was so happy that finally everything was fine that I had the urge to share my happiness with her. When I went to her mansion, there were some British carriages and cars parked outside and one of the cars was of the Governor-General. I walked into the Mansion and one of the servants informed me that Sir Francis is having a meeting with the higher officials.

"Priyam apne kamre mein hain kya?" I inquired the servant and right then I noticed that their house looked much empty "ye ghar khali khali kyu hain?"

"Apko nehi pata? Bare Saheb aur Madam jaa rahe hain na Hindustan chorke".

It took me a lot of time to digest the fact but for the time being, I assumed it was a prank and ran upstairs, towards her room. I stood at the threshold and saw her packing her stuffs.

"Priyam" I called her name, "k..k..kya hain ye sab?"

"Tum" she looked at me with teary eyes and a wide smile, "good news hain, Dad ka promotion ho gaya, he will lead the Alliance's troop against Entente in his secret mission".

"B..bataya nehi tumne mujhe?" I stepped in and spoke very softly.

"Wo" she rubbed her eyes, "wo mein bhul gyi thi"

"BHUL GAYE THE?" for the first time I shouted at someone so loudly that almost made her shiver in fear, "TUM BHUL GAYE THE?"

I picked up her bag and started to unpack it, "you are going nowhere".

"Batuk please don't" she tried to stop me but I was adamant, "ye 3-4 saal k liye tum kahi nehi jaogi, I will talk to sir".

"Mein shayad na lautu"

When she saud that my hands froze and I looked at her.

"Batuk, my return date is uncertain, pehela Vishwa yudh char saal ka tha...isbar kya hoga is insaaniyat ko nehi pata".

"Ei!" I held her hand, "mazak kar rahi ho na tum mere sath, waha kaha rahogi tum, khatra ho sakta hain na".

"Mujhe kuch mehi hoga, na mein Angrez hu na mein yahudi".

"To jaa kyu rahi ho?"

"Dad ko mein akele nehi chor sakta"

I jerked off her hands, "to jao" and turned away to leave. She wrapped her hands around my arm, "mein jaa rahi hu"

"THEN LEAVE! " I Shouted at her.

"Mein nehi lautungi" she said once again.

"I don't care!"

"Gussa ho?" She asked me innocent, "khush ho jao, afat jaa rahi hain"

I took a deep breath and turned towards her, "shabd nehi hain mere pass kuch kehene ko". She let out a painful chuckle and said, "pichli baar sabse keh rahe the Priyam Diary chura k bhag gyi, is baar kehena Priyam mere shabd chura k bhag gyi"

We chuckled softly with teary eyes, "tum mujhe ek call karogi, ek chitthi likhogi, mein sab kuch chor char k chala aunga, Shotti!"

"Kuch maang sakti hu" she spoke out, "ek nishani le jana chahati hu".

"Kya?"

"Diary..." She took a deep pause, "nehi padhungi kabhi, vaada raha".

Without uttering a single word or protesting, I handed her my diary.

Confessions never took place between us, no hugs, no kisses only petty arguments and I learned a big lesson.

Hugs, kisses, gifts are just token of love but love itself is a gift to mankind. Wo kisiko bhi kisi se bhi kaise bhi kabhi bhi ho sakta hain. Her departure was the most painful thing and in my lifetime, I experienced the same thing two times but this time it was more heartbreaking.

We never had sweet talks, no romantic moments, our story may sound boring to anyone on this planet but trust me there was love between us or else why would she lie to me for my happiness? Why would I feel so shattered? This diary was so priceless to me, because of this we meet that day.

Do insaan jab pyar karte hain to kai tarha k problems atein hain, be it Bondita and Dada's problems, be mine...jo in problems ko ek sath overcome karte hain, jeet unhi ki hoti hain.

This is my last diary entry after this I will hand it over to her...

Ye "HER NAME HAS HIM" and I am not sad about it but...

"PRIYAM'S NAME NEVER HAD MY NAME"

..............................................

Lolita flipped the pages of the diary in the back seat of the car but then there was no more diary entries but only blank yellow pages. The car stopped and she immediately stuffed it in her little sling bag that had books and dolls only.

She looked around and found that the car had stopped in front of a large mansion as described in the diary.

She held Anirudh and Batuk's hand and climbed up the stair leading towards the entrance. There stood two women, Nisha(Som's wife) along with her Son Manav who was elder to Lolita and then there was another woman. She knew that this woman was not Bondita because she had read her description.

They greeted them inside and she walked in hesitantly, hiding behind Anirudh.

Inside the House Kaka and Binoy were waiting for them. They had strands of grey hair and wrinkle on their faces in all these years.

"Zyada hi wakt nehi laga diya tuney" kaka hissed at Batuk. He is still the same no doubt about that.

"Ap fresh ho jaiye" said the other woman, "aur dada ap bhi".

She was Urmila, Batuk's wife. Lolita's eyes travelled around the whole house in amazement.

"Tum idhar ao" kaka called her but she hid herself behind Anirudh even more. Everyone tried to be frank and loving towards her but she hid herself more and more out of fear and hesitation when suddenly a sweet voice pierced her ears, "pati babu a gye ap.."

She looked at the stair and saw a woman descending down, draped in a light pink saree and hair tied up in a beautiful braid. She looked just as described in the diary.

"Dekho didi ye bacchi to hum sab se daar rahi hain, abh?" Urmila complained.

Bondita did nothing but just look at her when she exclaimed in joy, "Bondita!" And ran towards her and hugged her tightly. Every one as well as Bondita was surprised except Batuk. Bondita patted her head and pulled her cheeks. In this much of time, both of them came so close to each other and that was the sole purpose of the diary that she read.

"Bondita kitni khush hain na Dada?" Batuk whispered in Anirudh's ears.

"Haa Batuk, bohot saalon baad itna khush hain wo"

"Ap bass legal formalities purhi kar lijiye fir usko aur ap dono ko family mil jayga ek".

"Naam kya hain tumhari?" Asked Bondita.

"Lolita" then she giggled covering her mouth, "hum dono k naam milte jhulte hain na? Bondita".

"Arrey naam se kyu pukar rahi hain ye" kaka asked Batuk furiously, "tuney kuch bataya nehi issey?"

Lolita enquired him holding the letter, "apne jhoot bola mujhse? Medical camp se apko kisine call nehi kiya tha".

Batuk remained silent for a while.

"Apko unhone chitthi likhi thi na? Aur like you promised her, wherever you will be, her one letter and you will be there for her".