unnecessarily. âYes, of course Iâm going â just that Iâm attending to an important case right now, so . . .â
âYouâre definitely going?â
âDefinitely.â The more I said it the more my obstinacy grew â yes, I had to go.
Bina looked at the waters of the lake for a while and suddenly said, âNo, donât go.â
âNot go? What are you saying?â I could feel the tremor in my own voice.
âNo, donât go,â Bina said again. âYou donât know â theyâve really â fixed everything . . . for the twenty-ninth â but I cannot â I cannot marry that court officer in trousers . . .â
Her description didnât make me smile, for I regularly dressed the same way, doctors had to. I said severely, âNot everybody looks as good as Ramen in trousers, but that doesnât mean . . .â
Bina took the words out of my mouth, âBut that doesnât mean this idiotic character . . .â
I spoke like her guardian, âShould such a thing be said about a respectable gentleman?â
âSo, why doesnât the gentleman stay a gentleman? Take my word for it, none of what theyâre expecting will actually happen.â
âBut surely you have to get married.â
âWhy must I?â
âYouâre not a child â you know perfectly well . . .â
âYou think so too!â said Bina, and gazed at the water again. I lookedin turn at her eyes and at the water. They seemed similar to me; black and white, bright and moist.
Suddenly Bina turned to me and said, âNo â I cannot â you mustnât go â you must save me.â
âMe? How can I save you?â
As soon as I asked, I knew the question was meaningless; Bina had answered it long ago!
Ramen was the first to arrive on hearing the news. He leaped in the air, embraced me and spun me around, tipped the servants five rupees each â then left in a whirl and returned an hour later, in a whirl. Handing me an emerald ring and a sari with silver work on it, he said, âHereâs your pre-wedding gift. Donât forget to visit the Duttas in the evening â theyâve just got back.â
Mr. Dutta smiled when I met him. âWhatâs all this I hear?â
âSo it really turned out to be the ânew nestâ for you,â said Mrs. Dutta.
âSo I see. The new nest for the new guest â it even rhymes,â joked Mr. Dutta.
âOf course itâll match. The match that theyâve made will now ensure that.â
The couple continued in this vein for a while, and I laughed like a fool, red with embarrassment.
The days passed in a whirl. On the one side were the sharp verbal darts from the two future sisters-in-laws â here too Mr. Dutta found a rhyme, pointing out that brave hearts attract verbal darts â while on the other was the business of finding a new house, buying thingsneeded to set up home. Ramen went everywhere with me, arranging everything. Iâd never have been able to do it all myself. And then â and then what else but the arrival of June twenty-ninth? I went to the new house. Ramen had been there since morning â he was the sole representative from the groomâs side, and I still recall the exhilaration shining on his handsome face. Suddenly I felt a little sad too. It was he who had aroused Bina â and I was the one she had ended up with. Was I, then, just someone who was conveniently available? Had it been someone else at hand instead of me, would the outcome have been the same? Perhaps even that court officer in trousers? After our wedding, I had asked Bina about this and she replied, with that air particular to a bride, âUff!â Later, she added that she wanted to laugh when she thought about the scene she had created because of her infatuation with Ramen. Wanted to laugh? Already? On the chance that she had not married me,