Winds Of Change - Paroma Bhattacharya(Dedicated to my paternal grandfather) (story read aloud TXT) 📗

for the day. The principal called her parents to her room and told them that Lona had made her school proud and they should also be proud at their daughter’s progress.
Lona, Swati and Shweta finally said bye to their classmates and went for their excursion into town as they called Darjeeling that in their teen lingo. Mr. and Mrs Roy took the three to the kurseung toy train station. It was Lona’s favorite ride in the toy train which passed through some of the most scenic spots of the Himalayan kanchenjanga range. They bought the tickets to Darjeeling and boarded the train leaving the window seat for the birthday girl who took her seat with gusto.
“ Lona please don’t put your hands outside the window ,” instructed her mother who was carrying the cake with her to be cut later.
Lona for a second opened her mouth to reply then shut herself up. She thought to herself that it would be a very daunting task to make amends with her mom.
Meanwhile Mr. Roy was humming his favorite tune by Donna Summers, “ I feel Love”.
Lona laughed and asked her dad “ Missing Donna daddy”.
“ No dear, the hills are so beautiful that it feels like love like when I first met your mom.”, replied Mr. Roy.
“ Oh Uncle please tell us the story, I am desperate to know how two of you met”, said Shweta in a hurried tone.
“ Some other time Shweta, lets enjoy the ride”, said Mrs Roy in a her shrill voice.
“ Mom don’t be such a bore, daddy even I want to hear it again”, said Lona.
Swati looking a bit lost also joined in quickly saying “Yes please Uncle”.
“ Ok when it’s a unanimous choice I will recount it for you’ll” said Mr. Roy.
“ I was the friend of her brothers and secretly loved her a lot but your mother was an uptight girl and I was a trendsetter,” said Mr. Roy and winked at Lona.
“ I was very hesitant to ask her hand in marriage from your grandfather and finally the day came when Tulsi’s marriage was fixed with a zamindar’s family. I felt very small that day and was heartbroken. But I wished her the best and actually helped in the marriage preparations,” continued Mr.Roy.
Mrs Roy was busy looking out the window at the hills and dales dotted with cedar trees. The Himalayan range visible ina haze. She was deep in thought probably rewinding the days before her marriage.
Mr. Roy paused to look at Mrs Roy and asked for some water. Mrs Roy fumbled inside her plastic bag and passed the bottle giving him her most charming smile. Mr. Roy’s eyes welled up and clearing his throat he continued.
“ So the day of the marriage came and I went to the Bhattacharya household with a heavy heart. The scene that I came across was totally unexpected. Your grandmother was howling and your grandfather was furious shouting abuses at everyone at hand. Shekhar ,
Your Mama was standing with his head held down and listening to all the commotion silently. I learnt slowly that the groom it seems had run away with his girlfriend leaving the zamindars at a loss for words. They had cancelled the wedding for obvious reasons leaving the bhattacharya family at sea.” Narrated Mr. Roy.
“ I waited for a hour or two and then shaking in my shoes approached Mr. Bhattacharya for Tulsi’s hand. I knew I was not a suitable candidate and had just finished college and had a very humble job compared to Mr. Bhattacharya’s stature in the society. But this was his hour of need and I had to help him in whatever way I could.” Said Mr. Roy.
“ It was the most joyous moment of my life when your grandfather hugged me and accepted me as his son-in law. I touched his feet and then got married to your mother.” Said Mr. Roy ending his story of love.
Swati clapped and shweta too. Lona nudged her mother and asked her to say something.
“ Yes I was also relieved to see everything fall into place,” said her mother
“How unromantic of you mom,” cried out lona.
“ Enough Lona, lets talk about your school now and how are your preparations for the final exam,” replied Mrs Roy.
Lona did not say anything and just made a face and looked outside the window at the pretty sites unfolding as the train chugged on. They finally reached Ghoom and many of the tourists got down there which was the highest point of the hills.
Lona tried to catch sight of kanchenjunga but failed in her attempt. The train went on its route to Darjeeling. The rest of the journey was done in silence. They got down at Darjeeling station and immediately made their way to the Chinese restaurant Frank’s in the heart of the town.
Frank’s was a swanky family restaurant, very crowded due to its special Chinese cuisine at a reasonable rate. Since it was a weekday it was not that crowded but still the clatter of dishes was audible through the space. They seated themselves at a corner table trying to avoid the din as much as possible.
Mrs. Roy was quite a nightmare to any chef as she was very particular about the food but she had no complaints about Frank’s and the chef in particular. They placed their orders or rather I should say Lona was given the chance to place the order as it was her birthday. She knew her mother did not appreciate spicy stuff so she was careful in ordering the right stuff. So it was Sweet corn Chicken soup,Mixed Fried rice, Chicken Noodles in white sauce and her favorite sweet and sour chicken. After the orders were placed Mrs Roy opened the parcel with the cake and installed the 15 candles in a symmetric circle. She lit the candles and gave Lona the knife. They all clapped as Lona blew the candles and cut the cake singing the birthday song in unison. Some of the other patrons looked at them cursorily and gave admiring looks at the central figure of Mrs Roy. She had always been a beauty and had remained one till this day.
They all devoured the cake as it melted in their mouth as soon as it was put there.
Lona got a kiss each from her parents and then they sat down to finish their luncheon.
Everyone was happy with the food and sent compliments to the chef who brought out a rose for the birthday girl. Mrs Roy asked him one or two questions about how to prepare the white sauce which he was more than happy to divulge as they were old patrons.
The day finally came to an end.
“ Lona please concentrate on your studies from tomorrow. I don’t want to hear anymore complaints on your grades. Continue the good work child,” said Mrs Roy to Lona. Then addressing Swati and Shweta she said “ The same goes for you both, just yesterday I met your mother Swati and she was quite upset that you were not improving your grades. Try hard and do not watch too many movies this summer. Shweta all the best to you too,”.
They finally dropped the trio back to their school and had to walk down to the garage where they had given the fiat for repair. They hoped that the car would have been repaired by now.
The rest of the day was uneventful and the three spent the whole evening playing badminton just beside their hostel.
The final exams came and went by with Pooja top scoring in all subjects excepting Hindi. Lona came second in Maths, Physics and English. Mrs Roy was very happy and presented her with a bicycle that summer. She now did not need to walk anymore to town but rode in her pink bicycle which drew a lot of attention due to its innovative design.
Lona got very busy taking tuitions for all her science subjects and Mrs Roy was constantly at her back pushing her further on. She wanted to see Lona excel in her boards that academic year. 10th std was serious business and they were all at tenterhooks the whole year going to the library, burning the midnight oil etc.
Boards were a surprise to everyone as it was much simpler than there preparatory exams and each of them sailed through with a First class even swati who had not done well in the preps. Lona to everones surprise did better than Pooja in Mathematics and the rest she did quite well too though she neither topped nor came second. But it was a proud day when she was awarded Sinhals award for scoring highest in Mathematics. She received the prize from the principal before her very proud parents who clapped throughout the prize distribution.
Mrs Roy was now confident that Lona would do well in her 12th boards too and get into a good college like Dona. But Lona had other plans. She was secretly writing to her cousin and finding out courses for English honours in kolkata. She was bent on finding and pursuing Neel till they were together again.
In fact to her surprise that autumn she got a letter from Neel. It was brought to her by Shweta who was in charge of their mail that month. She in fact took ransom for the mail from Lona. Lona was so excited she took an hour to calm her nerves and open the letter.
She read the letter when no one was there in the dorm.
Dear Lona,
I know this letter will come as abig surprise to you as I was the one who ended our relationship. But I have been thinking a lot about you. I will be graduating next year and I guess you will be going to either Mumbai or pune for your graduation and I will never see you again. This is not what I want. The thought of never seeing you again is filling me with a lot of anxiety and I wish you were with me. I have an idea , don’t divulge this to your parents. Why don’t you apply to Ashutosh college for the same course as I am in right now. I am sending you the forms , fill them up and send them to me. I will facilitate the process of your admission here. I know some very important people here so getting you admitted wont be a problem at all.
I am going to continue my studies and finish my M.Sc from here ie Calcutta University. You will love this place , it was made for people like you and me. I will also be applying abroad mainly to the USA. I will help you too in applying there but that will come much later.
Now I want you to know that I love you very much and cannot live or spent the rest of my life without you. I hope you are not angry with me for being so hostile towards you then but I had no choice as my political career was looming in front of me then. I am happy to inform you that I am now part of youth CPM and have become a very