"শুভ বিজয়া! আসচে বছর আবার হবে।"

Wishing everyone an auspicious and happy Vijaya Dashami. May the Goddess bless you and your family. Just as the evils of Mahishasura were defeated by the goodness of Shakti, may all evil be eradicated from your life. May this festival come again in your lives next year and again and again in the future.🙏

..................
Dashami
Sampurnaa's pov:

Today is Bijoya Dashami. The Goddess leaves for her heavenly abode at Kailash on this day.
Legend says that Bijoya Dashami is the day the Goddess defeated Mahishasura and restored peace in Triloka ( swarg- heaven, martya- earth, pataal- underwater)
Dashami is celebrated as Dusshera in North and Central India. The day Lord Rama killed Ravana.

Since childhood, I have hated Dashami. As a schoolgoing kid, I would feel upset because Dashami or Dusshera marks the end of Sharadiya festivals and hence the end of holidays. Now, however, it is a different reason. With the end of Durga Puja, it would mean returning back to Mumbai, away from the city I have loved all my life. I would have to wait for an entire year before I can celebrate Durga Puja again.

Sigh! The best things in your life never last too long!
I wasn't the first one to wake up today. When I woke up, Adrija Boudi was up and dressed already. I went and freshened up first.

"Good morning Boudi! Why are you awake this early?" I went and asked her once I was dressed

"Today is Bijoy Dashami! I am going to take part in Sindoor Khela for the first time in Kolkata, after marriage."

I nodded. I could understand her excitement.

I asked her if she needed anything. She asked for some green tea that I quickly got for her and myself.
We both sat in the balcony, sipping our teas. She was telling me about her childhood in Mumbai. She told me about the scattered Durga Pujas that took place in Mumbai. She spoke in annoyance about her father's busy schedule as an IAS. She told me that she was full 18 minutes older to her brother and that she loved teasing him and disturbing him as a kid. She told me that she secretly wished to have a boy while Dada wanted to have a girl.
I joked and told her that she may give birth to twins. She smiled but shook her head.

She also told me about her wish as a sister. She has always wanted to see her brother married someday. She had many expectations from him and her would be sister in-law. By the time she stopped chattering, everyone was up and about. Today we are going for darpan bisarjan followed by boron and sindoor khela.

Within an hour, we were down at the pandal in the society where the priest would perform the last aroti and then bid farewell to the Goddess.

The last aroti took place and the dhak players put in all their energy. I was blowing the conch shell while Maa, Aunty, Dida and the other women were ulu-ating.

The priest then whispered in the Goddess' ears asking her to return to her abode. He made an emulsion of alta( a red, sacred liquid that is applied by married women on their hands and feet traditionally) and water and placed a mirror in it. He adjusted the mirror's position in a way that the deity's face was reflected. Thus, darpan bisorjon was done and we all bid farewell to the Goddess in our hearts.

Darpan Visarjan

This is a ritual when the priest symbolically immerses the idol of the Goddess by seeing her reflection in a bowl of water. Married women are then allowed to perform the ritual of " boron" to the Goddess, a kind of send-off by applying vermillion on the parting of the hair on Goddess's forehead, her feet and then take her blessings. They place sweets on her lips, wishing to see her return again the next year. The actual immersion takes place after Darpan Visarjan.

Text credit: astrospeak.com link found via google

After the Darpan Bisorjon, the married women went forward and performed boron.
They applied sindoor to Goddess Durga, Goddess Lakshmi and Goddess Saraswati's parting, hands and feet. They touched the Goddess' face with betel leaves and kept sweet on her lips.
Dhaks continue to play in the background and men even dance with dhunuchi in their hands.

All this is done to give Maa Durga a happy farewell.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60tSbJWJCr0

Dhunuchi

After the women were done with Boron, they began Sindoor Khela.
Sindur Khela (সিঁদুর খেলা), literally meaning 'vermillion game', is a Bengali Hindu tradition where women smear each other with sindoor on VijayaDashami, the last day of the Durga Puja. On the day of the Vijaya Dashami after the conclusion of the ritual worship, married Bengali Hindu women apply sindur on the forehead and feet of the goddess and offer sweets to her. Then they put sindur on each other's faces and offer sweets to each other.

Text credit: wikipedia

Married women including Maa, Boudi and Aunty applied sindur to each other's parting, their noya( an iron bangle that signifies a woman as married. This bangle is gifted by that woman's mother in-law and is never removed. It is traditionally worn on the left hand) and on their faces.

Once all the married women were done with, unmarried women like me became their targets.
Maa came to me and applied sindur on my face. She kept her hand on my head and said silently, "Porer baar jeno ei sindur tor sithi te chhoyate pari" (I hope I can apply sindur to your parting the next time during sindur khela... Indirectly praying for Sampurnaa's early marriage)

I smiled at her.
Boudi came next and coloured my already red cheeks even further with more sindur. She repeated the same lines that Maa spoke sometime ago.

Is this a ritual? Nah! Of course not!

Aunty came next and applied sindur on my face.
I wonder if I am looking like a monkey!

Once all the women had finished, men were the next targets. They had been trying to hide but the women dragged each of them out of hiding.

Dada was pulled out by Adrija Boudi. She took a handful of Sindur and threw it on his face. He grabbed a fistful from her borondaala and threw it on her face.

All the married women were wearing white sarees with red border while the men were dressed in white kurtas. The women's sarees were more red than white while the white spotless kurtas were red. I stood in a corner and saw Maa play with Baba and Aunty with Uncle.
Someone came and touched my shoulder. I turned and saw a man with a face beautifully caked with sindur. I could recognize from his eyes that it was Indrayan. He had definitely not been spared by any of the women!

I bit my lip to keep myself from laughing at his state.
He narrowed his eyes at me.
"You think you are looking like a princess at the moment?"

I nodded.

He told me in a low voice, "You do look like a princess. Maybe for the monkeys around."

I retorted in a sickly-sweet way, "I didn't know that a high court lawyer with a degree from Oxford came under the classification of a monkey!"

He grimaced at my childish taunt.
"You can come back with a better one!"

I shrugged and the conversation closed then.
Some more sindur went flying past us both and finally in 15 minutes' time, everyone was done playing. I believe that they stopped playing with sindur only because they ran out of resources.

At around 12 noon, we began our journey to Babughat. It is a well maintained river bank along the distributary of the Ganges, Hooghly.
There were many idols queued up for immersion. Fortunately, none of the bigger pujas immerse their idols on Dashami; so we did not have to wait long.
The police who had been assigned the job of maintaining and managing the traffic handed out tokens to everyone so there was organised immersion.

We were given out token no. 78.

It took around 1 hour and 30 minutes to get our turn.
The labourers assigned with the job of lifting the idol, kept the deity near the Ghat for us to pay our respects. I went and touched the feet of the Goddess at the same time as Indrayan did. We smiled simultaneously and joined our hands to pray.
"Maa, aamar family ke bhaalo rekho! Aamader nijer aashirbad dio. Court case e jeno sotye r bijoy hoe. Maa, aamar maa-baba ei chaaye jeno aamar biye taratari hoe... Tumi aamar mon er bhoy ebong akanksha jaano. Aamay icche r maan rekho! Aasche bochor aabar esho. Ek din jeno aashe je din ami tomay boron korte pari." I prayed silently

( O Goddess, keep my family well. Give us your blessings. May the righteous win the court case. Goddess, you know that my parents want me to get married soon... And you know my fears and my wishes. Please let them be fulfilled someday! Come again next year. May a day come when I'll be able to perform the boron ritual during Dashami( a woman has to be married in order to take part in boron and sindur khela))
Soon after all of us were done paying our respects, the labourers lifted the idol together and circled it 7 times.
Once that was done, I blew the conch one last time when the idol was lowered into the water.
The face of the Goddess disappeared underwater soon after and all of us joined our hands for bidding farewell to the Goddess.

It was finally Shubho Bijoya!

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

Indrayan's pov:

Dashami was indeed an eventful day.
We had sindur khela and bisorjon afterwards.
We returned to Sampurnaa's home after the immersion. I will be returning to my home for packing up my things. Sampurnaa and I have an early flight to catch in the morning tomorrow.

When we got back, the younger ones are supposed to seek the elders' blessings. Sampurnaa had the courtesy to touch Dida's feet before anyone else. Dida blessed her lovingly, "May God bless you child! May you succeed in life! May the Goddess grant you a good husband."

I went and touched her feet. She blessed me with success and happiness in life. I was about to get up when she motioned me to bring my ear near her. I obliged. She said, "Your parents and I need to speak to you regarding something important. Finish seeking everyone's blessings and then come to me."

From her tone, it seemed to be serious.
I nodded and went away. I sought everyone's blessings as did Sampurnaa and Abhimanyu. Adrija was asked not to bend down by everyone. Everyone blessed her with a healthy baby and good health.
I feel happy that she was married to the right boy and into the right family. From what I had seen, she was everyone's princess at her in-laws' house. She perhaps even enjoyed privileges that Abhimanyu and Sampurnaa were denied.

Once she was done, she asked me to seek her blessings as she is 18 minutes older to me. I knew that refusing her would invite unnecessary trouble so I obliged wordlessly.
She became happy instantly.
Sampurnaa saw all that and then bent to touch Adrija's feet as well.
Adrija blessed her gleefully.

She got up and turned towards me.
She joined her palms and wished me, "Shubho Bijoya!"

She was indirectly paying her respects to me as I am older than her.
I smiled and wished her back.
Her mother came to speak to her.
"Your father and I have something very important to speak to you about. Come and speak to us once you are done here."

I could sense the same seriousness in Deepshika aunty's voice as was with Dida.

I wonder what is that important thing our parents want to speak about....

.....
I walked to the living room where Dida was seated. Maa and Dad came and sat on either side of her.
God! Why does this look like they are interrogating a criminal?
I went and took a seat across them.

Dida was the first one to speak up.
"I want you to get married."

I nodded. I already know that!

She continued, "You wanted a girl who would be independent and would not interfere in your professional life. I don't know the girl I have chosen for you as well to know her opinion. But I do believe that you know her better to decide for yourself."

That confused me! I did have two girlfriends in the UK; but they are not Indians. And to my knowledge, they are married and have two kids each. Moreover no one in my family apart from Adrija know this!
Who is Dida talking about? From what I know, she is modern and has an up to date thinking when it comes to girls and their roles... But she is pretty set on accepting only a Bengali, brahmin girl as her granddaughter in-law.

Maa could make out my inner turmoil and confusion. She asked me to look at her.
I complied.
"Son, we are your parents and we will always want the best for you. From what I have seen, there is no way that you are going to like the girls crazy about sarees and jewellery. You have not exactly been very communicative with people. You have a hot head and a short temper. You can never adjust or live with a meek and soft spoken woman! You need an active volcano, a spitfire who'll match decibels with you!"

Even though I am a fully grown man; I was literally feeling scared as to who that girl was who my parents had chosen for me! From their description, it doesn't seem like they are prepping up for my marriage.

Finally, Dad decided to come straight to the point.
"Listen child! I wouldn't go around in circles like your mother. We were thinking of getting you married to Sampurnaa."

My eyes opened wide and I actually stood up in shock!
Dida spoke up before I had the chance to get a word in, "Not a word! We think she is perfect for you! Her parents and Abhimanyu feel you are good enough for her. You both have similar thoughts and I know for a fact that my grandson is capable of giving Sampurnaa the respect that she wants from her husband."

I spoke almost mechanically and subconsciously as one of our previous conversations came to my mind.
"She wants her husband to support her in achieving her dreams and goals. She wants her husband to look at her as a respectable individual and not just as his wife, a daughter, a daughter in-law, a sister or a mother. She wants an identity of her own."

Maa, Baba and Dida smiled at that.

Maa came near me and touched my shoulder, "I know that I have taught my son well enough so he gets to be that kind of a husband to his wife. Think about it child! I know you both have known one another on professional grounds... But think beyond that and then decide."

My mind was racing.
Even though I have always been clear about the kind of woman I want to spend my life with, taking the decision now is really tough.
There is no doubt that Sampurnaa is someone I would willingly agree to marry.... But marriage is not just about our consent.
It is something beyond that.
.......

I was in deep thought for 15 minutes.
Dida was sitting next to me.
I looked at her. She patted my head lovingly.
"Don't think too much now. Just ask yourself if she is the right one for you and if you are the right one for her. You need to leave a few topics for mutual discussion."

My mind felt quite at ease at Dida's words.
Maybe I can leave the overthinking for later. I have known Sampurnaa well enough... I believe I will be able to fulfill her criteria. Obviously things will take time to fall in place; be it now or be it later.

After much thought, I finally spoke out my mind.
"It is a yes from my side, Dida. I would like to speak to her once though before taking the final call."

Dida smiled and hugged me. Maa and Dad looked happy too.

Just then the door to the master bedroom, where Sampurnaa's parents had taken her for the same talk I believe, opened.
Her parents walked out followed by Adrija and Abhimanyu.
Her mother smiled and said, "She agreed."

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

Sampurnaa's pov:

I knew when Maa told me that she had something to discuss with me, that what she had to say was very important.
When I went into the room, Maa, Baba, Dada and Boudi were already seated there.
They asked me to take my seat.
Why does it feel like a high level investigation or interrogation?

I looked at them expectantly.
Maa was the first one to speak, "My child, listen to everything that we have to say and then react."

Great! So she is positive that whatever it is that she has to say would actually not go well with me.

I refrained myself from saying anything. Let her say all that she has to first!

Maa continued after she got no reply.
"You know that we have been insisting on your marriage for quite a few months now. Believe me child! As parents, we will never want your career to reach a dead-end! All that we wish to see is you with the right man. We know what your dreams and wishes are... We honestly want all that you desire to come to you. My child, we don't know what the future beholds for us. It will be difficult for you to understand our point of view... But we fear that our princess would fail to select the right man. I know you are intelligent, strong and a grown-up... But you are still our child, our responsibility and random thoughts do make us anxious!"

Baba took over from there.
"We know that you are young... And we know that we are growing old each day. We know what you expect from your life partner, shona. We have selected someone for you. The decision will be yours. We can vouch for one thing and that is that he is a man who'll never stop you."

I seriously couldn't understand where they were headed to with this discussion. I just can't marry a random man from the street! I trust my parents to make the correct choice... But this is a big decision!

Baba continued, "We know his family better because his sister is now a part of our family."

With that one line, things began to fall in place. Was he talking about... ???!!!!????

I am guessing that my expressions gave me away because Dada chose to speak up.
"Yes we are! We are talking about you getting married to Indrayan. You know that he is not one of those male chauvinistic idiots you always stand against. You know that he comes from a good family and that he'll think twice before everything. My little sister, you were born 5 years after me and I vowed to keep you safe and protected. I knew that someday even you'd have to marry.... And that I'd have to look for someone who I trust.
After a lot of thought... I reached the conclusion that the only compatible man who I trust at the moment is my brother in-law. The final decision is yours... We'll never force you into anything! You are much more important to us than anything else. Think over it for once!"

My mind was in a great turmoil!
A man who I met on professional grounds... Someone who I came to know gradually, turned out to be my sister in-law's brother. And now, he is the one who my family wants me to get married to.
Honestly, I know for a fact that he is trustworthy and that he's the kind of man who I would agree to get married to. My parents are right about him and his family.

The only thing that is troubling me at the moment is the word 'MARRIAGE'

It isn't just about a yes from my side and his... Our lives, our families, us as individuals... Everything will become connected if we get married.

Marriage in the Indian society is still an orthodox bond. What if there is pressure about children in the near future? What if....
I had all those kazillion thoughts running through my mind when Maa came and patted my head comfortingly.
I hugged her in response.
She smiled calmly and lifted my face up gently.
"The thoughts that are running through your head now.... There's a long way to go before they have to come on your mind. Right now, don't think about your marital life, your in-laws or anything like that! The only thing I want to ask you now is that do you see a possible future and a life with him?"

I closed my eyes and replayed the few conversations that we'd had during the brief period of knowing one another.
My first day as a trainee reporter and his case, Sridha's case and the incidence at the brothel....

I shuddered subconsciously when the brothel came back to my mind.
Maa read my mind. She patted my hair soothingly and told me, "I know what you fear. You may have a strong façade child, but you cannot hide yourself from me. I know that somewhere on your mind, the incidence is still fresh. I know that you feel troubled at each court hearing... Don't let those unmanly men change your thoughts about men! You know your Baba and you Dada. They chose this boy for you... As long as we are alive, we promise that we'll try and keep you protected."

I looked up to meet her gaze, "You can't protect me against everything maa... Just remain by my side... I just need you to."

She nodded her head and kissed my forehead.
I closed my eyes again and made a silent prayer.
I opened my eyes a few minutes later. Maa, Baba and Dada were still there. Their expressions were neutral.

I took a deep breath before speaking out the words that would change everything, "Maa, Baba, Dada and Boudi, ami raaji."

(i give my consent.)

Dada and Boudi came and hugged me together. Maa and Baba looked at one another in satisfaction.

Maa immediately got up and opened the door, Baba and Dada followed her out.

I could hear Maa announce to everyone, "She agreed."

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

To be continued...

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