An Old Man and His Young Wife

Chapter 2

Sumitra was from a good family of Guwahati and having all modern etiquettes a good modern girl should have possessed. Himangshu agreed to the marriage proposal brought by a relative of Sumitra without a second thought even before meeting her for the first time. Himangshu was not aware of the family details even after their ring ceremony was over.

However, Sumitra’s father, Haliram Saikia was taking each and every detail of Himangshu from all possible sources before he met Himangshu. That piece of information was passed on by Sumitra one month after their marriage. Sumitra, as a dutiful wife of Himangshu described in details, when and how Haliram Saikia collected all the information about Himangshu. After hearing detailed description on spying on him by his father-in-law before finalization of their marriage, Himangshu remarked, ‘Your father must be a damn fool. Even after taking so much pain, he was not able to find out my past history.’

‘He is not a damn fool. Rather you are a damn fool. He had gathered all your past stories related to different ladies and discussed about your character in details with my mom. He was about to cancel our marriage. However, my mother rescued our marriage by saying that my father was also having relations with few girls before his marriage to my mother. But after marriage he could not dare to see another lady eye to eye without permission of my mother. My father kept mum for the next two months on that issue and our marriage took place. Remember one thing always, I am also the elder daughter of that mother, who kept my father under her control for the last twenty-six years.’ Sumitra gave a threatening which Himangshu could not ignore till her death over a decade ago.

What attracted Himangshu towards Sumitra on his very first meeting? Her softspoken behaviour and her good physique. However, within a year he came to know that her softspoken behaviour was nothing but a ‘stage managed show’ by the mediator who was very much aware of the fact that Himangshu likes only soft-spoken girls. But Himangshu never complained about her hard-hitting tongue to the mediator, as he always thinks, daughters are angels and wives are devils, is the truth, none in the world can deny after having a married life of more than one year.

What was the second point of his attraction? She maintained her physique for the next three years and after that Himangshu was never able to find the demarcating lines of her waistline and her stomach. That is also a reality for most of the couples around the world. So Himangshu had no complain about that also till her death.

Sumitra, had also many strong opinions about her husband. She thought Himangshu would be a very romantic person as he had few affairs before his marriage and he had sufficient money to purchase a car with his first year’s salary. Himangshu found out to be a non-romantic honest person and Himangshu took long ten years to purchase his first car. Therefore, Sumitra was a frustrated lady on these two accounts.

No, if you think that they were an unhappy couple that was also not true. They were happy almost for the entire month unless some relatively opulent relatives or acquaintances visit them. I think, this is true for all of us in our married life.

Himangshu and Sumitra were on the same side when coming to the love making sessions. Both were over enthusiastic for those sessions. That might be the most important factor for bonding of the two lives as one. Further, so far interest of their son was concerned, it was the foremost for both of them. Both of them were ready to sacrifice anything for Bitopan. Himangshu proved that beyond doubt, when even after sudden death of Sumitra, he remained alone for the next eleven years sacrificing all his physical desires, which was unexpected for those persons who knew him from his childhood days.

As already mentioned, Sumitra died in a massive heart attack unexpectedly at a very early age. She planned to go back to Delhi after visiting her ailing mother at Guwahati. Just one day before her departure she visited her family dentist to consult about filling up a tooth. After examining, the dentist advised her for removal of the decayed tooth. On his advice, she postponed her journey for three days and took an appointment for extracting the decayed tooth on the very next day.

Nobody knew what prompted a massive heart attack for her in the dentist’s chamber. She had a severe pain in her chest and her doctor sister, Anuja who accompanied her, could not find time to give even first aid. She died in the arms of her doctor sister and in the presence of her family dentist without giving them any time to give her any medical treatment.

That was a massive blow to Bitopan and Himangshu. However, Himangshu immediately coped up with the loss as he was not in deep love with Sumitra even after staying as husband wife for seventeen long years.

However, I need not have to explain the mental condition of a teen-ager who lost his mother all of a sudden. Therefore, it is quite obvious that, Himangshu had to take lot of pain to pull out Bitopan from the shock and depression. It took almost a month to make Bitopan normal once again.

Himangshu used to remember his wife as a partner of life with whom he could not connect emotionally despite of a married life spanning over almost two decades.