Two sisters. Alike in appearance but contrary in nature. Both leave home but where one of them returns the other goes missing. Binita Sen steps in to help in another bizarre search after Debts of Desire.
Read Chapter 6
The House was a palatial structure set amidst sprawling lawns that stretched on endlessly. The eye could not see the end of the land’s boundary. The main house was a three-storeyed gothic building. At the centre of the portico, where they now stood, a large marble mermaid stood in a dancing pose surrounded with other sea animals and was an exquisite piece of sculpture declaring the aesthetic taste of its owner.
Steps from the portico led up to the central lobby. A large staircase sprang out from the middle of the hall reaching up to the upper storeys. It was from this staircase that Keya and Binita noticed a man of thin lean frame walk down towards them. Keya recognized him as Mr. Lahiri. Though she had seen only a parting glimpse of the man the other day, there was something in his gait which was so unique that she knew she would recognize him anywhere.
“Hello, I am Shyamal Lahiri” he said in his crisp business-like voice.
“I am Binita Sen and this is my daughter Keya.”
Shyamal Lahiri nodded at them politely. “And you are from Kolkata?” there was a hint of eagerness in his voice.
“Yes. We came here for a holiday. It was by chance that I met an old friend Sister Joyce DSilva. It was from her that I heard Dr. Subhankar Bagchi’s daughter is here” said Binita smiling politely “You see, my late husband was under Dr. Subhankar Bagchi’s treatment. We are so grateful to him for all that he has done for us. I can never thank him enough. Therefore, when I heard that his daughter is here I could not stop myself from coming over to meet her and express my gratitude.”
“Of course” said Shyamal Lahiri politely but Keya noticed a flicker of disappointment cross his face.
He escorted them upstairs and led them into a large living room. Asking them to wait as he asks somebody to inform Nandita, Dr.Bagchi’s daughter, to meet her.
“I remember he had twin daughters. Are both of them here? ” said Binita looking at him innocently.
“No, one of them is” said Mr.Lahiri with an edge in his voice.
“Oh. I had hoped to meet both of them.” said Binita sadly.
A loud crash of thunder announced that the rains had finally decided to descend.
Mr.Lahiri looked at them with concern
“Do you have a car Mrs. Sen. This rain is not going to stop any time soon.”
“I did. But you know how these local taxis are. Always bothered with making more money. The fellow did not wish to wait so I let him go. In any case, I will not take long. As soon as I express my thanks , I will be off” she said smiling sweetly.
Mr. Lahiri pursed his lips doubtfully, but simply nodded curtly, and left the room.
Binita looked around the room. It was large and opulent. Huge glass chandeliers hung from the ceiling. The velvet sofas were plush and resplendent in their gold rimmed beize covers. Large French windows opened out into a terrace that overlooked the lawn below. Twos cosy love seats stood on either side of the fireplace. The mantelpiece was filled with photographs of the general with his daughter and granddaughters, a laughing and frolicking family unaware of the troubles that destiny had in store for them.
Binita held up one photograph where the children were playing peekaboo covering their faces with their hands. It was a picture of such innocent glee that Binita could not help smiling herself.
“You wanted to see me?” a cold voice made Binita turn around.
She noticed a young woman a little younger than Keya standing before her. She was tall and thin and had a sad sour face.
“Ms.Bagchi?” said Binita politely as she walked towards her “Your father Dr. Subhankar Bagchi was my husband’s physician. I came to thank you for everything that he did for us.”
“Oh!” said Nandita looking at Binita without any expression “I am sorry, but I hardly knew my father. He passed away before my birth.”
“Yes, I know” said Binita quickly “I am really sorry for you. Not having known a man such as him is a real loss. But at least now you know a bit about his greatness. It is through people like us that he will live on forever.”
Nandita simply shrugged and looked at Binita with the same expressionless face.
Keya found it strange that a girl as young as Nandita could look so sad and doughy. Also, the fact that she showed so little interest in knowing about her father was odd.
“And I hear now that you have lost your mother too” continued Binita unperturbed by Nandita’s obvious disinterest “Also, the fact that your sister too is missing is indeed a disturbing thought. I am really sorry that you have to go through such a lot at so young an age.”
Nandita simply nodded silently. Another crash of thunder sounded above them plunging them all in darkness. The thunder had apparently cut off the electricity. The three of them stood silhouetted in the darkness with the light from the fireplace being the only source of illumination in the room.
Nandita stared into the fire as she suddenly spoke in a low murmur as if she were speaking to herself. “But she is all over the house. Every room has her laughter embedded in its walls. The air is filled with her perfume. At every corner I can hear her whisper my name. It’s unbearable.”
Binita walked up to her and gently touched her shoulder. Nandita jumped as if she was in a trance and looked at her realizing she was not alone.
“I …I am sorry. Let me get somebody to bring some lights” she said rushing out of the room.
Keya suddenly felt sorry for the girl despite her initial observations. “Poor girl. She must be missing her mother a lot” she said softly.
Binita turned sharply to look at her daughter. She gave her a strange smile and nodded “Yes indeed!”
Soon Mr. Lahiri entered followed by a short rotund lady with a kind motherly face carrying a large lantern.
“I am afraid Mrs.Sen the storm outside has turned really ugly” began Mr.Lahiri looking concerned “There is no way you can return today in this treacherous weather. I believe you will have to spend the night with us.”
“Oh no” began Binita looking appropriately embarrassed “I am so sorry to have put you in such botheration.”
“It is not a bother at all. You really could not help it. Could you? Mrs. Lobo here will show you to your rooms. We have dinner at 8 pm sharp. Hope it is not too early for you? General Das is a bit of a stickler for time. I hope you understand. All that army training is well entrenched in his system” he said grinning “We shall see you then at the dinner table.”
Binita thanked him profusely for his kindness and apologized again for the bad timing and followed Mrs. Lobo out of the room with Keya in tow looking at her mother with a newfound respect for her latent acting talents.
As they walked out of the room and approached the staircase that led to the rooms above, Binita looked around and commented casually “This is such a beautiful house.”
“Oh! it is just a ghost of its earlier self. You should have seen it in its prime” said Mrs. Lobo proudly “Roses in the garden, chandeliers in the halls, the floors shining like glass and the people all laughing and loving life. The parties that we had, the music, the laughter. All that is gone. There is just darkness and sadness in this house now.” she said sighing sadly.
“You seem to have been with the family since a long time” asked Binita moving closer to walk with Mrs. Lobo.
“Yes.” said Mrs. Lobo nodding her head “I came with the Missus when she got married.”
“You mean the General’s wife?” asked Binita
“Yes. We used to move around in barracks then. The General moved from one posting to another, and we moved along with him. Then after his retirement, the General moved here. This house belonged to his father and was left uninhabited for several years before he moved in. It is the General who renovated it and made it habitable once again. When the Missus died, the General asked me to stay on as Shivangi would need me as she was still in school. Such a beautiful child.” She sighed.
“The General himself is like God. He has been just like a big brother to me all these years. Such a fine gentleman. Never a rude word with the servants or with me.” Mrs. Lobo smiled as she relived her memories.
“Then Shivangi grew up and got married.” she continued ” They made such a lovely couple, the young doctor and her. I wanted to leave with her when she left. But she insisted that the General needs me more than her. He will be all alone, and the house needed looking after too. She was a good girl” said Mrs. Lobo smiling at her memories.
“But then she came back.” said Mrs.Lobo ruefully ” Oh, it was such a sad sight. She was hardly 26. The General was completely broken looking at her darling daughter. It was only when we came to know that she was about to become a mother, that we all began to come alive with a new hope. Then Nani and Annie were born. It was a difficult birth and weakened Shivangi. I brought up the girls myself.”
“You mean Nandita and Anindita? How were they as children?” said Binita trying not to appear as if she was prying.
“Oh, they were a delight. MaggieAmma, they called me. It was me they came to when they wanted some crazy demands to be met or when they needed to hide their mischief from their Daddy” she said laughing.
“Daddy?” asked Binita surprised.
“They called the General ‘Daddy’. Since Shivangi used to call him that, they picked it up from her” she said in a way of explaining, “I was the grandmother they never had as well as the mother who could not be there for them always.”
“They are identical twins, aren’t they?” asked Binita
“Yes. Alike as peas. You could hardly tell them apart when you saw them. But they are so different in their natures.”
“Different in what way?” asked Binita.
“Oh, if one was North Pole, the other was South” said Mrs.Lobo “Nani was the wild one I would say. Her laughter filled these halls whenever she was home. She loved life and it seemed as if life loved her back too. Always partying till late, always up to some mischief or the other.”
“And what about Annie?” asked Binita.
“She was the quieter one. Always keeping to her books. She hardly spoke to anybody when she was home. All she would ask for is a mug of her favourite hot chocolate and she would disappear into her room with a book. She would only come out to refill her mug. While Nani would often scream and shout when she got angry, Annie was always courteous and polite and never did she utter a rude word to anyone.”
They had reached the top of the stairs. Mrs. Lobo fumbled in her pocket to take out the key and led them towards their room.
It was a moderately spacious room which had a large balcony that looked out on to the garden and the valley beyond. A large bed filled up most of the room. An oval shaped mirror with gilded border hung on a wall. An ebony wood cupboard stood in one corner of the room. Mrs. Lobo placed the lamp on the small table by the bed.
“You must be happy to have at least one of the girls back” said Binita.
“Yes…yes of course.” said Mrs.Lobo. She paused for a while and looked as if she was about to say something and then she changed her mind.
“With Nani in the house, some of the laughter must have returned?” asked Binita looking at Mrs. Lobo.
The older woman shook her head thoughtfully “Not really. I think marriage and the years have changed her.”
“Why do you say that?” asked Binita.
“She remains silent most of the times and does not even speak to me much. She remains inside her room with her husband. He seems to be a shy one too and does not mix around a lot. Either that or he must be aware that the General does not really approve of him much, which is why he keeps to himself away from his sight as much as possible.”
“But why does the General not approve of him?” asked Binita.
“Well, let’s just say, he is not exactly the boy he would have approved for his granddaughters. Specially Nani” said Mrs. Lobo smiling politely.
“I see” said Binita nodding her head. “And what about Nani? Why do you think she is so silent?” she asked.
“I don’t know” said Mrs.Lobo “Ever since she is back, I find she is usually lost in her own thoughts. The other day, she was in the garden and I called out to her from the kitchen asking her to get me some mulberries from the tree outside. She hardly responded. She kept sitting sipping her tea. It was only after I shouted out loudly, did she turn around. She looked at me vaguely for some time as if not realizing what I was saying. Then when I repeated what I wanted, did she get up. That is how lost she is in her thoughts.”
“How was their relationship with their mother?” asked Binita “Were they very close?”
“Shivangi was a kind person but her failing health stopped her from being the active and hands on mother she should have been to her daughters. As a result, they were closer to me than with their mother. They were happy to be around her, and she was happy being with them but that was about it. It was never a very deep bond the three of them shared.”
“And what about the bond between both of them?” asked Binita
“Oh, they were thick as thieves” said Mrs.Lobo laughing loudly as she moved around tightening the shutters of the windows. “They did have their share of sibling fights no doubt. In fact, few nights before Nandita eloped, they had a big row. It was deep in the night, so nobody got to know, I sleep near their room, so I heard it. I could not make out what it was they were fighting about, but I could understand it was about a man. They were arguing in loud whispers so that nobody hears them.”
I knocked on their room and asked them what the matter was,” said Mrs.Lobo ” but neither of them told me. I scolded them and told them to stop fighting and go to bed, like I did when they were young girls. Little did I know my girls had grown up and their MaggieAmma could no longer scare them with her scoldings” said Mrs. Lobo wiping an errant tear from the corner of her eyes.”
“Then within two days Nandita eloped.” Mrs. Lobo continued “I realised maybe Annie knew that Nani was planning this and had tried to stop her. But Nani being the wild one she was had refused to listen. So, when Annie left two weeks after her sister, I thought she had gone to look for her and bring her back.”
“And now, Nani is back but Annie is yet to be traced. That is a cruel joke indeed” said Binita.
“Yes” said Mrs. Lobo looking at Binita with a strange look in her eyes “Yes, it is.”
Once again Binita noticed a brief flicker of hesitancy in her eyes as if she wanted to say something but did not know if she should.
A flash of lightning shook her out of the reverie, and she looked at the clock in alarm.
“Oh My! Look at the time. It is so rare that I get to talk to new people that I cannot stop talking” she said giggling girlishly “I must get going now to check if dinner is ready. I did tell Cook that we have two extra guests for tonight. Hope she remembers and does not throw a tantrum now” said Mrs. Lobo walking briskly towards the door. Before leaving she looked back and smiled at them “Let me know if you need anything else” she said before closing the door after her.
“Isn’t that a nice lady?” said Binita smiling kindly.
“Yes but talks a lot though” said Keya grinning as she shook her head.
“Yes” said Binita as she walked towards the balcony and stared looking at the huge drops of hail and water pelting the carved balustrade with all its might.
“Sometimes that may not be a good thing” she muttered beneath her breath.
Read Next – Chapter 8
[…] Read next – Chapter 7 […]
The mystery deepens… what will Binita find in these huge halls? waiting for more… great going !!!
[…] Two sisters. Alike in appearance but contrary in nature. Both leave home but where one of them returns the other goes missing. Binita Sen steps in to help in another bizarre search after Debts of Desire. Read Chapter 7 […]