BUILD YOUR HOUSE ON THE ROCK (Part-48, Sl. No. 46) As darkness settled down, the fireplace in the big house lit up with flames of burning firewood. It was the only means of illumination available. The old woman staggered into the house, holding the old clothes she had for herself, to keep herself warm. The house bustled with movement of people inside, clanking of utensils in the process of being cleaned and shouting of the mother to her babies to behave. Aanti’s Asi must have had sent word to his neighbors and close relatives, for people started coming to the house one after the other. The new arrivals would throw a glance at me and then enter the house without uttering a word. I felt alienated and unwelcome as the inside of the house was filled with people, all men, numbering more than twenty, with me still sitting in the Nuga alone. Late February night in the hills definitely called for the warmth of burning fire of the fireplace. But I was perhaps destined to fight the chill out in the veranda, protected by only my low cost jacket and the trouser. Aanti, who had run to collect water and perhaps to take a hasty bath in the village water point soon after returning from the fields, was nowhere to be seen. Nor could I hear her voice in the interiors of the house. In the land of unknown people, all seemingly hostile to me, she was the only one whose presence would have brought some hope and courage. But it appeared that she too had become a stranger. I started blaming myself for making a hasty decision to come to Darka all alone. I started to introspect whether it was my childish speculation of things and jumping into wild conclusion or my paying of too much importance to a friend’s suggestion that had landed me into that awkward situation. Suddenly someone shouted from inside the house, “ Amma, namra hogo aatke” (Young man, come inside)! Since I was the only person sitting outside at that time, I was certain that it was me who was being called inside. The fireplace was surrounded by people, most of them being young, of ages ranging from mid twenties to mid thirties. Four or five of them were elderly people who sat at the Baago while the younger ones occupied the Udu and the Pimme. To my astonishment, all of them wore their shoes and slippers while sitting in the fire place unlike in my village where people kept their shoes and slippers outside and entered the house barefooted. Aanti’s Nvtv was busy cooking dinner, with her big bowl for steaming rice placed on the tripod stand on the fireplace while her elder daughter distributed home brewed wine to the visitors in Twrkaks (jugs made of bamboo). Two persons sitting in the Udu made room for me. As soon as I sat on a Murha facing the fireplace, many pairs of eyes scanned me. I felt as if I were a convict and people were staring at me with condemning eyes! Soon Aanti’s Asi addressed the gathering saying thus : Though I am poor and my cousin sister is orphaned, we have lived in dignity, holding our heads high in the society always. None of my family including my sister has ever done anything to dishonour ourselves before the society. My sister is a naive and straight forward girl. Everyone in the village knows this. No one has ever questioned her conduct or behaviour. Nor has she been a subject of gossip in connection with any man. This boy, who hails from a village far away in the plains of Assam, came in October last year asking for her hand. I had asked him to come back with his guardians later for further discussions if he was serious about the matter. I also asked him to bring Yoksi and Talo as per our tradition, for establishment of a matrimonial relationship. But in the meantime, I visited his maternal uncles’ village and found out that he has already been betrothed to a girl there. So I asked him through a letter not to come back to me as suggested earlier since I don’t want my sister to marry a person who is already in a matrimonial relationship with someone else. Despite that he has come again today, that too all alone and empty handed, dishonoring our tradition. This is a great insult to me and my family. In fact it is an insult to my clan that a good for nothing boy has approached my family to talk about matrimony all alone despite my stern refusal’. This also proves that this boy is a shameless hooligan, a social evil that needs to be punished and rooted out. Therefore I have asked you all, my clan brethren and revered relations of the Ete clan to come and make it known to the world that my sister is not in any kind of relationship with this boy and to decide the nature and extent of punishment to be given to this law breaker for intruding into my house and trying to bring bad name to my sister. To be continued.....
Posted on: Wed, 17 Dec 2014 20:12:49 +0000
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