An Old Man and His Young Wife

By Hiranya Borah

Central theme of the novel is true love of a young girl, Anuradha towards a powerful man, Himangshu Barua, double of her age. All the aspects of social life like, human relation, love, money power, effects and affects due to difference of age and social status in conjugal lives have also been showcased. The author
also tries to provoke the readers to have a relook at the social ethos and personal relations. Further, the author tries to differentiate among three categories of relations between men and women :

i) physical relation void of any emotional bonding, ii) physical relation with
social sanction but void of true love and iii) deep emotional bonding, true love, social sanction and then only indulgence of physical relation. Finally, he tries to expose the darker side of the society with people completely submerged in selfishness and people with indifferent attitude towards the tragedy of others.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Blue Rose Publishers
• Release date: Dec 9, 2022

Book preview

Himanshu and Bitopan

The early life of Himangshu Barua was almost similar to the early life and exploits of Kanak Barua of my earlier novel, ‘Blessed One’. Himangshu also had to face all the hurdles of life like Kanak Barua, to establish himself as a successful man. Being a rustic village boy of rural Assam, he was also rejected by many beautiful girls of urban background. Finally, he married Sumitra at the age of 25 and had a happy married life until suddenly Sumitra died when their only child, Bitopan was only a boy of sixteen.

Bitopan was the only child of Himangshu and Sumitra. It was not that intentionally Himangshu Barua and his wife, Sumitra decided to have only one child. But just after the birth of Bitopan, Sumitra had developed some complications in her ovary and which finally led to the removal of the ovary and that forced the couple to follow the ‘one-child norm of China’ when the Total Fertility Rate (TFR) was more than 4.5 for India during that period.

Initially, the couple was extremely unhappy to have only one child, but later on, they came to the terms with the reality that God had decided to bless them with one child only. Himangshu sometimes thought God had punished him by blessing him with only one child because he had physical relation with few ladies before his marriage to Sumitra. However, they bestowed all love to Bitopan and whatever might be the situation, both were united to resolve any issue pertaining to the interest of Bitopan.

Bitopan had a lovely childhood and almost he had completed his lovely teen age with a fairy tale life until he lost his mother suddenly in a massive heart attack when he was barely sixteen.

Like his father, Bitopan had been a brilliant student throughout his career. He passed out from a reputed engineering college at the age of 21 with flying colours. Before, his result was out, he was offered a good job by an Indian MNC. However, he decided to go for his masters which he had completed in the next two years with another brilliant result. After his masters, he joined an American MNC which had picked him up from the campus itself. After his training in New York for a short period of six months, he was posted at Gurgaon as a Deputy Manager, Operation for the company.

After sudden death of Bitopan’s mother eleven years ago, Himangshu decided not to marry again thinking of Bitopan’s future. At that time, Bitopan was in class eleven only and he was completely devastated at his mother’s death. It was Himangshu’s bold and affectionate counselling that helped Bitopan to overcome his personal loss and was able to concentrate in his studies once again after a month or so.

After eleven years, Bitopan being a Deputy Manager in a reputed software development company with a reasonably good package, Himangshu thought Bitopan should settle down properly. At that time, Himangshu wanted Bitopan should marry a good girl and expand his family tree so that void of his wife would be filled with the joy of playing with his grandchildren. However, according to Bitopan, he had some other priorities in his life and therefore he was not at all interested to marry. One day, diametrically opposite views of father and son led to a heated exchange of arguments between them.

After the showdown, Bitopan went out for a stroll for half an hour at the nearby park. When his head cooled down after half an hour, he felt very bad at his own behaviour towards his father. He recalled how his father brought him up after his mother’s death forgoing all his physical and emotional comfort. Had he thought for his own comfort eleven years ago, Bitopan’s life might have been in a hell. Thinking about those days, when he was in college, he became very sad for his father. Without his knowledge, few drops of tears rolled over his cheek.

After reaching home after one hour or so he reluctantly told his father to look for a suitable girl for him, if he really thought, that would solve the problem of loneliness for him. Himangshu was all along waiting for his son’s nod, though he knew that with a reluctance, his son had given his consent to marry. Without losing time, on the very next day, he gave an advertisement in a leading newspaper for a suitable girl for his son.

But after six months, in one evening when his father confided about his proposed marriage with Anuradha, Bitopan was initially shocked. He all along thought his father was too old to think about his own remarriage and that is why he was insisting on Bitopan’s marriage for the last one year.

‘Papa, hope you are not joking!’ Bitopan exclaimed.

‘No, my child. I am serious about my marriage. I have decided to marry a young girl named, Anuradha. I hope you will understand me.’ Himangshu replied to his son’s exclaim.

Though he was shocked for few minutes at his father’s decision for a remarriage, Bitopan became extremely happy within no time for his father who was thinking about his own marriage along with Bitopan’s marriage.

He recalled how his father was preparing his breakfast, lunch and dinner for him and how his father was barring Bitopan in going to the kitchen for any sort of cooking after the untimely death of his mother. He recalled, how his father disposed of all the proposals from the relatives for remarrying any lady considering the future of Bitopan. In the meantime, Bitopan had been settled financially and became matured enough to understand the loneliness of his father. He also could foresee the plight of his father once he would get married to a lady who might not be very compassionate to his father and his sacrifices. Bitopan could foresee his father might be lonelier once he gets married and settled somewhere else due to his posting. Therefore, Bitopan was more relieved than happy at the very news that his father was going to marry a lady of his choice. He whole heartedly supported to his father’s wish to remarry thinking about his own interest and father’s interest.

‘May I know whom you are going to marry? Do I know her?’ Bitopan asked his father.

‘She is very young. She is only 25. Actually, this girl has been rejected by you for her educational background six months back. Her name is Anuradha, as I have already mentioned.’ Himangshu replied coolly.

When Bitopan came to know that the girl whom his father was going to marry was the girl who had been rejected by him because of her arts background, Bitopan was very much surprised and intrigued. Luckily for him, he was yet to meet Anuradha face to face even for once. Otherwise, it would have been a major embarrassment for both of them.

Another thought also gave Bitopan a sleepless night on that day; ‘will his father be able to satisfy the physical need of a lady who is younger than even his own son? Will her love for his father will vanish once initial euphoria is over? Has she agreed for the marriage only because of his father’s property without any feeling from her heart? Once she will have a child, will she try to snatch his father from him permanently? So far property of his father is concerned, Bitopan can sacrifice all the properties of his father for the happiness of his father. But emotional attachment? Can the young lady will be comfortable with Bitopan?’

Many thoughts had disturbed Bitopan on that night. However, in the next morning his veil of doubts evaporated and he had decided to support whole heartedly the remarriage of his father. He was eager to meet the young lady who had stolen the heart of his father but was rejected by him for her educational background.

He prepared himself mentally to treat his father’s young wife as his own mother like Debabrata (Bhisma) who always treated Satyavati as his own mother despite of the fact that Satyavati was much younger than Debabrata in age. (Debabrata and Satyavati are two very important characters of the epic Mahabharata).

Sumitra

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.

Anuradha

A moderately beautiful girl of twenty-five, Anuradha from the city of Jorhat had a tragic life on personal front. Her mother died when Anuradha was only two years, when her mother was to deliver her second baby. Both mother and the newly born baby died simultaneously leaving Anuradha as an orphan as her father did not wait for even a year to tie the nuptial knot for the second time with another village spinster.

Anuradha’s father was a clerk in the Jorhat Deputy Commissioner’s office and was an influential official in the father’s locality situated about thirty KM from Jorhat. Therefore, getting a spinster as his second wife was not a problem for him. After his marriage to his second wife Pranati, Anuradha was sent to her maternal uncle’s place. At that time, her grandparents were alive and therefore she was properly taken care of for the next five years till his grandfather expired.

After death of his grandfather, she started to feel the heat of an orphan. As at the death of her grandfather, her grandmother had to lose the prime position of the family matters to the wife of her eldest son, her protective cover for Anuradha started waning. Within a year, Anuradha became an unwanted person in her maternal uncle’s place. Finally, she was bundled out of the grandmother’s place and was sent back to the unwilling father’s residence, when her grandmother also expired after two years of the death of her grandfather.

Hardly, she was kept in her father’s place for a month or so, then she was again shuttled to her father’s native place, Teok some thirty KM away from her father’s official residence. Her grandmother from her paternal side kept the eight-year-old granddaughter for the next seven years till she passed her matriculation examination. Then she was again bundled out from her grandmother’s place and forced into her father’s place, Jorhat.

From that day onwards, she was staying in her father’s place, a virtual hell for her. She could not pass even a single day without a fight with her stepmother, stepbrother and stepsister. Her father never stood on her side during the entire period of her stay in that hell. She wanted to leave her father’s place every day, but had to stay back, as she had no alternative place to go. After passing out of degree course, she wanted to go to Guwahati or Dibrugarh to pursue her masters. But her father refused to bear the cost of further education and having no alternative she had to stay back. Then she started taking tuitions of school children to meet the expenditure on her bare minimum needs.

Anuradha is a moderately beautiful girl and therefore, there was no dearth of suitors for her. But she was not interested in those unemployed and underemployed youths. She did not want to go from a frying pan to a fire-place. In other words, she did not want to change her postal address from Hell No-1 to Hell No-2.

When she saw the advertisement for seeking an alliance for Bitopan, she was more than interested to jump into the bandwagon of girls interested to marry Bitopan.

There were many reasons why Anuradha was interested to marry Bitopan. First and foremost was that he had a decent job by any standards. Second most important factor was that he did not have a mother and therefore wife of Bitopan would be free from the expected atrocities of a mother-in-law. Third, they would be living in Delhi which might be a dream place for a girl living at a small district headquarters of a district of Assam. Fourth, she would be out of reach of her father’s family.

When, Bitopan out rightly rejected her because of her educational background, she was hurt. She thought to contact, Bitopan directly, but she did not have his phone number or email address. Therefore, she telephoned Himangshu Barua to request him to reconsider her case. But she did not get any assurance from Himangshu Barua also to reconsider her case by his son. Then she sent an email to Himangshu Barua.

‘Dear Sir,

In response to your advertisement for your son’s marriage, I just want to inform you that I am interested with the profile of your son. But you have already informed me that he is not interested in me. But I am writing this email with a request to reconsider my case.’

Anuradha was not figured in the original short list of five willing girls for his son. Therefore, Himangshu Barua did not want to respond to the girl as his son has already told him that he was interested to marry a girl having an engineering degree so that both of them could work in some similar environment. Even if the girl would not be from engineering background, at least she should be from science background. So naturally, Anuradha did not fulfil the essential criteria laid down by Bitopan and Himangshu knew that Bitopan would not change his minimum qualification criteria for an unknown girl.

‘Dear Anuradha, I am really sorry to inform you that my son is not interested to marry a girl from arts background. I do not want to hurt your sentiment. I am sure you will get a suitable boy for you in due course of time.’ Himangshu replied back. Himangshu’s reply was not at all diplomatic in nature.

After a day, to Himangshu’s surprise Anuradha emailed again.

‘I am habituated to get such type of replies for the last few years from the employers where I have applied for jobs or from the guardians of possible grooms having good jobs and good family backgrounds. My step mother always makes fun of me at every refusal I have to face in my life. My life will go on like this. Do not feel bad, I am not hurt.’

The email actually hurt Himangshu Barua instead. He wrote back, ‘I lost my wife more than ten years back. I did not marry again, anticipating that, my son would also suffer like you, had I brought a step mother for him at that time. Your father should have avoided a second marriage at that time at least.’ He concluded.

‘Everyone cannot sacrifice own comfort for others.’ Anuradha replied instantly.

Initially, Himangshu Barua thought Anuradha was a shameless girl who blatantly advocated her case for marriage. But reading her second and subsequent emails, he understood the justification of her desperateness to come out of the hell she was living.

Their exchange of email becomes frequent and both of them liked each other’s email more than anybody else’s. Then one day she telephoned him again. After few rounds of telephonic talks, Himangshu became so sympathetic to the girl, he decided to