Free A Bend in the River of Life by Budh Aditya Roy Page B

span, open a reasonable dialogue? So communication remained indirect, through Rajani to start with. The next round of battle of will between the mother and the son began as Amit’s health improved. Rajani exploited every opportunity to inject as much normalcy as possible between Amit and Monika, given the deep-seated divergence. She was looking for an excuse to stay away from the Garden Lakes house so that there was no other alternative but to start communicating directly.
    The opportunity soon came along Rajani’s way. However, it is not known until today if the opportunity showed itself up to Rajani or it was the making of Rajani’s outstanding ingenuity. Nonetheless, Sumit’s young wife became seriously ill at Rajani’s country house. It was so serious that she could not get up from the bed and she needed the nursing of her seventy year old mother-in-law! Rajani found it imperative to go there and help her for a couple of weeks. Thereforethere was no other alternative but to pick up a dialogue somewhere. Not unexpectedly though, the exchanges remained at the bare necessities of life. But something was better than nothing. Rajani’s craft and persistence began paying off rich dividends at long last. Peace returned to the earth, but remained an uneasy and fragile peace. Without an iota of doubt, Rajani also won the third and the decisive battle of attrition against her son hands down.
    This is how justice is dispensed in the whirlpool of the River of Life. It is the level playing field; the greatest equalizer of all. Each and every individual in its flow is accountable for his or her acts. The River of Life sets the same code of conduct and the same reward or punishment equally applicable for men and women irrespective of status. Any one in violation is put to rude awakening. There is no exception. No body escapes the sweeping reach of the River of Life. Ego has no place in it; the raised eyebrows of the high and mighty are shredded into fragments like the paddy on the threshing floor.
    Amit did not go back to his business. His partners offered him an oversight position in Calcutta. He decided not to accept the offer. Rather he opted for an early retirement. The future horizon of the Roy family drastically shifted its course. The higher education planned for Rana on completion of his graduation became murky. The expansion plan for Rajani’s country house suddenly evaporated in the thin air. The carefully woven dreams of the Roy family went haywire. This is how unpredictable the River of Life could be. The illness of Amit which became the plank for Monika’s homecoming also became responsible for puncturing the dreams of the three generations woven during their sojourn.
    Yet time goes on and the River of Life flows on. Along its tortuous ways many meadows are washed away blowing apart the protective fence of their embankments. Mending the fence becomes an inevitable and significant part of the dynamics of the River of Life. Rana’s life continued to be virtually unruffled during this period of his family’s intense battle of turf. He helped in mending fences byremaining absolutely neutral. His focus remained his graduation. Just another year and he would be an honor graduate. That would open up a grand vista for his future. So he stayed focused. He had no doubt that the wounded dream would nurse itself and find its way out. After all, for every dream gone awry ten are in the making; for every dream accomplished ten are waiting to sprout. For dream is the veritable driving force behind the River of Life.

SEEDS OF ROMANCE
    D ays come riding the chariot of the morning-glow and they leave with the promise of many more to follow. Time and tide stand prisoners to none. The River of Life flows on in its measured strides, never in a hurry, never in a scurry, but always deceptively rapidly. In the midst of this prevailing scenario, Rana became twenty almost imperceptibly. He just completed the