A Beautiful Butterfly

Mr. Jagdish Pradhan was a retired army officer. Although an old man of 80, he was fit as a fiddle. He had a bushy handlebar mustache. He took particular care in grooming himself. Therefore, a retired university teacher, his friend, sometimes teased him saying, "Jaga are you going to marry again...?"To add to this, Pradhan sang old Hindi songs and enjoyed watching romantic old movies. People got astonished at his pluck and prowess. He had a grandson who was doing software engineering at a private institution in Bhubaneswar. The old man and the young man were best friends.

Pradhan's wife had died five years ago. His son and daughter-in-law lived in Germany and their work lay there. They had left the boy with the old man hoping that he would be adequately disciplined and hardworking.

Mr. Pradhan was walking through a street. Now it was evening and lights shone everywhere. He was astonished to hear a faint noise. He tried to figure out what was happening. To his amazement, he saw a large shabby black Honda City car on the other side of the road. He crossed the road and saw a young girl inside it. She was pounding the car door violently in a do-or-die fashion. Her mouth was gagged and her limbs were firmly tied.

Pradhan roused the people there..! There was a vast gathering soon. The car door was opened and the girl was rescued. After her limbs were untied, she narrated a shocking and sordid tale. She said she was working for two ladies at Surya Nagar. Although they had promised her a handsome monthly payment, in reality, she had received nothing even after more than four months. They used to beat her up cruelly when she asked for her remuneration. Now they were taking her to Kolkata against her wishes to sell her to someone called Nasir.

The police searched for the two ladies, but they were not found. Later on, with Sneha's help, they were able to nab the two Bangladeshi women in Kolkata. The girl's name was Sneha Sahoo.

The girl was almost an orphan. After her mother died, her father disappeared somewhere forever. Then she lived with her aunt and when she discovered her uncle entertained an evil longing for her, she came to Bhubaneswar from Dhenkanal. Here too she suffered incredibly at the hands of the two Bengali-speaking Bangladeshi ladies, Lubina Akhtar and Nikhat Khan.No one knew how they managed to stay in an Indian city without causing the least suspicion in anyone's mind. Eventually, she was being taken to Kolkata.

Mr. Pradhan confronted a lot of hurdles to bring the girl to his house. She was suspicious of every man, no matter whether young or old, rich or poor. Men were demons always intending to tear beautiful women into hundreds of shreds. The softer Mr. Pradhan became towards her, the more was her fear of him. After her immediate rescue,q an old lady named Shiri had come forward to take the girl into her custody and had promised her food and shelter. But Shiri was a quarrelsome old woman and was of unclean habits.

After winning the girl's trust, Pradhan took the necessary measures to educate her. Sneha had studied at a college in her locality. She had not completed her 2 arts. The old man inspired her every day to resume her studies. As time rolled on, the girl to everybody's surprise worked incredibly with all her might. Every evening Pradhan taught Sneha history, economics, or political science with tremendous zeal. Now she called him 'Baba.' Pradhan was both her father and mother. She did the cooking and with his help excelled in it.

Pradhan's grandson Abhishek was a fitness freak.

When he completed his engineering, Sneha was a most glamorous colorful butterfly. What was most important, she was going to complete her graduation through distance learning. Pradhan thought it was time to unite her with his grandson. Abhishek was a fun-loving boy and much more fashionable than any of his myriad of friends. He had his own luxury car and four sports bikes. He freely mixed with Sneha. All three of them would often sit down to discuss various topics, enjoying tea and coffee at the same time.

Now, most of the time Pradhan appeared worried.

The girl had often said to her, "Baba, what's going on with you..?"She noticed that Abhishek didn't join their afternoon tea and coffee sessions.

Sneha had cleared his 3 arts exams. She had the time and was reading a novel. She was interrupted by some noises. She became alert and listened carefully standing close to the door.

She heard Abhishek say, "What will the people say and think if I marry my housemaid..? What will my friends think of me? I am a software engineer. You want to yoke me with a girl of your own choice..? Your times were different. Our times are different..! I don't want to see her here any longer...Or I am going to leave this place forever. I want to marry a software engineer too...!"

In the morning, Sneha noticed that Abhishek was nowhere to be seen. Pradhan told her the boy's maternal grandfather who had been a diabetic for forty years was seriously ill. The boy had to make a visit to his village.

As the beautiful girl knew everything, she was inwardly upset about her 'Baba'.A few weeks passed. She came to know that Abhishek had reached the city of Dusseldorf where his parents were employed. Mr. Pradhan had been trying to bring his grandson to his line of thinking for quite a long time.

Now she was preparing for a job. After one year Pradhan always appeared to be his usual self. He was cheerful whenever she observed him. What was the reason..? She couldn't know a thing about it.

One evening, Pradhan told her in the sweetest possible tones: "My little one..! I am going to bring about your marriage. The boy is my friend's grandson.

He is a doctor...! He has got a job in the USA.. Don't remember my friend Anirudh's visit to our place on the day of Shiva Ratri three months ago..?"

He observed that Sneha was not at all happy.

She placed a coffee mug on the table for him and went to her own room. Instead of drinking coffee, he followed her and found her crying helplessly. He said, "Titli, why are you crying..? We have got such a great opportunity.." She turned to him and collapsed in his arms sobbing. She told me she was not going to leave him at any cost. He was her only hero. She could not leave him to the mercy of destiny and go away to America to live a luxurious conjugal life there.

Ultimately, Pradhan said to her chidingly, "Do you think I am going to live forever..? I have both diabetes and blood pressure. At my age, you could never tell when I am going to breathe my last. Almost all my friends are dead...Who will take care of you after my death..?" He saw that the girl who was cooking dinner was crying. He winded up his speech abruptly.

One evening Pradhan told his friend Anirudh that the marriage was not at all possible. The girl is unwilling to leave his side at any cost. Both the old men were disappointed. After this, Pradhan felt very bad about it. Their meetings were also not so frequent.

After a month or so, Anirudh called and said that his grandson had changed his mind to go to America and was ready for the marriage. Pradhan was immensely surprised. However, the marriage took place almost immediately.

After their wedding, Sneha came to visit her Baba most of the time. She cooked for him or her husband brought the old man cooked food every day.

After the wedding, Sneha had asked Sujit, "Why didn't you go to the USA..?"

He had said, "Had I gone abroad, who would have married the beautiful butterfly that you are..?"

"That's a lie...!" she had said.

"And you were a first-rate nincompoop...! You were not reciprocating... You were too stupid to understand my signs and signals. I talked to you on many occasions but you didn't realize what I meant...."

She recalled how he had talked to her at some marriage and birthday parties with unexpected eagerness. She thought he was curious about her progress in her studies. How could she believe a doctor was interested in her...? She just wanted to say, "I am really sorry." But she couldn't speak a word even. Only tears rolled down her cheeks.." He could hardly perceive what had gone wrong...