The boat entered the village's bay and got stuck in the water.
Kanungo Hemenbabu said, "Tie it tightly around the acacia tree..."
The river outside was low tide, the water under the thorn bushes was receding, and the mud was coming out little by little.
Hemenbabu said, "Come down a little and see where the pins were thrown? The sooner the Khanapuri is finished...
I didn't feel like working any more on such a beautiful afternoon. The people from the boats behind would get down and fix a place and pitch a tent there. The big boss of the survey was supposed to come from the headquarters soon, so everyone was eager to start work as soon as possible. Sub-Deputy Nripenbabu had come to work on the Khanapuri for the first time to learn the job. He wasn't very old, he was young, but he was very scared when the boat swayed in the middle of the river. It seems that he had been lying in the chhai for so long, pretending to fall asleep, to escape his fear. Now he came out of the chhai to put the boat on the shore, and a little later he started a verbal argument with Hemenbabu about something.
I told Nripenbabu that there was no need for the Tenancy Act, instead let's go down and fix the place for the tent, so that the work could start tomorrow morning...
The month of Chaitra passed. The green creeping trees on both banks of the rural river were full of blue-petalled forest-invincible flowers. Somewhere, a bamboo bush had bent down by the water, and at the bottom, it was shaking its head in the wind, carrying the branches of the Akand Ghentu flower on its head. In the sun-burnt grassy fields on both sides, a flock of ganshaliks chirps in the sparsely leafed acacia trees—their nest is in a hole on the left bank of the river. Somewhere along the water's edge, under the Makal-lata bushes, there is a tall bush of banamulo, and a thick smell like nutmeg rises from their small yellow flowers.…
As the afternoon wore on, we went to see where the tent would be located on the left bank. Although the village is a little far from the river bank, the village girls come to fetch water from the river. A little further to the left of where our boathouse was tied, there is a small, unpaved ghat with steps cut into the ground. An old man from the village must have been coming to bathe in the river on a summer afternoon. We asked him, "What is the name of the village in Rasulpur, sir? This one in front, or that one?"
He said, "No, this is Kumur, the other side is Amdanga-Rasulpur, behind these villages, two kos apart—you?"
Hearing our introductions, the old man said, "Will you pitch your tent in this field? It will take five or six months for your survey work to be completed…
We said, "That will happen, in fact, more than that…
The old man said, "This is a place of Thakur, the girls of the village come to worship, rather move a little further and pitch your tent towards the mouth of the river, otherwise it will be a little inconvenient for the girls…
The old man's name was Bhuvan Chakraborty. When the survey began, Chakraborty started traveling in his tent many times with documents in his hand for his own needs, he mixed and became acquainted with everyone. Many people had illegally occupied his ancestral lands, if only with our help they would make some progress—he would often tell us such things.
I did not stay there for long. The work of Khanapuri had begun, I would return to the district that day—waiting for the tide, it was getting late to leave the boat. Chakraborty Masai was also present that day. I asked him in passing, why is this called the field of brides and wives, Chakkatti Masai? What do you have…
Nripen Babu also said—Good point, tell me Chakraborty Masai, what is the matter of brides and wives—I have never heard of it!
In response to our question, I heard a strange story from Chakraborty Masai. He started saying—Listen, this is a story of that time. I heard it from my grandmother when I was a child. Many old people in this region know this story.
In those days, a single-room household lived in this village. Now none of them are there, but at the time I am talking about, their big partner Patitapaban Chowdhury Mahasoy was very famous.
When this depraved Chowdhury Mahasoy married a third party and brought his wife home, he was over fifty years old. Not that she was particularly old, especially the body of the bhoga - even though he was fifty years old, Chowdhury Mahasoy looked much younger than his age. Everyone in the house was very pleased to see the wife. Chowdhury Mahasoy had married a third party wife because he saw a slightly plump girl, and the new wife was about seventeen years old. The shape of the wife's face was very beautiful, the shape of her face was like the ace of a game. Her eyes were quite plump, and there was a heavy calmness in her shallow face. Seeing the work and calmness of the new wife, the people of the neighborhood said that such a wife had never come to this village. She kept her eyes on the ground and did not speak except by saying something, she wore a veil even in front of her young in-laws; everyone said that she was as beautiful as Lakshmi.
But after two or three months, a big disaster happened. Everyone saw that the wife was fine, but there was one big flaw. She didn't want to be around her husband at all, she wanted to avoid him as much as possible. At first everyone thought that she was newly married, a boy, that's probably why she was doing this! But gradually it became clear why her husband was so afraid of any man. When there was a big gathering of people at home for a yajna or some other big event, she never left the house. She refused to go to her husband's house at all.
Every day or two in a month, everyone would go to her and pat her on the back, but she would fall at the feet of everyone, begging and pleading with this and that, but she would not understand. She felt a bit embarrassed whenever she heard a man's voice.
After much persuasion, one day everyone sent her to her husband's house and chained her to the door. Many nights, Chowdhury entered the house and saw his third wife huddled in a corner of the room, trembling with fear. After that, she never wanted to go to her husband's house again, and started wandering around the house, lying on the ground, telling everyone, "I'm so scared, I'm scared."