PROLOGUE

“ Kuhu, can you spot the saptarshi  Mandal over there?”, asked Debasish

” Wait.. lemme see.. ummm YES!!! . The  seven stars or the seven sages. It’s such  a clear view here. We never get to see  such a sight in Kolkata.”, Kuhu replied  with her gaze still fixed at the sky.

” When was the last time we  got time to  gaze up at the sky to see the stars at  night in Kolkata?“, Debashis held Kuhu’s    hands as  he said this sitting in the long veranda of  the bungalow in Balasun Tea Estate,  near  Darjeeling watching the night sky.

They were on their Honeymoon!

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Debashis and Kuhu did not have a marriage which could be called a “love marriage” at once. They worked for the same MNC bank in Kolkata and were colleagues. With time they realised that they liked each others’ company and when both of their parents’ started searching a match for them, they decided to marry each other.  It was actually an arranged marriage with the difference that it was them who had arranged it and not their parents. Both the set of parents were glad with the match and soon the date was fixed for their wedding.

It was about two weeks before their wedding that on a Saturday afternoon they sat together in a Coffee shop with their laptops planning their Honey Moon.

” Deb, Lets go to Goa.”, said Kuhu as she excitedly checked the travel sites.

It was done and frozen and with a package that they could well afford they planned a seven days trip to Goa just few days after their wedding day.

” I understand that one’s Wedding is a once in a lifetime affair but why are they so stressful?”,  whispered Kuhu to Debashis’s ears who  sat beside her in the stage. It was the day of their Wedding reception party.

” Don’t worry. It’s already 9 PM so just few more hours to go.  Day after tomorrow we leave for Goa…. Then it’s gonna be the sun, sand and just you and me. Wow!”,  though Debashis was then on the stage smiling at guests yet at that time he was almost mentally in Goa wondering the fun they would be having there.

However, Debashis and Kuhu couldn’t make it to their Honeymoon. Debashis’s  mother tripped from the stairs and broke her leg the next day of their reception party.  She had to be hospitalized for few days and then at complete bed rest at home. Debashis’s grandmother was old and needed care and attention. With his mothers’ illness there had to be someone taking care of the house and grandma.

It was Kuhu who volunteered and asked Debasish to Postpone their Honeymoon for sometime.  Within a month Debasish’s mother started walking slowly and by then Kuhu had won all hearts in her new family with dedicated and tireless service to everyone.

With things falling in place,  everyone in the family started pressurizing Debasish and Kuhu to set for their Honey Moon again.  It was just two months that they  had got married and when the leave application reached the desk of the Branch Manager,  he  rejected it outright.

They hadn’t any option left but to agree. Their Honeymoon got Postponed  once again.

Life moved on and both Debasish and Kuhu got busy adjusting into their new life and managing work.  Debasish was transferred to a far off branch as by rules both husband and wife couldn’t work for the same branch in the bank. This meant he left early from home and reached late. Weekends went off taking their much deserved rest and catching up with family and social visits. Before they realized, time flew off and they were eight months old in marriage.

Their Honeymoon was a forgotten affair by then for everyone.

Debasish’s aunt Sutapa,  lived in Balasun Tea eastate near Darjeeling.  Debasish was her favourite nephew and she was especially fond of Kuhu.  Sutapa Auntie’s husband was the Garden Manager there and they lived in a huge Bungalow with four orderlies.

It was Sutapa auntie who suggested to Debasish that they visit her.

“Durga Puja was arriving, which meant few holidays. We wouldn’t have to take any leave and the visit to the quiet and picturesque Balasun Tea estate would make up for our long awaited Honey moon.”,

Debasish told Kuhu that night and she readily agreed.

The next morning in the breakfast table Debasish placed it to his family.

” Sutapa Auntie has been insisting me that we visit her during the Durga Puja. She says Balasun Tea Estate is a nice place and it would be a wonderful break.  So, I was thinking….”

” Excellent!!! It’s an excellent proposition and you should go there. Sutapa wanted me and your mother to visit her once and had insisted us so many times in the past. However, something or the other always kept us from visiting Balasun.“, Said Debasish’s father.

Their Honeymoon trip was planned but  with a slight modification. On Debasish and Kuhu’s insistence Debashis’s parents would also join in.  When Debashis’s grandmother heard that everyone was planning to visit her daughter Sutapa’s house in Balasun she requested that she should accompany too.

” Sutapa had wanted me to visit her so many times but how could I have gone there alone without company. Since all of you are going,  this time take me along too.“, said Debashis’s grandma.

However, In a few days time they got to know that two of Debashis’s uncles, Uncle Suren and Uncle Niren who were based in USA with their families and kids were planning to visit them during Durga Puja. Debashis’s family at once decided to cancel their trip to Balasun as they couldn’t be rude to guests by saying that they wouldn’t be there in Kolkata at that time. Debashis and Kuhu were sad  as their Honey Moon was again on the verge of getting canceled.

Perhaps Sutapa Auntie was a God sent…. ” No dada. Do not cancel the trip. Why don’t you guys ask Niren da and Suren da to also accompany you all to visit my place. In fact, I have not met them for years now.  It would be great to unite again with family and they would also love the visit.“, said Sutapa Auntie to Debashis’s father on telephone .

It was finally done and the trip was planned. It was fifteen heads altogether officially on Debashis and Kuhu’s Honeymoon. On insistence of the group two of Kuhu’s sisters also joined in.

” Deb, We are finally on our Honeymoon! “, said Kuhu  amidst enthusiastic cheer of the entire group of fifteen people as the home made dinner of puri and aloodum was served on Darjeeling mail.

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EPILOGUE

” Can you spot Venus?”, asked Kuhu to Deb resting her head in his shoulders.

It has been four days  that they were in Balasun Tea Estate.  It was two in the morning and  as they sat beside each other in the long veranda of the bungalow watching the stars they heard from the background loud bursts of excited shouts, laughter and singing. There was an ‘adda’   (chat) session going on in one room and the younger cousins were playing ‘antakshari’ in the other… while Debashis and Kuhu sat beside each other celebrating a quiet moment of their unusually loud honeymoon.

” Dada you guys come and join us in Antakshari. why are you both sitting there alone?“, shouted out one of Debashis’s cousins to them from a  window.

Debashis rose up…” Come along! “, he said to Kuhu…” Lets’s go.”

“ Where?” asked Kuhu in surprise as she saw Debasish walking out of the house.

“It’s two AM now and in sometime everyone would be asleep. If we ask the driver to start now then by dawn we would reach  Tiger Hill. They say the sunrise in Tiger Hill is a must watch. Lets go.”, said Debashis as he pulled Kuhu by her hands.

They set off, in their night clothes to watch the famous sunrise in Tiger hill on the last morning of their Honeymoon.

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