The Saga of a Bengali Bride

. Once, my husband asked me to deposit some cash in the bank which was inside the I.I.T campus. I had butterflies in my stomach. I am always like that .I am scared of all those financial matters, filling up the forms, adding and subtracting, multiplying or dividing. However, I went to the bank and filled up the form and stood in the queue for some time. Then my turn came and the banker made a query about the account where I had to deposit the money. My ears started burning. I felt I was sweating all over  my body .I said “----rrrr it is  Fixed Deposit Sir—  “What? Two hundred for Fixed Deposit? Something is wrong, Madam. First you decide, then you come. Now leave and allow the other one to talk to me.” said he, frowning .I got quite  vexed. It was about thirty years ago and there was no cell phone through which I could contact my husband. So I left the bank and was totally confused and ashamed of my ignorance. What would he say----?What  would he think about his wife who does not even know the difference between the savings account and the  Fixed Deposit? ----I felt guilty.I came out ,opened my umbrella and started walking.After a while ,I found that every passer-by was  staring at me. I felt more  shaky. Were they in the bank? Did they hear the conversation between me and the banker? Why were they smiling? I dawdled along the fence of the beautiful deer park, thinking and thinking .When I reached the guest house where we had been staying at that time, I found the stewards enjoying their leisure, with their half-dhotis encircled around their waists. This was the typical south Indian style in which they used to wear the dhoti. I never liked the bare strong dark bushy legs. As I was about to enter the portico, the loud thunderous peal of laughter shook me to my roots .Suddenly I threw a glance to the shadow which was going ahead of me and I found that my umbrella was completely upturned ,without providing any shade to me. This was caused due to the strong wind that was blowing. Now I came to know why everybody was   looking so curiously at me. And I wished I could hide myself anywhere in this world from their glaring eyes.

 Days passed by in the blink of an eye and I was now preparing for the most important period of my life ----motherhood when my husband left his job , joined another and came back to stay with his family.