A woman, almost sixty, got down from the train. She wore a kanjivaram saree an imported wristwatch on her left wrist.
Anyone could tell that the lady was very rich and well-respected.
She sat on a bench at the railway station for some time. She was observing everything around her.
She sighed, then headed south.
There was a narrow lane ahead. She started walking through that lane.
" Everything has changed, perhaps it is that exact road." She told herself.
She kept walking ahead, looking at people, watching the buildings on both sides of the road.
" Now all the big houses, the little mud houses are gone!" She sighed again.
In front of a three- storey house, an old lady was sitting on the stairs.
A gentleman came to her and gave a cup of tea.
The wayfarer saw the gentleman.
" He must be Ajay Kaka and she is his mother. Ajay Kaka is still so handsome! So I have come to the right place." She thought.
There was a tea-shop beside the road.
The woman hesitated for a while, then sat on a bench in the shop.
An employee of the shop was stunned when he saw such a rich woman there.
Bu he couldn't see her face properly because she was wearing dark glasses.
As the employee asked her for tea, the lady remained silent for a moment.
She was deeply shocked.
She did take the tea after a while, lost in her thoughts, she siped it slowly.
She had just finished the tea when a woman came there and said something to that employee.
It was clear from their appearance and clothes that they were very poor people.
The rich lady then went to the tea-shop owner's counter.
She took off her glasses and carefully wiped away her tears.
After paying the bill, she walked away towards the railway station.
There was an hour left before the train arrived.
She was sitting on a bench at the railway station.
She dried her eyes clearly.
Suddenly, someone touched her shoulder.
As she turned around, she saw the tea-shop owner.
Rekhadidi?" That man asked.
The lady didn't answer. The man sat next to her.
"I recognized you at first glance. Especially when you wiped your eyes".
The lady was crying,
" Didi, please don't cry. Where do you live now?
" At South Kolkata. We have a hotel business there."
" Thank God, you are rich now, and your second husband hasn't betrayed you.
Did you recognize your brother and his wife at my shop, Didi?
They had to sell your house."
"Why did they sell the house?" Rekha asked.
"They were punished for what they did to you. Your father died of cancer.
They sold everything, but they still couldn't save him.
Your brother has been very poor since then. He works at my shop.
He lives in my house as a tenant".
"It was never my house. It was their house.
When I couldn't endure the torture of my first husband, I came to my parents' house for shelter.
But they sent me back to that hell.
No one showed any kindness to me.
There was a relative of my first husband, Arun. He loved me, rescued me, and married me.
After that, I came to see my parents when my first child was born, but they didn't let me enter the house.
My brother drove me out of that house."
The man said,
"Didi, but we understand your suffering.
My mother, aunt, even the neighbors still talk about you.
Please Didi, come to my house. I won't tell anyone about you,not even your brother."
Rekha said nothing.
She stood up and stared walking,
" When will you come again, Rekhadidi?"
The woman didn't look back.
" Never," she said firmly.
