The Gold Key: Mohit Chattopadhyay

Translated from Bengali to English by: Ketaki Datta

Ketaki Datta

Dramatis Personae:

Nandita

Goutam

Somendu

Nanda

[Curtain raises with a boom of gunshot. The room , almost dark, shows none. A rapping noise on the door outside wafts in. Fast, poignant.]

Nandita[while rapping the door from outside]: Gautambabu! Gautambabu! Please open the door. Nanda, are you there?

[An old servant , with a chimney-fitted lantern of yesteryears, unbolts the door. Nandita wipes her face with a handkerchief. Throwing an anxious glance through the window, she looks for something. Another abrupt gunshot startles Nandita a bit and she casts a surprised gaze at Nanda.]

                             

Nandita: Why that thunder of a  gun, Nanda?

                   [Restraining from answering, Nanda gingerly places the lamp on the table and kindles the wick]

 Gautambabu is there in the garden with his gun. Is he?

Nanda: Who else than he? Chotobabu is out of his wits, didimoni!! Evil spirits roam about in this jungle, Chotobabu might have been caught in the wind!

  

Nanda: What would he do? He keeps draining his pellets while aiming at the sky, after all he had his fill on heaps of trash! You know, didimoni, this man would lie dead in the precincts of this haunted house, chances of going back to his own house being remote. Does he ever listen to anyone? Let me go and tell him of your arrival.

                                        [Nanda is about to leave]   

 Nandita: Look Nanda, you don’t have to call him right now. I am going to sit here alone for sometime.[Nanda keeps leaving] Nanda, see through the window, whether a trouser-and-shirt clad gentleman is standing there near the tree on the courtyard or not.

Nanda:[throwing a glance through the window]: Yes, with a camera slung from his shoulder! He is looking at this end and bellowing smoke-rings.

Nandita: Okay, you may leave now, Nanda.

Nanda: Didimoni, who is that man? 

Nandita: I don’t know him. Since a few days, I spotted him hanging around the jungles in the vicinity. So many types of men pay visit to this place! All right, you may leave now, Nanda!

   [As Nanda leaves, Nandita draws up to the window gingerly. Gautam enters through the door, inside the room. A gun is held in his hands. Beard stands out on his face, trousers and the shirt are soiled. He is yet to mark Nandita. He keeps the gun on the table. Fishing out a wine-bottle from his pocket, he rolls it on the table noisily. On hearing the rattle, Nandita turns back to look. Irritation is writ large on her face]

Gautam [to himself] : “I would, if I could—

                                      If I could not, how could I?”

Nandita[in a sharp tone]:  Gautambabu!

 Gautam: [looks back hastily, tries to hide the table behind his back, as much as he can]:  Nandita, you??

Nandita: Oh I see, you can recognize me even after being dead-drunk!

Gautam: Inebriation is dead as possum by now, and, the spectre of the same is dead as…

Nandita: Please call Nanda for once, I shall go back to the hostel with him. 

Gautam: You have just come, would you return now itself? Let me ask Nanda to brew you a cup of tea. 

Nandita: I had tea before coming out .

Gautam: On hearing your voice anyone would think that, you have taken umbrage. But, believe me, I would never have touched all these if I knew you would be here. You know, Nandita Devi, I was keen on drawing down a bright and magnificent star to the ground by firing a gun. You know why? I would love to present you the same as you would come tomorrow morning. You loved to adorn the parting of your hair with a long gold pendant, just as the mothers of the yesteryear used to do. You looked splendid, exceptionally beautiful as you are  - :Basanti Puja was celebrated in our village hut, much similar to the one  the month of  April.  

Nandita: Do you like village, I mean,  the rural habitats?

Gautam: I am really fond of that, just as I am fond of you!

Nandita: Then I can easily guess how much you love it! You better go and pay a visit to your village without indulging in silly cranks in here. All your mental ills would vanish at the remonstrance of your mother!

Gautam: My mother is very good.

Nandita: Go home at least for once to see your mother, your mind will just freshen up!

Gautam: But how shall I go now? It is just next to impossible. This house cocoons it like a cobwebby magic spell, cast by a witch. On grabbing me alone , each brick and wood of this house whispers in my ears, “ Gautam, Gautam—is the gold key there for sure?” The spectre of that old jungle-chief comes tottering , being inebriated by the juice of ‘Mahua’, to say, “Hey Banerjeebabu, please do not throw the gold key into the water of the river! There it is, it is there!” …But, what is there? And, where exactly? How shall I know? The key is drubbing me at each moment! Will you take that key? I get spared then! I do not want to hand it to anyone save you! Will you take it, please?

Nandita: Wow! You are trying to pass the perilous buck on to me, aren’t you? Can’t you simply forget the key forever? You have turned the floor, the wall  of this ramshackle building into cornfields, by digging into them! Where would the box containing diamonds and other precious gems  lie hidden? And, even if it is, what use would those be put to ?

 Gautam: I am not covetous of treasures, Nandita devi! But some mystery, a strange casket—I would love to see what remains inside it!   A key,- it is really horrid to wait for a key alone! I wish to uncover something, I want to be dumbstruck with wonder, clutching the fabulous treasure in my two fists , I long for crying aloud in excitement like an emperor , at least for an instant!   Failing which, the key would keep oppressing me all my life, I am sure! 

Nandita: You haven’t got anything till now, a long time though over, and again, you kept no stone unturned in your quest. The key  can even be a figment of the Chief-of-the Jungle’s imagination, who can tell? 

Gautam: On the verge of dying, the wizened Chief handed me the key, lifting up his shaky fingers, being seated in this room, and, uttered, “ It’s there, you know, it’s there—a box with engravings on it.” I inquired, “ What’s there inside?” He smiled without answering. Again he said, “ Yes, its there.” All called him insane, but, I looked into his eyes, I listened to his voice, I heard the stir in his chest—he hasn’t spoken a lie, he knows not what a fib is.

             { Nandita throws a look outside through the window]

Gautam: What are you looking at? Are you feeling hot? Oh see what Nanda has done, he has kept the door closed. Wind is no thief that it would engender fear on its advent.

                                       [Goes to open the door]

Nandita: Let the door be closed.

Gautam: Why? Aren’t you feeling hot?

Nandita: No.

Gautam: But, a glance at you makes us seem that, you are feeling hot, feeling uneasy.

Nandita: Nothing is of concern, please sit quiet. Not a single soul is around, how do you stay in such a haunted house? Please let go of it..

Gautam: Just impossible!!I have left my quarter to settle here. I shall not budge an inch from this dilapidated house of the Chief of the Jungle.  I shall see the end of it!! I need that box. And if I fail somehow to get it ever, I shall throw the key into  water of the river here. The soul of the Chief of the Jungle would cry out aloud, in the woods. I shall derive the joy of vengeance out of it.

Nandita: You are not being able to get me, you , perhaps , are taking the revenge on your very own self.

Gautam: But all my blood can sense it , that, the box lies hidden somewhere in the darkness in here.

Nandita: In fact, you love to conceal yourself behind a falsely constructed darkness. Okay then, let me take your leave as of now. 

Gautam: Will you leave now? I keep pestering you with irrelevant piffle, do I not? 

Nandita: You are in the habit of talking incessantly, why should I be irritated? I have to get back to the hostel indeed. A path through the jungle, above all, it is night—if Manika would be here instead of me, she would die of continual thinking. 

Gautam: Shall I reach you home?

Nandita: No, Nanda would be coming along. As I frequent your place , many eyebrows are raised, sundry corollaries are drawn, and if I return home with you, it would invite many more surmises indeed. Manika is different, she is very nice—she gets me rightly. I shall introduce her to you.

  Gautam: What’s the use? I am fine being alone.

Nandita: Do you know, which nickname have  the school-mistresses given you for your detestable habit? Squirrel! You get lost amidst the trees on seeing a man. Don’t you enjoy to stay , making friends with others? But I never can do so, I come here for a chat  quite off and on, caring the least for your annoyance, though.

Gautam: I do not prefer many a thing, but cannot tell why I like you quite considerably.

[Nanda enters]

Nandita: Here comes Nanda, okay, I take your leave then.

 Nanda: Come along, Didimoni.

   [Nanda moves forward , opens the door and makes an exit towards the courtyard.]

Gautam: [simpering, like a boy]: You should walk cautiously, a monster makes his presence felt in this jungle.

Nandita[in a thoughtful face]: Monster? Are you talking about a strange person, with a camera dangling from his shoulder?

Gautam: No, that monster is sans camera. He even lacks in a distinct countenance, eyes, legs , heart—nothing at all! Yet, he gobbles tardily. 

Nandita[smilingly] : Trotting out a riddle or what? 

 Gautam: May be, a jungle-related conundrum. The monster is none but ‘darkness’. Everyday I watch the monster creeping into the woods in the evening. In course of time, it keeps swallowing all—the tinge of the flowers, the traces of light scattered on the creepers and the ground. Save the green hue, which it cannot gobble up, and which can be recognized even in the dark. This monster’s teeth will not be able to touch your green sari. I shall keep watching you leave and shall burst into a loud laughter, enjoying the hapless plight of this demon, deep down in my heart.  

Nandita: Beware of bursting into guffaw! You would take yourself to be a lunatic. And, stash that bottle away, please do not take a drop of it. 

Gautam[lifting the bottle up]: Not a drop is left in it, it’s empty as my heart. It’s really amazing  to witness the topsy-turvy caused by some hued water in the corporeal system. The whole cosmos undergoes a change, a coloured painting keeps hanging in the vacuum…it seems ,as though, innumerable spectacle of a floating fresco are let loose in the air. Don’t you like it?

Nandita: Nothing doing. I am fine. My world is still alive without the coloured paintings and frescoes hanging in the air! Bye, Nanda is surely getting angry with me.

Gautam: You are expected tomorrow for sure!

Nandita: I shall try if I can manage..

                                            [Nanda enters in a haste. He closes the door]

Nandita: What’s wrong?

Nanda: That man is coming again. I saw him coming from far in this direction, in slow steps. 

Gautam: Who? Of whom are you talking about?

Nandita : Strange!  How astonishingly daring! 

Gautam: Who are you talking about? Who is that man? Someone known to you?

Nandita: Never in my life I had known him. Even while today I was taking a stroll by the riverside, I found the bloke walking at my heels. Hence, I have come over to your place as it happens to be near. When I came, the man was taking a puff at his cigarette , standing on the courtyard  outside. That day, as we went to the fair, I observed him quite often, walking a bit far from us. As we took a bus to the town to watch a movie, the man had boarded the same bus too. 

 Gautam: Nanda, have you ever seen the man in the vicinity?

  Nanda: This is the first time I see him. Shall I go and ask his name?

   Gautam: You do not have to do anything. Please go inside and let me handle the matter.

Nandita: You should not go. Who knows what sort of man he is?

                                         [Nanda goes off to the room, inside]

Gautam[takes the gun]: I have a gun with me, what to fear?

Nandita: Yet, you should not open the door. Such strange men cannot be trusted at all.

Gautam: Why should I be so afraid? Let us better see what the matter is. Let me call him inside?

Nandita: In fact, I am struck with fear if I see him. Day before yesterday, a strange thing had taken place. Sometimes, I walk in sleep , unawares. That evening, Shanta was awake till late into the night, checking the answer-sheets, I got up from bed , opened the door and walked out. Shanta could not even guess that I was sleep-walking, she thought me walking out to avoid the heat in the room. Then, she ran after me to catch me up and bring me in , watching me to walk straight to the road. The man  stood on the crossing of the road in the direction, which I was taking. Shanta said that , he was smoking cigarettes, looking straight to our room. Fear gets the better of me, if I ponder over the whole affair.

Gautam: The man surely has some motive, it would be better to know that. The reason of the man’s aimless hanging about must be unearthed. I should accost him in to investigate, keeping your interest in mind. I am unbolting the door, you better go in. [Goes to open the door]

Nandita: Please do not go, it’s my humble request.

                          [Suddenly, the sound of rattling the door-ring was heard. A voice from without was heard, “Please open the door”]

Nandita: Don’t open. He must have come with some intention. [from without: “ Is Mr. Banerjee there? Gautam Banerjee, I mean?”]

Gautam: I am going to open it. You have nothing to be afraid of. 

  [Taking the gun in hand, he opens the door. A youth with extremely sharp features and curved eyes enters. A camera dangles from his shoulder and a cigarette from his lips. He resembles a tourist in appearance. He smiles wittily, throwing a glance at the gun held in Gautam’s hand.] 

The Man: Please keep down the gun. It makes such a nerve-shattering, strange noise[turning to both with folded palms] Namaskar, Namaskar![They, too, lift up their hands to reciprocate the gesture]

The Man: You are Gautam Banerjee, the Forest Officer, aren’t you? I am Somendu, Somendu Chakraborty. I know not why , you all are somewhat dazed, you are not even asking me to be seated. I am taking my seat, okay? [sitting] I have taken my seat, you see.

Gautam: But I cannot recognize you!

Somendu: Now you surely will. I know you, the people of this locale are calling you ‘Insane Officer’ lately. And, I know Nanditadevi indeed. Off and on, we have run into each other.

Nandita: Oh yes, we met , no doubt, but such meetings seemed too irritating to me. You keep following me such objectionably, all the time! Even today—

Somendu: Following someone is not always a sin or just obnoxious, Nanditadevi! It might even have an honest intent! 

Nandita: Come on, none follows anybody for a good reason, stealthily!

Somendu: Then , would it be a pious deed instead, if I appeared in front of you, you mean? It was necessary for me to watch you from far, from behind a façade. As a painting is better to be seen from a distance, a man’s case is no different too. 

Gautam: We should be cognizant of your good intention, possibly.

Somendu: Oh sure! In a word, I have some interest in Nanditadevi. And, I want to make a clean breast of it to you, quite early, behind her back.

Nandita: Whatever you have to say anything regarding me, must speak in front of me, tell—this is  called “ courtesy”.

Gautam: Please speak out in front of her.

Somendu: Impossible! Gautambabu, you know, the funniest aspect of this tale is that, I kept observing Nandita devi keeping your interest in view. No doubt, I , too, had an intention. I nurtured a longing for snapping a photograph of Nanditadevi on a special occasion and in a chosen ambience. But, as and when I was about to click, it seemed to me that she would be looking more attractive immediately after. But, I wanted to take just a single snapshot, the final one. 

Nandita: A lady should not be photographed against her will- hope you  know that for sure.

 Somendu: But I didn’t take your snap! And even if I did, You would never know that. Many things go on behind our eyes, we can do nothing, neither you, nor I, none , for that matter.

Gautam: What do you do?

Somendu: Nothing at all. I roam about quite often. Varieties of game keep me going. In such deals, sometimes money pours in, sometimes just fun. Sometimes again, a temptation for cooking up events. This is also living by a philosophy , you may say, I am a philosopher.

Gautam: But which sort of philosophical sport stirred your interest to drop in my place? I just don’t get you.

 Nandita: But, I have got inklings about the mode of your play.

Somendu: But I am far bigger than the sample, much, much larger. I am a certainly conscientious, clever, well-educated despite my choice, and as luck willed, quite handsome.  I love to draw pictures, love to while away my time by singing songs, and, incidentally an altercation with a friend keeps me far from literary endeavours. Besides, these too are sort of attachments, encumbrances, you know!

Nandita: You could have pursued some subject seriously. Don’t you take pity on yourself?

Somedu: Yes, I feel terribly piteous of myself! I love myself to distraction! Possibly, I could have cried on my own demise! And, just to stay oblivious of this ‘crying’ , I search for a game or other . As lately, you all!  

Gautam: We?

Somendu: Yes, you !

Nandita: I see, you make yourself a riddle to derive joy out of it!

Somendu: Do you term everything as ‘riddle’? And the box which Gautambabu is looking for? Is that a conundrum?

Gautam: Do you know about the box?

Somendu: It is not so difficult to know about it. Only this story is the talk of the town! On hearing this, I stayed back—a game popped up in my grey cells. And, the temptation for taking a look at the gems and treasures. 

Gautam: Right you are! The attraction of the stunning look of jewels, the temptation of touching them, the thrill of inventing them! You know, though lights may be on, all over, in this house, a sliver of darkness lurks somewhere, beyond our gaze, and the casket lies in there, concealed by the darkness. It is there though it can’t be seen, as millions of fruits lie hidden on a tree, which can be found hanging , each from a single leaf-stalk; just as ‘love’ stays hidden in an acute,  dark nook in a woman’s heart! Likewise, a mysterious darkness is there, somewhere in this house, where the box sits all alone, terribly alone. I want that, I keenly do want. 

Somendu: Like you, I also do want it. And, Nanditadevi is our only hope, in this matter. 

Nandita: What do you mean?

Somendu: Yes, that box of jewels ca hardly be unearthed without your help. 

 Gautam: I can’t get your words.

  Somendu: If Nanditdevi kindly retires to the adjacent room for the time being, it would be easy for me to make Gautambabu understand the mystery, clearly. 

Nandita: I have not an iota of interest in such  games of yours. I was returning to the hostel, and I shall keep doing so.

Somendu: Oh!How funny!If you leave, Gautambabu alone would not be of any need to me. Please stay back for a couple of minutes. 

 Gautam: Please do not go away at this moment, Nanditadevi! Kindly wait for a few minutes; let me comprehend the matter. If really I can open the lid of the casket containing jewels! Please wait for a few minutes in the adjoining room, it’s my earnest request!

 Nandita: I have to go back to the hostel right now, positively! I must leave in some moments, I tell you.

          [Nandita goes to the adjacent room. For seconds, both of them sit quiet. Somendu , fixing his gaze straight into the eyes of Gautam, smiles silently.]

Somendu: Where is the gold key?

Gautam: It’s there.

Somendu: Good! In my eyes , there’s a kind of amazing light with which I can pierce through all darkness, even the dark, where the box lies.

Gautam? Are you telling the truth?

Somendu: I never tell a lie. But, half will be mine and the other half yours. Do you agree to this distribution?   

Gautam: Any condition will do for me. Just find that out. I am afraid, are you up to playing a funny game at my expense, aren’t you? 

Somendu: I never play a game for no reason whatsoever. Who wants to perspire by running without a cause? I get tired of innocent fun even. 

Gautam: You must have chalked out a plan of action to trace that casket! Have you thought of something or do you have any clue?

Somendu: Of course, there’s a plan. [lights up a cigarette] First of all, I demand Nanditadevi.                                                           [Looks at him to smirk in silence]

Gautam: What do you say? Your words sound so obscene!

Somendu: This itself is my ill-luck. Though it sounds obnoxious, my statement is just honest. I want Nandita Devi’s assistance in our plan, that’s it. I have no intention as to get involved with her on  a personal plane, thus claiming her and shouldering her responsibility in some way or other. I keep roaming round. This is not my cup of tea. 

 Gautam: But Nandita Devi is cross with you. And perhaps, I do not have any such claim on her to force her in any matter. She might not agree to help us in this matter. 

Somendu: then I don’t have any alternative than leaving for good. Okay then, let me take your leave[he gets to his feet]. That box could have been retrieved from the grave of darkness. The darkness wins at last. One day, your key would also get lost in this dark void. 

Gautam: Are you leaving? Really?

Somendu: Both my coming and leaving are real. 

Gautam: If I could learn about your plan, I mean, if could be credible and innocuous, I might try to make Nandita Devi understand. 

Somendu[comes forward to look straight into the eyes of Gautam]: Well! Look into my eyes. 

Gautam: What do you mean by ‘looking into your eyes”? What happens if I look into your eyes?[smiles] You are becoming disorganized just like me, I see. What if I look into the eyes ?

Somendu: Cast a steadfast gaze, sans batting eyelids, at me. If you get to see something mysterious through the eyes, keep commenting on it, slowly. Come on, look, look at me.[Gautam kept looking, as though hypnotized.]

  Somendu: Please be attentive. Watch the apple of the eye only. The eyeball would seem to be enlarging gradually, it would seem to be a glass ball—a blend of blue and pitch black, And on the ball, scenes are etched, one after another. Have you marked?

Gautam[in a trance]: Wonderful are your eyes—dense eyebrows, deep gaze, unblinking, mysterious! It seems as if you can see the white coral down to the bottom of the sea, as though the seeds lying underground; the golden , silver fishes , swimming in the lower stratum of  chest-deep water—all come within your ken. I can see many a thing, numerous spectacles, --scenes after scenes keep floating by—a strange tree, each leaf of which is varying in colour from the other; a river, each wave of which differs in hue with the other; Nandita…Nandita—her body is being laved by moonshine, her eyes are being snapped shut by the gush of wind ... the stirring of a green leaf wafted through the air like the sound of veena. How strange are the sights…sounds…sights…sounds…

Somendu: You are far more enchanted than I thought ! However, do you have faith in me? Haven’t I come with eyes filled with chimera? 

Gautam: Undoubtedly! You can do whatever you like!

Somendu: Whatever man wants to visualize, grows distinct in my eyes. This is a miraculous mirror. Now fish out the gold key. 

Gautam: But, I haven’t shown it to anyone till now. Even, I am afraid of taking a look at it. The key keeps stirring violently my within, like a squally gale in a cryptic darkness. I hardly see the gold key and I haven’t shown it to others too. 

Somendu: You need to show me. Bring it, please.

Gautam: But—

Somendu: Please do not while away the time! Fetch it—hand it to me.

[Opening the drawer quite cautiously, Gautam fishes the key out. He keeps looking at it, like a person in a trance, spinning it round and round. And then, he lurches forward to hand it to Somendu. Somendu casts a dispassionate glance at it and then holds it forward to him.]

Somendu: Keep it. Yes, with you. Now, please call Nanditadevi. 

Gautam: Right now?

 Somendu: Exactly now. You do not doubt me, for sure. A strange and subtle power is there in my sight, which is popularly known  as ‘mesmerism’. Adroit pursuit can escalate this power to a supernatural  level. I can drive a man through a dream-like stupor, can hold the nerves under my control, and can easily regulate the concealed, inner being  of an individual. I am a mesmerist. It requires a compassionate medium.  

Gautam: Have you chosen Nanditadevi as the ‘medium’?

Somendu: Precisely. Nanditadevi is sympathetic to you. Besides, she is a ‘somnambulist’—she is taken in grip  by the spirits of the night! Such characters serve as excellent go-betweens. I have reached such decision on observing Nanditadevi since long. 

Gautam: What if she doesn’t agree to act as a ‘medium’? 

 Somendu: She should agree, at least for your sake. And, you have to accomplish only this job. You will be finding the treasure-casket in my eyes. In a secret mirror inside my eyes, the reflection of the box we need , would fall and entranced Nandita would find out the same, dispelling thick fog and intense darkness. The Egyptian magicians used a small blue mirror for this matter. My eyes will serve as that looking-glass. Please ask Nanditadevi to come. 

Gautam: Somendubabu, if you go out for a while, it would be better. Because, if you are around, she cannot be made to understand by any means…Nanditadevi is so angry with you! If I succeed in making her agree to this, I shall call you. 

Somendu: Well, I am there near the door. I shall come just when you call me. 

  [Somendu leaves.]

 Gautam: Nanditadevi! Nanditadevi!

        [Nandita comes. She looks a bit solemn.]

Gautam: Sorry to have held you captive, quite objectionably, in the adjacent room! 

Nandita: Hope now I can go back home. 

Gautam: Would you like to leave? Nanditadevi, may I request you once?

 Nandita: I know. The conversation of ths room is sure to seep into the adjoining room! I am unable to respond to your entreaty, I apologize. It’s almost late into the night, I have to leave. 

Gautam: You, only you  can save me, Nanditadevi!

Gautam: The way you are aiming to live is just impossible for me ! Your rationality has gone haywire, you trust others in every possible way. It is so easy to deceive you! What had you marked in that gentleman’s eyes, I can’t say, but you came under the influence of a deceiver, in a jiffy, that I can see with my eyes! 

Gautam: The man is not an impostor. He is a man of strange powers. 

Nandita: No good can come out of any power that perplexes man. I take a mesmerist to be just a ‘mesmerist’, not a whit more than that. 

Gautam: But the man is even more than a mesmerist. Something else is there in him. The gentleman is strikingly mysterious, much hidden strength is there in him. 

Nandita: Hidden strength may even be portentous. We have still no idea about his  motive, the words of his mouth might not be true even.

Gautam: At least , the man is not a liar. He wants to have you just as a ‘medium’.

Nandita: I heard it.

Gautam: You only can lead us to the box, by acting as a ‘medium’.

 Nandita: Do you believe all these?

Gautam: I have no way but to have faith in some thing or other. Nanditadevi, I want to open the box by any means. Nanditadevi, you took me as your friend, tried to understand me, hoped to save me. If that’s true, won’t you try to help me out at this moment? Believe me, I might come to know the conundrum of the key right now. Please let me know. Truth or fib, please help me get hold of the box. Please help me emerge out of this uncouth darkness. I request you to give in.

Nandita: Once everything proves to be  hoax, can you imagine how hurt will you be?

Gautam: Yet this is my last attempt. All my efforts to find it out proved vain so far.I can’t even see any way to track it down. I can’t bear the weight of a nonsensical key anymore. Something has to be opened, what’s that? The pain of this misgiving  is simply unbearable. What am I being with each passing day? Tremendously broken! A door , if opened, could solve some mystery, but, I cannot open the door, cannot break it too. If some supernatural gush of wind stirs the door today, won’t you be kind enough to open it with the touch of your finger, if you can—won’t you?

 Nandita: Okay , call him, if you are pleased. I shall act as a medium. 

Gautam: You are really kind! Please wait, let me call him first. [crying out] Somendubabu! Somendubabu!

  [Somendu comes in]

Somendu: Thanks a lot, Nanditadevi! You will chant that incantation of Alibaba…The stone-door will open.. You will touch that  box floating through the fearful blackness, like a silver- lamplight –our hearts will glitter by the gems and the fabulous shine of those treasures. 

Gautam: Gems and the colossal moonshine of those treasures! In a hidden casket, moonlight lies captivated, with stifled breath, and I shall open it—what magnificent liberty!

Somendu: Let us begin our mission. The table has to be brought in the middle. [Somendu and Gautam lugged the table into the middle] And, the light? [turned the flame feeble] Nanditadevi, you and I will sit face to face Gautambabu, sit on the other end with a pen and paper. You will keep taking down whatever Nanditadevi will utter. Come, let’s sit down.

                     [They sit as decided. The mesmerizing posture of Somendu, his voice and way , would remind us of an experienced yet curious hypnotist.]

Somendu: Nanditadevi, look into my eyes, look deep into the magic mirror of my eyes. Think as if you are walking in your sleep, your body is getting light…so light that you could float in the air if you so desire. Now you can see more, you can see many newer spectacles. A strange mysterious wave is stirring in you, you are seeing the path in a novel sort of light, your inner within is aflutter with light and darkness. [Nandita would look to be in a trance, gradually] Now, you can see into the soul of the flower, the green flow that sweeps through the trees can be felt in your breast, you can feel the stir of the everlasting azure of the sky. Can’t you?  Nanditadevi, you can have a look at many a thing, can’t you?

[Nandita nods] 

Gautam: How strange! I —               [Immediately he falls silent at the motioning of Somendu] 

Somendu: Nanditadevi, what are you searching for?

Nanditadevi: [in a tired, monotonous, mechanical tone]: A box, an engraved treasure-casket of gems!

Somendu: Where lies the box?

Nandita: Looking for it, I am out to find it.

Somendu: Where are you looking for it? Look into my eyes, you will get it, you shall get it. 

Nandita: I cannot see anything inside your eyes, fog, just wet mist.

 Somendu: Now look, you will get to see, please look; the mist is getting dispelled, isn’t it?

Nandita: The fog is disappearing. Mists are getting blown off. I can see the casket, what a beautiful box! [Standing up in excitement, Gautam takes his seat again, at the behest of Somendu] 

 Somendu: Where is the box?

 Nandita: This room in your eyes; this room, it is spinning round in this room.

 Somendu: Keep watch, where the box moves to.

Nandita: A ball of cloud is enveloping the box, shoving it; shadowing it, trying to drift it away. 

Somendu: Observe, where the box moves by. Is it drifting out of the room?

Nandita: The cloud is drifting apart; the box is gliding by beyond this room, it is floating out  in the mild  breeze.

Somendu: Keep looking at it. Keep an eye, where it goes out—follow it closely.

   [Nandita is looking dog-tired and troubled]

Gautam: She is in pains. Somendu, it pains her.

Somendu: Nanditadevi, lean back your head on the chair. Close your eyes. Now, you will be able to see everything by keeping your eyes closed.  [Holding back her fatigued head on the chair , Nandita shuts her eyes] Now, where is the box? In the garden?

Nandita: In the garden.

Somendu: Where exactly in the garden? Any tree? Near any tree?

 Nandita: Yes, a tree, a tree…

Somendu: Tell me, which tree? Which tree?

Nandita: A tree, a..[[it seems , she cannot pronounce because of pain] 

 Somendu: Which tree? Red oleander? Beneath the red oleander tree? 

Nandita: Red oleander tree, beneath the red oleander tree—[uttering the words in terrible pain, she suspends her head like one, lying unconscious]

Gautam:[yelling]Got it, I got it! But, Nanditadevi, perhaps, has fallen ill.

Somendu: Nothing to fear. She will come round gradually. Now, give me the key.  

Gautam[visibly perturbed]: No, the key will lie with me, I shall open it. You better see that Nanditadevi gets back to normal in the meanwhile, I shall not open the box till her eyes stay closed; I shall open it in front of her eyes and see how the captive , strangulated moonshine comes aflame, gradually! Please wait, I am going to the garden with a shovel. 

 Somendu: Wait… you better stay back near her, I shall fetch the box.

Gautam[in a suppressed excitement]: No way! The box is mine as well as the key—I shall not allow anyone. I shall dig it out- I, I, I! I shall prise it open for the first time, I shall take a look at it, I shall see, I shall touch, I shall be the first one to cry in delight! I shall not allow anyone to touch it - no, never, never! 

                     [Gautam stands almost near the wall, retracing his steps back]

Somendu[in a calm, grave voice]: You stay back with her. I shall go. You need to stay beside her now, at this point of time. Please trust me. Let the key be with you, you , yourself will open it. I shall only fetch the box, that’s it. This is my duty—please help me mind my responsibility fully. I shall not escape. How can I flee away, the garden being surrounded by a high wall? Better you hold the gun in your hand—you will feel courageous. In any case, I shall not be able to emulate the gun. 

Gautam: So you want to go. All right, go, find the shovel near the staircase.

Somendu[inching near Nandita]: Nanditadevi, please look [she looks up], please come back with gingerly steps, return with slow and cautious steps. 

   [Somendu throws a glance at Nandita. Nandita looks at him with weary eyes. With mild, silent smile , Somendu heads towards the garden.]

Gautam: Nanditadevi, you came up with the news of that casket. You, perhaps, are not aware of a great deed you have done! Look at me, please do look at me. Please get well. You have to take a look at it. I shall not feel good , if you do not see it. Nanditadevi, are you feeling a bit better now? Can you hear, Somendubabu is digging earth with the shovel, can you hear the noise? Moonlight will spurt out from beneath the ground. Don’t you long for seeing it?

                                     [Nandita nods wearily]

Gautam: Please hold my hand. Walk with slow steps. You will feel better, feel hale. [lifting her with her hand, he makes her move slowly.]Gautam[Shouting

Gautam: Nanditadevi, Nandita—this is the first time I touch you. I am feeling so happy to be with you.! I shall call you, Nandita, only Nandita. Your name will sound light, just like your glance—Nandita, Nandita—just Nandita. Please speak out. I shall drop you at your place. Let the people of the world say whatever they like—I shall not obey them. I shall turn deaf ears to them. Nandita, are you feeling the walk painful? Please sit in here. [Nandita sits down, Gautam casts an engrossed glance at her face]. How strange! I am not addressing ‘revered You’ [apni,  in Bengali , is a reverential term] anymore! Just as the petals of a flower open smoothly, effortlessly, in the same way, silently, joyously, suddenly, I am addressing you ‘tumi’[an endearing address]. Nandita, Nandita, can you hear me? [Nandita’s face appeared graceful. She looked up much more distinctly.] Nandita, Somendubabu will come right now with that box, I can’t hear the noise of the shovel anymore. Speak out, can you recognize me? Tell me , what’s my name? Tell me??

Nandita[in a feeble, indistinct voice]: G-a-u-t-a-m  B-a-n-e-r-j-e-e! Gautam Banerjee!

Gautam: Repeat it! Pronounce it distinctly!

Nandita: Gautam Banerjee; Gautam—I can’t say, Gautam, Gautam—Gautam—

[Lowering the head on the table she keeps on uttering the word ‘Gautam’ , again and again. It seems, as if, she is smearing the name on her entire mind—in pain, in mirth, on the sly.]

Gautam: How splendid my name sounds on your mouth! I did not know, did not know!

  [With an earth-sodden, artistically engraved small box in his hand, Somendu appears near the door , in a sombre face]  

Gautam[yelling at the top of his voice]: Look Nandita,  look—yonder is that box, that box! 

  [He runs to take the box with both his hands and presses his own face on it! Gradually, the face turns pale, lacklustre! Nandita keeps looking at him, feebly. Gautam moves forward in very slow, slackened steps.]

Gautam: The box is so light! If nothing remains inside! I am afraid of opening it, Nandita, I am really afraid! 

  Somendu: The key is with you. Please open. 

Gautam: Shall I open it?

 Somendu: You have no choice but to open. I too have a share,  haven’t I ?

  [Gautam opens it. Lifting the lid, he looks in with wide-eyed wonder. His face is awash with illimitable wonder and weariness of anguish.]

Gautam: Oh! What is it? Not a trace of gems and treasures is there in this casket—just a key resembling the key in my hand rests in here- just another KEY! Oh God, again a key!!

Somendu: That cannot be broken in moiety! I am leaving. I don’t know what gain I had in this game! Whatever is there, may rest with you. Goodbye, let me go, I was expecting such a finale, however! 

                                       [Somendu leaves]

Gautam: Nandita, I am feeling so tired! What terrible ennui it is! Nandita, shall this key lead me to any other treasure-casket? Look at me, shall I again launch a quest? Shall I eep searching like this room in its entirety, the walls, digging deep int my heart? [gazing at Nandita’s face] How radiant your face looks, what am I seeing in your face? What am I seeing in your sight? Nandita, it seems as though the finely ornamented gems-casket lies in your heart, I hadn’t found it so long…. Nandita you have loads of pearls inside yourself, tons of diamond… all you have arranged beautifully in that box! I shall immerse my countenance in the glow of diamond; do what you please with me—throw me off into the sea, cast me away to the firmament, drop me into the hell, do whatever you like to! But, Nandita[,in a broken, distressed scream]if I again come across a key, opening the box inside your heart…just a key!!

  [Gautam’s sad, weary head hangs down. Nandita keeps on throwing a morose glance.]

---

Setu, December 2024