Roji successfully passed her Matriculation (Class 10) examination. From the very beginning, she had made up her mind that she would somehow pursue her further studies at the Bongaigaon College. The moment the Matriculation results were declared, Roji eagerly went to her mother and said:
“Mother, I have passed the Matriculation examination! Now, I want to go and study at Bongaigaon College. You have to give me the opportunity to study. You had promised me long ago that I would be allowed to study as much as I possibly could.”
Her mother silently grew deeply worried. “I also have a strong desire to educate her, but where will our income and savings come from? We somehow managed to get her through high school, but now she will have to move far away, live in a rented room at someone else’s place, pay rent every month, cook all by herself, and handle the travel expenses…”
Taking up the topic of their daughter’s college education, Rwisumwi sat down to have a serious discussion with her husband, Laothai.
“Roji is asking to go and study at Bongaigaon College. She has a deep desire to pursue higher education. I, too, really want to educate our daughter. What are your thoughts right now regarding our daughter Rajia’s education?”
Her husband said to his wife:
“Roji is our eldest child. After her, we still have two younger brothers and a sister to raise. I think Roji’s studies should stop right here so we can educate the other three children as well. Otherwise, how can we manage to educate all of them? We don’t have enough property, wealth, or steady income.”
Rwisumwi was not very happy with her husband’s words. She was determined to educate Roji further by any means necessary, and for that, her husband’s support and willingness were absolutely essential. She argued back to her husband:
“Can we not make a little more sacrifice and endure more hardships for our own children? If our children turn out well, secure good jobs, and are able to earn an income, won’t our lives improve too? In return for the hardships we bear to raise and educate them, won’t they look after us in our old age?”
Her husband let out a long sigh and replied:
“I have five thousand rupees saved up, which will be enough to get her admitted. However, I had saved that money specifically to buy tin sheets to rebuild our leaking roof. If we spend it on Rajia’s admission, everyone in the family will have to deal with getting drenched when it rains.”
Rwisumwi agreed to risk getting wet in the rain, but she was resolute about admitting Roji into the Bongaigaon institution for her education. Hearing the final word from her mother, Roji felt immensely happy. She made a firm resolve to completely immerse herself in her studies there.
After all the preparations and arrangements for her stay at a lodging house were completed, her mother came along today to drop Roji off at the lodge. To ensure that the landlady would take good care of Roji, Rwisumwi spoke earnestly with the woman managing the lodge.
“Roji is my eldest daughter. As a young woman, in the eyes of some men, she might be seen merely as prey to hunt down and discard like a useless object. Please keep a close eye on her. Keep watch over who comes to visit her and where or with whom she goes out. Treat her with the same care a mother and father would, so that no untoward incident happens to her. She has moved far away from us now, and we won’t be there to see or protect her directly.”
The landlady, Minakshi, reassured her:
“Don’t worry too much, sister. We are here, and we will keep an eye on her.”
Rwisumwi added further:
“I worry about my children every single day. Aside from my children, there is nothing else in the world that occupies my mind.”
As she was preparing to turn back and return home, Rwisumwi gave some parting words of advice to her daughter Roji:
“You have been blessed with the opportunity to study well under your parents’ care, so put your entire heart into your studies. We never received such opportunities to study in our time. From a very young age, our lives were consumed by domestic chores, working as maidservants, and enduring grueling hardships. You must go to college every day, stay alert and cautious around peers, and learn to respect your elders. One day, you must prove yourself by becoming a successful person. You will have to look after your parents. And keep this in mind—do not wander around aimlessly here and there, and never think of doing anything wrong in secret. You have grown into a young woman now, but do not let yourself fall prey to the traps of worthless boys.”
Roji bowed down deeply and touched her mother’s feet to seek her blessings. Tears welled up heavily in her mother’s eyes as she gave her final piece of advice:
“Whenever you go out anywhere, always inform your landlady first.”
Looking at her mother, Roji burst into tears, weeping uncontrollably.
After dropping Roji off, Rwisumwi set off for home along with her three companions…
They carried Nerswn back home on their backs. Nerswn was screaming and crying in pain. When Rwisumwi asked what had happened, Anjalu, with a pale and tense face, replied:
“Aunt, Nerswn climbed up a betel nut tree to catch a baby bird, and from right there, he slipped and fell heavily to the ground. His leg might be broken. He keeps touching his leg and weeping continuously. He hasn’t been able to stand up at all since he fell.”
Upon hearing the news, Rwisumwi became deeply distressed. She set aside her cooking pot onto the firewood hearth side. Spreading out a gunny sack on the raised bamboo platform (khamsali), they gently laid Nerswn down on it. As soon as Rwisumwi touched him, she could feel that his leg was broken right at the thigh joint. Tending to her young son, tears began to stream down her face as she wept silently.
“Why on earth don’t you boys listen to your mother’s words? If you had listened to your mother, would this have happened? Why did you have to try and reach for a bird’s nest perched so high up in a betel nut tree? Is a broken leg a bigger deal, or catching a bird’s nest?”
Laothai was out working in the paddy fields. Dwimalu went and fetched him just as Rwisumwi had requested. The moment Laothai heard the news, he ran back home breathlessly in a state of utter panic. After understanding the whole situation, he immediately rushed to Sonajuli village and brought back Monastri, a traditional healer (oja), on the carrier of his bicycle. Old woman Mwnasri, the healer, closely examined Nerswn’s broken leg and said:
“The poor, pitiful child—his leg is indeed completely fractured. Quickly, chop some bamboo to scrape thin splints and prepare a makeshift splint bandage (seren).”
Laothai took the sharp machete (khukhri) he kept tucked at his waist and rushed into the bamboo grove located just to the west of their house. He chopped down a solid bamboo stalk and set to work trying to fashion the splints.
The old healer Mwnasri carefully aligned the fractured bone joints, massaged them gently after applying traditional herbal medicine, and wrapped them securely. He then bound Nerswn’s broken thigh area tightly using the bamboo splints (seren).
“He must be taken care of very well. It is a relief it broke at the thigh joint; had it broken at the knee joint, it would have been a massive complication.”
Lawthai scoffed and muttered:
“He will probably remain a cripple for the rest of his life now… Let him be rejected by girls later, the rogue good-for-nothing… When you don’t listen to a single word your parents say, this is exactly what happens…”
Nerswn remained silent, staring blankly at his father’s face. Heavy tears began to roll down continuously from his eyes.
Old woman Mwnasri, the healer, added:
“Defecating and urinating with a broken leg is going to bring immense hardship for a while. He won’t be able to go anywhere at all. For bowel movements, you can use a betel nut leaf sheath basket, and for urinating, a bottle will suffice. Even bathing and washing will be a painful struggle. Even if he desperately wishes to roam around, this boy won’t be able to step out anymore.”
After explaining exactly how to care for the boy, the healer Mwnasri took his leave. Day after day, Nerswn had to endure grueling pain and discomfort. His mother, Rwisumwi, had to work tirelessly beyond her limits to nurse him back to health.
Rwisumwi spent every night heavily burdened with worry over her three children at home and her eldest daughter who had gone to study in the town. Over here, the children at home were right before her eyes—she could see them, scold them directly if they misbehaved, and could even drag them back home with a stick if necessary. But she had no way of knowing how things were going for her daughter living far away in the town. She couldn’t stop worrying about how she was managing her life and her studies.
As time kept passing by with continuous thoughts running through her head, Rwisumwi began seeing a series of dreams about Roji. Sometimes, she would see good dreams at night, and seeing those sweet dreams would bring peace to her heart. Other times, she would see bad dreams, and seeing those troubling dreams would leave her feeling anxious and unsettled.
Meanwhile, Roji made many new friends at college. All of them had come from various far-flung places to pursue their studies. Roji showed up to college punctually every single day. Among the classmates she met and interacted with daily in her classroom, her closest circle of friends consisted of Rimika Basumatary, Jinu Boro, Ajolina Moshahary, Neelpuna Rai, Nimunia Singha, Rumita Rai, and Jiya Begum. Within just a single month of studying there, she chose Rimika Basumatary to be her very best friend.