© Nitu Basumatary 2020 All rights reserved All rights reserved by author. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the author. Although every precaution has been taken to verify the accuracy of the information contained herein, the author and publisher assume no responsibility for any errors or omissions. No liability is assumed for damages that may result from the use of information contained within. First Published in October 2020 ISBN: 978-93-90432-56-1

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Dedicated to – my readers, my parents Thulunga Basumatary and Dipikha Basumatary, my best friend Manashi Boro, and especially my uncle Rotoram Basumatary.

Life is like a tunnel. You have to struggle a lot sometimes and deal with its darkness. But there is a bright light waiting for you at the end of the tunnel. Your dedication and your hard work takes you out of the darkness and gives you a better life to live with more confidence and happiness. The tunnel of life might be long with different shades of darkness but what is common is the light at the end full of love and joy. Travel through the darkness wisely to experience happiness and success at the end.

I want to give my sincere gratitude to my parents; my grandparents Rajendra Nath Brahma, Jaymuti Brahma, Gopinath Basumatary, and Rimala Basumatary; my aunts Sanshri Mushahary, Pushpa Shrama Basumatary, Swrjima Basumatary; and my uncles Bisonath Mushahary and Dahar Basumatary. This is just a short list of my family members who have been there for me to help me achieve anything. Without their blessings and love, this could not have been possible. I want to thank each one of you who taught me to never look back and instead pushed me harder to make me fly high. I add my friends to this list because it would be incomplete without them. I want to thank Dipankar Das, Moumita Sen Gupta, and my best friend for constantly supporting me throughout the journey of my debut book. I also want to thank everyone else who supported and appreciated me. I want to thank the entire team of Blue Rose Publishers who worked hard from day one to make my book beautiful even during a pandemic.

Lastly, I want to thank all my readers who believed in my writings.

1. Crossing The Burning Bridge ...................... 1 2. The Monsoon Curse: ..........................................18 3. You look beautiful today my wife: .....................27 4. Don't kill: ............................................................48 5. A man with an evil mind: ...................................54 6. Lock it and keep the key safe ..............................66 7. Love by chance: ...................................................74 8. Chains of life.......................................................84 9. Memories and Anxiety ........................................94 10. Life is Unpredictable ......................................108 Poetry ...................................................................119 1.Chasing Butterflies.............................................121 2. Your Existence ..................................................123 3. Street Pals ..........................................................124 4.Paranoia .............................................................125 5.The Taboo Hut ..................................................126 6. Scars and Beauty ...............................................127 7. Never Quit ........................................................128 8. The Faulty Chromosome ..................................129 9. Meeting The Dark.............................................130 10. Flowers ............................................................131 Epilogue - ..............................................................132

As coins have two sides the whole universe has two sides of emotions - "Happiness and Sadness". Not everyone is rich not everyone is poor. This universe has different colors and emotions that make it beautiful place to stay in. May be that is why we differ from one another with different ways of thinking and estimations. Hello I'm Nita Joshi. I have something to share with all the readers. Year 1975 I got married to a well disciplined man. We got married when we were quite young. The sweet sixteen marriage!!! My father-in-law decided for his second marriage after a sudden demise of his first wife. Everything was going well. I had a peaceful home to stay in until my father-in-law got married for the second time. The point where the trailer ended and the climax got a hike. A woman can make a house beautiful place to live and also can destroy it into a puzzle box. We all belonged to a middle class family; we could somehow afford a three times meal and shelter to protect us from the external environment. My husband's step mom 1

wasn't kind enough! Every new day was a struggle with all kinds of arguments and threatening to throw us out. The day was not too far. "Get out from here. You shouldn't get all the privilege. I don't value your presence. Everything what your father has is for my child. You have had enough. I am not going to allow you and your useless wife to stay here" she shouted on my husband. It wasn't enough that we were thrown out with all our stuff. My husband was seventeen and we had no money and no place to go. We were abandoned and it was heart breaking for us. I at least, expected my father-in-law to look after us until we started to earn. Farming was the only means to survive for my husband's family and he helped his father on the field to grow crops. But we had no land to practice neither farming nor a shelter. We decided to go back to my home town and stay there for few days until we find a way to earn. It was already more than fifteen days but we had no means of earning. "Nita it doesn't feel good to be burden on your parents" my husband said looking at me with guilt. "It’s alright we have no other options. We have to be here until we start to earn" I replied

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"I... I know but they are growing old. It was supposed to be I taking care of them" he said. "We can just hope for the best" I replied with tears in my eyes. "Nitaaaa Nittaaaaa " - my father shouted with happiness. I went out running. "Yes, dad. You seem to be happy, what's the matter?" I asked with an excitement "Ramu kaka informed me about a plot of land in our neighboring village" he replied Ramu kaka was our uncle from another village. I could not understand why would he be so happy for a plot? We didn't plan to buy any. "I agreed to buy the plot for both of you" he further continued. "Bu ...but dad isn't it out of our budget?" I asked "Don't worry beta. I have arranged everything." He replied "But dad what do we do with the land? We don’t have money to build a house." I asked "Grow up my child. Your father is still alive. I will help you to build one. The plot is quite big you both can start farming and live your life" he explained.

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I was in tears; I immediately went into the room. My husband was arranging newspaper in the shelf. "Nita what happened? Are you ok? Why are you so restless? Why are you crying? He asked so many questions without a break. I hugged him and told about the idea of buying a land. He stood there for a while. "What???? Are you crazy? We are not here to trouble your dad. We will find a way to earn." He scolded me. "But we can earn and pay him back" I assisted "Do you think it is going to be easy? I don't want to trouble your parents anymore. I already gave you so much of pain" he cried. "Don't worry son. It's my duty to help my daughter whenever she needs." My father came in. My husband touched his feet and cried thanking him. We got a new hope to restart our life. After one month of pen and paper procedure. My father decided to start building a house for us. Three months laterWe were all set to move to our new home. A beautiful house made by mud and straw and a huge 4

barren land for farming. We were happy. We started farming using traditional equipment as we could not afford much equipment. We managed two times meal a day after working hard. In the year 1977 we were blessed with our eldest son and we named him Viren. But as the time passed it was difficult for us to manage one time meal a day. I could not help my husband after having a baby. He had to work alone in the field. But we didn't stop trying. My husband started working as a daily wage worker. We wanted to educate our son as it was our dream to make him able to earn to live his life better than us. We admitted him to a school three miles away from our home. My husband continued to work as a daily wage worker and I remained busy with our son's school and homework. Two years later, we were blessed with a girl child. We named her Bini. Now we were a family of four members. We worked harder everyday walking miles to school and I am thankful to my husband for being always supportive and working hard for us. But it was not an easy task for us to live a life with the little earning. Gradually, we started to face more difficulties, several nights without a meal. We were poor and abandoned. "We need to fight against the worst situation and bring changes in our lives in order to see a bright light at the end of the tunnel. I would be very 5