It was the third day. Budhia was once more atop the tall palm tree. Mangala shook her head in despair. ‘No one can save this man’, she thought, ‘he was sure to die any day now’. Budhia, her husband, would climb the palm tree at day-break and remain there for the rest of the day. No food, no water for him. He would pee in his loin cloth and it would dry in the sun. He would look over the undulating land, mostly barren. The little crop that grew has been reaped. The land lay like stubble on a rough cheek. There wasn’t much to see. Yet Budhia, expert climber that he was, perched himself on the tall tree. He looked and looked all around, all day long. He looked for the return of his son. Bansidhar was born eight years after their first born Parvati. Budhia was crazy about…