A Bong in Bangalore – The Beginning
Author’s Note: All characters are over 18 years of age. The story is fictional but based on a real person I knew. If you are not from India, you might need to take note of the following words before you start reading the story.
“Bong” — This is a slang (not necessarily derogatory) for Bengali. In a global context, that would refer to people of Bangladesh, but in India, it refers to the people of West Bengal. Their mother tongue is Bangla, and they usually have mildly mongoloid features typical to Eastern India. West Bengal is a famously matriarchal society, where the women are generally strong-minded, while the men are meek in demeanour, but this is a stereotype and like any other stereotype, it is not always factual.
Kolkata — Previously known as Calcutta, Kolkata is the capital city of West Bengal and one of the oldest metro cities in India. Known for its rustic old-world charm, and a generally slower pace, Kolkata is a city of dreamers, thinkers and people who love good food.
Banagalore — Older name of the Indian metro city of Bengaluru. Banagalore is the capital of Karnataka, a state in the Southern part of India. Bangalore has emerged at the IT capital of the country, where youngsters from all parts of the country go to find jobs in IT and other sectors.
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Jonali Das was finally leaving Kolkata. While Kolkata had been home for the past seven years, she never felt at home there, even though she was a Bengali. Jonali’s dad worked for BSNL, the national telecom provider of India, until his retirement a few years ago and that usually meant that they would often be transferred around the country. Jonali had spent most of her childhood in the bordering state of Odisha. That’s where she did her schooling. And graduation. So, when her mum informed her that her father had finally secured a transfer to their hometown Kolkata, Jonali wasn’t thrilled. She spoke Bangla at home but knew very little about West Bengal practically. The whole family moved and Jonali pursued her Masters in Kolkata. She had initially planned to move to a different state for her master’s degree but as usual, she got bullied into staying at home yet again by her overbearing mother.
She was nineteen already and had never lived away from her family. Teenage hormones used to drive Jonali crazy. She had always been tall in school, and a bit of an outcast. But in college, that same height and posture made heads turn. And Jonali wasn’t oblivious to the attention — it would drive her crazy, but she couldn’t ever fraternize with the boys because her mum ran a tight ship. She had to get back home right away after college and hence, dating was out of the question. Jonali had a healthy libido, and she loved masturbating. She did it a lot. It wasn’t until years later that she was informed that generally, women weren’t that horny. When her master’s studies ended, Jonali was twenty-two and still a virgin — well, a virgin that had been in a steady relationship with her fingers and the occasional cucumbers.
Jonali had thought things would be different once she started working. She got a job as a school administrator in the other part of town, but nothing really changed. Her folks started looking for a groom for her but wouldn’t allow her to stay out late. She wasn’t really interested in getting hitched yet but the idea of finally having sex was also exciting. Fate had other plans for her though. In an arranged marriage setting, the suitor and his parents usually visit the girl’s place and check her out. If they like the girl, they sometimes let the boy and the girl interact in private and get to know each other. The first suitor’s family outright rejected Jonali — they said she was too “healthy”. That was a polite way of saying “overweight”. Jonali had pt on some weight in the last few years — she was a foodie and had a naturally large build and hence prone to weight gain.
Jonali was around 5 feet and 9 inches tall, (which is tall by Indian standards) and she weighed around 85 kgs. She had huge beasts and a shapely butt and a bit of a paunch. While her body got her a lot of attention from sleazy men on the roads, it wasn’t apparently a great asset in the arranged marriage market. And Jonali found that out in an excruciating manner when suitors after suitors rejected her. Some said she was fat, some thought she looked older for her age, some thought she wasn’t fair enough. She was twenty-five years old and still a virgin with no active suitors. The constant rejection was getting to her. She needed a change of scenery and ended up applying to a posh private school in Bangalore for the job of a Social Media manager. She didn’t consult her mum for the first time and only told her about it after the online interview process was over and she got the letter of appointment. As usual, her mother did not want her to move to Bangalore.
“You have never been away from us,” Jonali’s mum almost screamed when she insisted that she wanted to join the job in Bangalore.
“Ma, it’s a great job. It will widen my horizon as a professional and the pay is great too — almost thrice what I earn here.”
“But Bangalore is way more expensive a city than Kolkata.”
And Jonali’s mum was right. As per latest surveys, Bangalore had one of the highest costs of living in the country. But it didn’t matter. This was a chance for Jonali to break free and she wasn’t about to give up on it. A few weeks later, Jonali was in Bangalore. She had found a working women’s hostel to stay in and had settled in her new job. The new city was vast and full of opportunities. Sadly, the week after she landed in Bangalore, Jonali’s mum had a suitor lined up for her.
“He is a nice Bengali boy that works in Infosys in Bangalore,” she shrieked on the phone, all excited.
Jonali was supposed to met the guy on Saturday. On Friday evening, Rajiv, Sonali’s boss asked her if she could come in on Saturday. There was an audit scheduled for the upcoming Monday and they had to sort out some work before that.
Jonali begrudgingly agreed.
She wore a saree on Saturday because she planned to meet the guy directly after work. When she got to work, she realized it was just her boss, Rajiv and her at the office, other than some ancillary staff and the security guard. It felt a little weird, working in the empty office but she didn’t think much of it. That is until Rajiv made a move on her. She had gone into Rajiv’s cabin and was leaning over his desk, showing him some data, when he placed his hand on her bare back, just under her bouse. The sudden touch of his warm hands startled Jonali and she turned to look at Rajiv. He pretended like everything was normal and Jonali didn’t know what to say.
Rajiv was in his late thirties, slightly pump and blad — he wasn’t particularly attractive. And more importantly, she knew he was married. She decided to ignore it and just move on — that was a mistake. While Jonali kept pointing out the discrepancies in Rajiv’s screen, he let his hand slide down till it rested on her ass, over her saree. Rajiv suddenly grabbed her ass cheek and squeezed hard. Jonali stood up from her desk, startled.