The sun was about to set. Clouds were rimmed with a golden hue. On that evening, everyone was busy with Rabi’s wedding. The Tagore house was full of all the relatives who had come together to help each other with the wedding preparation.
They had been working since few days decorating the house, catering, flowers etc. When Rabi entered the house with the bride all the relatives were laughing and hurling jokes at the newly-wed couple.
The laughter echoed through the entire corridor. This was the first time Kadombori Devi saw Rabi as a married man, a man whom she doesn’t know. She looked over at him and wondered if they would ever be able to spend their days exploring the mysteries of life!
Kadambari was looking away from the window. Her heart was filled with sorrows and forebodings. She looked fragile like an aged piece of porcelain. She felt death near as she had no one to vent her sorrow on to except Rabi. During the ceremony, she washed and dressed beautifully like a bride. Kadambari cried for a long time before she could catch her breath. She felt, much of her life had been spent taking care of Rabi, which has been taken over by someone else.
At the age of 9, Kadambari came to the Tagore household as Jyotirindranath's bride. She was barely two years older than Rabi. Yes, Kadambari was Rabi’s ‘Notun Bouthan’. She was Rabi’s childhood companion and they both grew up together.
After Rabi’s mother died, he had more freedom than he’d ever had in his life and no idea what to do with that. He felt lonely even when he was not alone. Sometimes he liked to imagine that his mother had just gone somewhere for a while and would be back. In his lonely life, Rabi was developing a connection and was forming a closer bond with Kadambari that was the key to his happiness.
They were so much alike and became the best soul mates ever. It was a mysterious relationship. They argued with each other on little things. There were envy and jealousy, there were control and possessiveness. Their relationship kept growing and growing with time.
They loved to be together spending most of the mornings reciting poetries and enchanted evenings composing tunes on the piano. She inspired the young budding poet in creating many of his poems with her toughest criticism and comments. Kadambari was an extraordinary young girl of the Tagore house.
She was the centre of the attraction of literary activities. Jyotirindranath was a very open-minded person who taught his wife horse-riding. Jyoti pursued her education with an instinctive knowledge.
He had a very busy schedule over managing the family estates. Hence, Kadambari always felt isolated and starved for Rabi’s companionship.
It was a beautiful evening and a chilling rain was beating upon her. Kadambari was her usual self, playing the piano, without a care in the world. She draped herself with a beautiful saree and looked lovelier and more desirable than ever.
In that evening, Kadambari was found lying on the bed; she looked beautiful as only an angel in the garden of paradise could be.
Kadambari was unconscious. Someone lifted her up, looked to see whether there was anything poisonous. Kadombori was not responding and spent the next four days fighting for her life died surrounded by her loved ones. For reasons that are not known, she committed suicide, just four months after Rabindranath Tagore got married.
After Kadambari's death, Rabi was completely broken. For long after her death, he wrote many songs and poems in her memory.
Rabindranath said that he loved to write poems sitting next to her, and all the memories of those affectionate moments are still alive in many of his poems. Her relationship with Tagore shrouded in mystery. Their relationship progressed through different stages.
She was the woman who looked after him in his early life and was part of his journey of success in his later life. Kadambari was the only companion of his lonely days and she lovingly fulfilled all of his childish whims. She was one of the most influential females who played a very extraordinary role in his life.
In his book 'Bhagna-Hridoy', for the first time, a page was dedicated to 'Shrimati Hey...' (Mrs Hey) -- the name he used to call Kadambari. In Rabi’s life, Kadambari has been considered as the polar star and wrote -
“I have made you the polar star of my
existence; never again can I lose my way on the voyage of life.
Wherever I go, you are always there to
shower your beneficence all around me”.

The writer is a Barrister-at-Law of the honourable Society of Lincoln’s Inn, UK and an advocate of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh.