If I were Sugni - i would not go back on my words. Yes i may have given my heart to someone and yes rightly or wrongly he hid the truth from me and broke my heart.
But i am no ordinary bedni, I am Sugni. I have claimed to be beyond bedni tradition. I scorned the bedni tradition. I tried to find ways to escape the bedni tradition. I stopped my mother from doing the rai dance, I stopped her agaiin when she re-did her sardharkai. I tried to take my mother away from the village and go to Delhi to try re-start our lives ... yes the villagers knew how hard i tried to break the tradition... the villagers scorned me and my family because i dared to dream of something better...yes that that was me, Sugni.
Yes if i were Sugni... I would not allow my love for TVS to weaken me, to weaken my resolve to better myself for myself and for my family. In my passion and love for TVS, i allowed it to cloud my judgement... i thought by marrying TVS i would have found my world... i would have my dream ... to live a life of respectability...
But now that the truth is revealed, that TVS is not free to marry me... not free to give me the respect that i need, i crave, i am broken. It does not matter whether he loves me or not. What matters is life is not just about TVS and myself - there are so many people to consider - first of all Reva, TVS's wife - does she deserve what TVS is dishing out... granted she is not in her senses but does that not make TVS's actions more despicable. What happened if one i llose my senses - would i too be relegated to be kept aside... after all TVS can't be tied to a mad woman can he? Then what about my mother... she dared to dream a better life for me... but what did i do?
Yes if i were Sugni... i hope that i will be able to think rationally enough not to allow my feelings for TVS to cloud my mind to do the right thing. What is the right thing? One does not hit a person when a person is down. Today Reva is down, i must not hit her... I must do what is right...
What is right? That i respect another person's relationship... another person's right... If Reva is in her right senses, if she is able to be cured AND IF she is able to accept that TVS is not for her as he does not love her... then perhaps she will give the divorce and I can marry TVS... but will that really make me happy...I suspect not.
I don't think my conscience would allow me to do this... no...
I, Sugni, will not go back on my words and offer myself for sadharkai... I, Sugni, have more dignity than that. I will not allow my bruised heart to mislead me, to break me so that i cheapen myself in the eyes of society. I, Sugni, am a woman of dignity, I, Sugni,, am a woman... I, Sugni, will summon all my strength to show the world that respect and success can be re-gained by means other than marrying or sadharkai. I, Sugni will show the world that the Bedni tradition can be broken... I, Sugni, will work towards the betterment of bedni womankind and be a free woman... even if i have only porridge and water, I will survive with dignity.
Edited by zeezee55 - 13 years ago