Hello everyone🤗 I know I have left my other story incomplete😒 really really sorry for that, but I will soon update it😳
This story I wanted to write from sometime, and had left it halfway, but today managed to write the first part😆
Here its chotu bondu only and she will not be seen that much. Though title says otherwise, it is more of Anirudh's journey, his emotions conficts etc but later story may justify the title😆
Don't know if you guys will like it or not. I am not that sure, and this chapter is more of Ani's perspective of events that happened.
Too much of my rant i know😆 So here it goes-
Rudhita TS: Our journey together
Chapter 1
It was a bright sunny day as I sat by my study window reading a book. I always liked to be in my study a lot, as I love books and also because I am not a talkitive person and books make for the best company. Baba, kaka and my brothers usually never come here as they aren't fond of books or to put it more precisely, averse to it. But these days I am spending awful lot of time here. Maybe because this is the only place I get some peace as nobody comes here much to shout their lungs out at me. And today seemed to be a peaceful day. Because no drama had taken place in Roy Choudhury house from the time I had woken up today. Not that lot of time had lapsed since I woke up, it was just morning. But even this seemed great going by the amount of shouting taking place at my home everyday since that night. My life has literally turned upside down since that fateful night.
Thinking of that day brought so many memories. Life can be so strange sometimes. That morning when I woke up everything seemed so normal. I had got up and went to have my breakfast when I told my family about my plans to propose to Saudamini. And I could see from their faces that their happiness knew no bounds at this news. Afterall Saudamini had been long before decided to be my would-be wife, probably from the time we were kids. 'And I couldn't get more lucky than this, The girl I love was happily approved by my family too. What more can I ask for?' I had thought at that time. Only if I knew. If God was watching it, probably he would have a hard time controlling his laughter reading my thoughts.
Coming of Munshiji that day had caused slight disruption in my plans. Or so I thought at that time. Munshiji had come to invite us for Saurabh's wedding and Kaka promptly declined the invitation saying we were zamindars. Though I really didn't see what was the connection between we being zamindars and not going to Saurabh's wedding. In any case , I decided to go as Saurabh is a dear friend and also because I didn't quite like the tone Kaka was speaking in with Munshiji. But what was I to know this decision of mine will cost me my love. Baba had reminded me that I had to talk to Mini in the evening, but I told I would talk to her a bit later that day. I had proudly said relationships that are destined to be cannot be broken. Maybe I should have listened to him. I guess I need to listen more to people than just doing the talking.
So many things happened that day that I hardly had any time to process anything. Everything was pretty normal till I saw Bondita- probably 8-9 year old kid I guessed- being taken into mandap as a bride!! She was Saurabh's bride's sister. To be married off to a man old enough to be her grandfather!! And then all hell broke loose. I just couldn't tolerate it. But the more shocking thing was nobody saw anything wrong or strange about the marriage.
I always had this rosy view of my country where everyone was treated fairly and women were respected immensely.That was the first time I realised I was miles away from the ground realities of my country. I tried to reason with the villagers that it was injustice to the little child, but noone seemed to be listening. Even her uncle who is supposed to be her father figure was supporting this. I tried to threaten them, tried to bring the police but all in vain. But finally the fate seemed to intervene to save Bondita, and the groom dropped dead in the mandap. Probably at some other time I would have felt bad for the old man but at that moment I was relieved that the marriage stopped, whatever be the reason. And so Munshiji convinced me to go back as the marriage is stopped now and promising that he wouldn't let anything happen to the kid. I also agreed with him, as I thought what more could go wrong now? But something was holding me back I was going back home, maybe halfway through, but my mind was still in that village. I felt extremely restless, felt like something wrong was about to happen. I had this sudden urge to go back and I forced my driver to turn back as I didn't have the heart to go back home without ensuring that girl's safety. I decided I will check on the girl if she is fine and come back. But something told me she wasn't. And my worst fears came true as I saw she was being taken for performing sati as I reached the village. I was enraged. 'Had the villagers really gone mad. They were blindly taking a child to burn her alive in the name of rituals.What was wrong with them?' I had thought angrily.
I fought with them, tried talking to them applying every rhyme and reason but they paid no heed and just wanted the ritual done. I even went to the extent of telling that I would take her responsibility and take care of her throughout her life but they were all more interested in knowing through which relationship could I take her with me, I was not her father, brother or husband. I was thoroughly disgusted. Couldn't I just take care of her as a guardian? None of them wanted to take her responsibility and when a person is ready to do so, they would still rather let her burn alive than let her live. Villagers just seemed to be fixated at performing sati on the child. And on reflex, I said that I would marry her and take her responsibility. I was shocked at my own statement. However, that somehow seemed to have penetrated their brain and they stopped the ritual and agreed for the marriage. And now I couldn't back out. If i did, they would kill the girl.
What else could I have done? Of course I always had the choice to refuse, but I could never have lived with the fact that I let a child get killed in front of me when I had a choice to save her life however difficult it maybe. As I sat in the car with Bondita sitting or rather sleeping at the back, my decision started weighing on me heavily. The perfect life which I was taking pride in the morning had broken into pieces but now I really couldn't do anything about it.
But facing my family was altogether a different nightmare. They were blaming me shouting at me not ready to listen to my explanations, calling all this my obsession. Even Mini wouldn't listen to me, but what else could I expect from her. The guy that promised to be with her always, just married someone else
Though they were all not completely wrong, was a little bit of understanding too much to expect, that too from your own family? I tried to explain myself for a few days and then stopped. If the fact that all i did was to save the girl's life couldn't change their perspective nothing else could. But since my marriage, my home had become like a battleground where everyday there seemed to be some problem and we argued. Mini eventually came around though that was the last thing I expected from her. I felt a bit strange about it, but it felt better to have atleast some support.
I sigh thinking about the events of that day. When we look back at the past, we feel there are so many things we could have done differently but alas! But now that I thought about it, would things have been different if I hadn't attended Saurabh's wedding? It didn't seem so after he got to know, that Bondita was the very girl he gad admired so much for the letter she had written. She had written it for her would be husband putting up two conditions to get married and I was very impressed and proud of the girl who had written it and wanted to support her. I had even agreed when Mini asked me if I would have married the girl had I been her would be husband. And later Bondita turned out to be that girl. It always makes me wonder was me interrupting her marriage and later marrying her just a coincidence or was it meant to be like that?
My chain of thoughts broke when I hear my kaka's footsteps approaching towards me and when I looked up I realized he seemed angry ' Abb mainekya kar dia? What had happened now? What bigger mistake could I have done that I hadn't done before ?' I sighed.
"Anirudh!! Kya hai ye sabb? Aakhir chahte kya ho tum?" He asked as his face turned red with anger.
" Kya hua kaka, aap itne gusse me kyun hain? Kya kiya maine?" I retort, genuinely surprised.
" Tumne reeti rivaazon ko samajh kya rakha hai Anirudh. Tumne pehle kaha ki tum Saudamini se shaadi karne chahte ho, hum maan gaye, balki hum sabb bohot khush the. Par tum achanak Bondita ko apni dulhan bana ke leeaaye. Thik hai hum voh bhi maan gaye kyunki tumne shaadi karli thi, toh hamne bhi sweekar liye Bondita ko apni bahu ke taur par. Lekin abb tum phir Saudamini se shaadi karna chahte ho? Ye kya baat hui? Agar the Saudamini se hi shaadi karni thi toh Bondita ko kyun laaye tum yahan? Tum..." said Kaka when I interrupted him. I was really lost. What was Kaka speaking about?
" Main Mini se shaadi..? Mujhe iss baare mein sach much kuch nahi pata.." i tried to defend myself.
"Arre aise kaise nahi pata? Tumhare baba ne khud kaha humse ki tum Saudamini se shaadi karna chahte ho, aur yeh ki, Bhaumik babu kal tumhare liye ye rishta lekar a rahe hain"
"Rishta? Mini kaa?" asked as I genuinely didn't know anything about it. 2 months ago I would have jumped happily at this news but now it just seemed like seem like an additional burden to my long list of woes.
" Aisa matt karo Anirudh. Mai janta hun tum Saudamini se pyar karte the ya shayad karte ho, lekin shaadi koi mazak nahi hai, ki jabb mann kia karli, aur jabb mann kia tod di. Kya ye Bondita ke saath anyay nahi?" He asked his voice almost pleading now.
I look at Kaka in surprise. I didn't know he had grown that fond of Bondita. Not that it was difficult to grow fond of her. On the contrary she was such a bright and happy kid, it was difficult not to like her. But Kaka was the last person he had expected to like Bondita. Kaka had always been an extremely orthodox man and Bondita was everything he wouldn't want in a Roy Choudhury daughter-in-law. But today, here he was, fighting for that very girl infront of him. I smiled despite myself. I held his shoulders and said " Kaka mujhe iss baare mein kuch nahi pata tha. Baba ne mujhse kuch nahi kaha. Par main baat karunga unse, aap chinta matt karo". Kaka looked a bit relieved at my words and walked away nodding his head.
'What is Baba doing? And he didn't even mention anything to me? And though I consoled and sent away Kaka, I was myself not sure what to do? Marriage proposal of Mini? Wasn't it what he always wanted? Always dreamed of? And now when it was coming true, he was confused what to do? From the time he married Bondita, he really didn't know where his relationship with Mini really stood. Although he never regretted saving Bondita, still he knew what happened to Mini was wrong. He promised to be with her always but then suddenly married someone else. He had shattered all her dreams in one go. And then she was being very considerate towards him and was quite sweet to Bondita and that made him feel more guilty than ever. Did she still wish to marry him after all this? And he couldn't deny the prospect did seem tempting. Can he still marry his childhood sweetheart? Inspite of everything that happened? Could he really be that lucky? Moreover rejecting this proposal meant breaking Mini's heart once again. But agreeing to it would be wrong to both Bondita and Mini. But then what had doing the right thing landed him with? A broken heart and a life filled with misery of accepting a kid as his wife and fighting his own family everyday to justify himself.
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I hope it wasn't too boring😒 I have written in first person narrative but I think i botched up somewhere😆
But give it a try and be kind enough to share your opinions🤗 Criticisms and suggestions are most welcome
it's like rewinding the episodes 
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