A heavily decked bride, barely 18, sat in the dark on the stairs of the Roy Chaudhary mansion—her Sasural, a sasural that hadn’t even been aware of her arrival or their son’s marriage. Thus, lacked the lights and festivities usually associated with weddings.
The bride too lacked the happiness of a newly married woman, she glowed under the moonlight nonetheless. Too much had happened in the last twelve hours and a lone tear slid down her cheek, which she made no movement to wipe and this was meant to be the happiest day in her life.
So lost in her thoughts, that she didn’t hear the servant call her out, or maybe she wasn’t used to being addressed as such. Only looked up, when he gently shook her shoulder and she looked at the kind face of a much older gentleman. She nodded half-dazed and gathered her heavy red choli, giving a hint of the wealth she came from and followed the man inside, her anklets the only sound in the hallway, besides the distant shouting. Stopping at the main entrance, the conversation ceased as she came into the line of vision of the room’s occupants. Disapproval was clearly etched on their face and she really couldn’t blame them.
The man she had married, had his back faced to him—she couldn’t even remember what he looked like let alone his name...the events of the night were quite a haze. The elders had learned the rules of the society and kept quite, the younger ones not so much.
The smallest member of her audience tucked her husband’s hand, “Dada...naam kya hain I ka,” he asked innocently. Her husband in answered stayed quite, he didn’t know her name—he had married her to save her, he hadn’t even known of her existence before today.
The elders sneered at her saviour, “Haan Anirudh beta, Batuk ko naam batao uski nahi baudhi ka,” They were clearly preying on his lack of an answer and the new bride realized that her battles were far from over—she’d have to help this man—Annirudh Babu out, the one who had so self lessly saved her tonight and she’ll stand by him always.
“Bondhita,” she answered the young kid’s question, her voice hoarse yet clear. “Humara naam Bondhita hain.”
post prologue notes: I wrote this on my phone, so let me know if there were any mistakes.
I’ve been playing with the idea of Bondhita not being a kid in the show for a while (since we don’t know who is going to play the older Bondhita, I imagine her to be Alia Bhatt-esque from Kalank). The girl’s ahead of her time, always questioning and Annirudh still helps her realize her dream of becoming a barrister. You’ll find out what happened prior to the prologue in upcoming chapters—there’s still the complication with Saudamini and the story is still set on pre-partition India with it’s backwards thinking. Bondhita comes from an affluent family too—less factors against the couple.
Do let me know how you like it, and I’ll continue it on as soon as I can—Hoping to have a chapter up by tonight.
But please let me know your feedback
Edit: https://66.media.tumblr.com/54108cfedf02073aa692bd6fce1e1350/tumblr_pq7xp517cE1skbao9o1_250.gif (bondhita’s shaadi ka jode—because I love the costuming in Kalank)
~Aashna
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