Barrister Babu: The Journey Ahead

Her First Steps

Twenty years old, trunk in hand, Bondita tugged at her suitcase until she reached the steps of the Roy Choudhary mansion. The last time she stepped foot here was before she had gone to her thakuma's house. 

Memories flooded her, as she remembered her first days as a child bride, unaware of what was happening. How Anirudh married her to save her from being burned alive as a widow of another older man, how when he brought her here, but didn't have the guts to face her. He had gone against even his own beliefs for her. 

Yet, the truth was that even though her pati babu, her husband, had been loving and motivating, it was sad that most husbands were not like that. Most child marriages were heartbreaking, devastating, and tormenting for the children involved. Many of them weren't able to live their childhood, and grew up way too early for their age. 

With Anirudh, she got to be a child. She never missed out on her childhood. In fact, he had become a child with her.

She couldn't say the same about anyone else forced to be in a marriage like this. 

Bondita Roy Choudhary -- or was it Bondita Das, stepped foot just outside the mansion, her breath catching in her throat. 

How would she face everyone again after seven years away? Her kaka sasurji, Anirudh's Trilochan baba, who loved her to death? Somnath, Batuk, Anirudh's brothers? Anirudh's dad, who once was her father-in-law? How about Koeli and Bihari Ji? Although they were the servants, they were equally Bondita's family. 

Bondita remembered the moment where Anirudh took backwards vows with her, taking a stand against child marriages everywhere. Although it hurt her at the time, she understood why he had done it. 

Their case was an exception. It always had been one. 

As she grew up, she couldn't tell when she had a crush on him, and when it had turned to love. Her pati babu, her rakshak babu, her sakha babu. He had been everything to her. 

All she knew had been him. 

So he had given her that freedom -- the freedom to go out, to explore, to love and lead a life of her own. He gave her the freedom to have her own identity -- an identity that didn't need a male to be part of it. 

He made her independent. 

And she respected him a lot for that. 

Finally, Bondita stepped foot in the Roy Choudhary haveli, and looked around, a smile on her lips, tears in her eyes. 

She missed this place so, so much. 

Barrister Babu Bondita was finally home.