Anirudh- The Story Of A Misread Barrister

Chapter-43- Anirudh Is Forced To Get Married

Along with five children, I stood at the threshold of my bungalow.

"Who are they?", questioned kaka, while baba gave suspicious looks as he adjusted his spectacles.

"He is Ravi; she is Shaswati; this is Charu with her brother Abhoy; and this one is Anirban.", I introduced the kids to my family.

"Good; but what are they doing in our house?", my dad asked.

"Baba, from today, these kids will stay with us.", I declared.

He let out a deep sigh gesturing my kaka to handle the situation. Somehow he was not fighting with me like before. Ever since he realised that my decision of bringing Bondita home was right, he stopped fighting with me. Even though he still didn't seem to understand my ways fully, he wasn't scolding me like before.

"What do you mean by 'stay with us'?", kaka glared at me.

"They lost their parents in the riots today. So, from now onwards, they are my responsibility. I have promised their parents already.", I meekly replied, a little scared of the storm that was going to come.

"Shiv..shiv..shiv...satyanaash (sheer destruction)", uttered kaka.

"Aniruuuuudhhhhhhhhhh......I am not even able to find the right words to scold you. How come you are always there in the zone of trouble? Well, if you want to help them, you should have given some money and handed them over to their relatives. What's the need of bringing them home? We don't even know whether they are Brahmins or not.", my kaka screamed.

"Enough kaka; please don't even talk about caste. We are all humans and children are nothing less than God", I spoke loudly this time,

"Besides, kaka, why do you think their fathers will ask me to shoulder their responsibility if there are relatives who can take care of them? Still, I enquired about their relatives to avoid any further disturbance. Then I came to know that they have broken ties with the parents of these kids, as they didn't like their revolutionary ways."

"Great. So, you have picked up those kids whose families are banished by their own relatives. Oh, good lord", my kaka said sarcastically.

"They became selfish. Shall we too become one?", I gave back.

"In the name of humanity, how many people will you bring home and how many responsibilities will you shoulder?", came the next question. Although he had a point, my boiling blood didn't allow me to think much.

"By God's grace, we have a huge pocket full of money. Now it's time to prove to God that we have a huge heart too. Besides, I don't fear responsibilities.", I said.

"Today you will keep these children in our house, well and good. Tomorrow, more people may need your help, then how will you manage?", kaka raised a question.

"I will think of a better option later. At present, kindly let us inside the house.",

My father gave a hopeless look and left, while adjusting his spectacles again. Kaka still stood with his wooden stick, not knowing what to do. So, I went on saying,

"I understand that it is difficult for you to accept new people into your house. It's not easy even for these kids to accept us. It takes time. Eventually, all of us will get used to each other and our relationship will strengthen over a period of time."

"What relationship Anirudh? How are these kids related to us? What will you tell if anyone asks?"

"You can think of them as my children or siblings, in whichever way these children want to accept me.", I replied.