Barrister Babu— 21st Century Version (Chapter 4)

CHAPTER 4: A NASTY BREAKUP

Bondita was panting and huffing, trying to catch her breath after completing a run of 5 kilometres. Sweating profusely, she sat on a swing in a park nearby. She sat and admired the early morning aesthetic beauty of the environment, manifested in the form of a park around her.

As she swung on the swing, numerous thoughts and questions swirled through her mind. The most prominent one being, why everyone thought that she had to hide herself.

Why did SHE have to go away, when the wrongdoer was most certainly someone else? He was in jail, serving his punishment of a year. But why did she have to leave home? Wasn’t it like a punishment for her?

Bondita didn’t want to leave her mother alone, with those greedy wolves, who called themselves her Mama-Maami and the caretakers of her and her mother.

She couldn’t wait to become an adult, so that she could be fully independent and earn a living for her and her Maa, on her own.

She remembered her Baba. Life was so beautiful when he was there. When she and her parents were a happy little family, everything was so blissful. Why did Dugga Maa take it all away from her?

The early morning sunlight glistened upon the lone tear that had rolled down her cheek and she quickly wiped it away.

Life was difficult. Life was a pile of rubbish. Life was messed up. But she had to live. And why she had to live, was another question… She had so many questions. But who was going to answer them? Even that was a question.

Chuckling, she got up, and made her way back home.

On reaching home, she saw her Mama-Maami discussing something, in hushed tones.

When she came in, both of them looked at her exasperatedly. Bondita just rolled her eyes and went into the washroom to freshen up.

———————–

Anirudh was waiting for Saudamini in the café, holding his coffee mug so tightly, it might break if he applied more pressure. He was in deep thinking. His furrowed eyebrows indicating his nervousness and anxiety.

His head was busy in imagining different scenarios that could ensue after the breakup. And none of them, gave him the hope of a good conclusion.

How he wished everything would be fine. He had spent a whole hour, carefully reading all the instructions given in the guideline of ‘How to break up, without causing a ruckus’, step by step, from Google.

He didn’t want to upset Mini. She was his childhood friend. She had always stood up for him; been there for him. But she had become too invested in this relationship. She had become somewhat possessive.

Anirudh didn’t want to destroy his relationship with her. He wanted to retain their friendship. It was precious to him. And that was why, he had to finish THIS relationship, before it became toxic. It was necessary and the right thing to do.

And the right path, is never the easy path. But Anirudh was not someone who would not do the right thing, just because it was hard and difficult. He always had, and always would, choose the right path, however difficult.

“Ahem, ahem”, someone cleared their throat from behind, breaking his chain of thoughts.

He looked back to find Saudamini looking down at him, a pretty smile playing upon her lips.

“Hey! What’s up?”, she asked, sliding into the chair, opposite to his. She took the coffee mug that he had already ordered for her.

“I hope you don’t mind that I pre-ordered your coffee before you came. Want to eat something?”, Anirudh asked, smiling politely.

“No. Nothing for now. And Anirudh, honestly tell me. What’s wrong? I know something is up with you”, she asked him, giving him a look that clearly said, ‘don’t you dare lie to me’.

“Oh… Nothing. Just…”, Anirudh started saying, when Mini cut him off, and said, “Look, no one knows and understands you better than me. I perfectly know something’s wrong. Is it your Kaka not agreeing for our marriage, Anirudh?”.

He looked at Mini. This was wrong. Wrong on so many levels. He couldn’t do this to her. She was building castles in the air. Here she was, thinking about their marriage and he was thinking about how to break up with her peacefully. He couldn’t take it anymore.

“Weshouldbreakup!”, he said in one short breath, his eyes shut tightly.

Why wasn’t Mini responding?

He slowly opened his eyes to find her looking at him, evident confusion etched upon her face.

“Sorry? Anirudh, what do you want to say? Please be clear!”, she asked exasperatedly.

Taking a deep breath, he strengthened his resolve. He looked at her, staring straight into her eyes, and said, “I think… I think we should probably break up. It’s for the best”, he said.

He had expected Mini to get mad at him; laugh disbelievingly, but he only got a prolonged silence.

Not wanting to miss the chance, he started explaining, “Mini, look we both have different goals and ambitions. You want to settle down abroad. I want to live here, with my family beside me. I want to do good for people. I want to make my life useful for others. You know my plans. I’ll be a law teacher for a year or two. Then I will pursue independent barristry. I would have a busy life. I won’t be able to give much time to you or to us. And you deserve someone who can do that. We won’t work well together, Mini. Now, please don’t be mad at me. Try to understand”.

All of a sudden, Saudamini stood up. Anirudh followed and stood up too. Both stood facing each other, one staring into the other’s eyes. Anirudh with guilt in his eyes, and Saudamini with hurt and anger.

“Are you out of your mind, Anirudh? Have you lost it?”, Saudamini asked, rather loudly. Anirudh looked around to find a few people starting to turn around to look at them.

“I thought you were different! You were better!”, she shrieked.

“Different? Better? From whom, Mini?”, Anirudh asked, looking utterly confused.

“From all other men, who are afraid of commitment. From all those heartbreakers”, Mini said, sniffling dramatically, tears flowing down her eyes.

“You are no different Anirudh! You played with my heart and my aspirations!”, she yelled, pointing her finger at him.

By now, almost all people in the café had turned to look at both of them. Some of them, especially the women, were giving disapproving glances to Anirudh.

“No Saudamini. I didn’t play with your dreams. In fact, I didn’t want to give you false hopes and dreams. But, I want us to remain friends, Mini”, he said, looking at her beseechingly.

“Shut up! Just shut up Anirudh!”, she yelled, angrily wiping her tears. “You are a blo*dy moron”, she accused him.

Anirudh just stared at her, too confused and surprised to say anything.

And then, Saudamini strode forward and slapped him across his face. Anirudh stumbled, holding onto the table for support.

He stared at Mini, open-mouthed and wide-eyed. He was way too taken aback to even say something.

And out of nowhere, two women at the nearby table started clapping merrily, as if they’d just witnessed a great climax to a blockbuster movie at the theatre.

“Damn you!”, she yelled.

Anirudh felt someone tap his shoulder from behind. Recovering from his shock, he turned back to look at a tall man staring at him, sympathetically. He was the café manager.

“Look mister, we can’t have this kind of behaviour here. Take her out of here, please”, he said.

“Damn you as well!”, Saudamini shouted at the manager and stormed out of the café. Anirudh just sighed and hurriedly paid the bill.

“You can get out as well”, the manager said, nodding solemnly.

“Yeah, yeah. I’m not planning to settle down here. I’m going”, Anirudh grumbled and rushed to follow Saudamini.

“Mini! Mini! Listen to me, please! Look, I don’t want things to end between us, this way. I still want your friendship”, he pleaded.

“Well, you should have thought about that, before you broke my heart, you damn… I don’t even have words for you!”, she shouted at him.

“TAXI!!”, she called, and boarded the taxi.

Anirudh sighed, stroking his now bruised cheek. The breakup went just as he had imagined.

Author’s Notes (A/N): How was the chapter? Was I able to write the breakup nicely?😁

How was Bondita’s predicament?

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