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.”“Children these days, you have to let them do what they want,” Babu’s widowed mother said, and Chetana wanted to remind the woman that while her daughter was a child, Babu was no child.“I don’t think this is a proper match,” Renuka said openly to Babu and his mother.“You’re much older and she’s just a—”“Why don’t you talk to Bhanu first?” Babu suggested politely.Bhanu had prepared Babu for when he and his mother would come.He knew what he had to do to get that blouse off Bhanu’s breasts.These old bats could say and do what they wanted but he was not about to give in and lose his chance with a fresh girl like Bhanu.So what if she was flirtatious and headstrong? Once he married her he would tame her.Babu wasn’t worried.When Bhanu told Chetana and Renuka she was in love with Babu and wanted to marry him, Chetana slapped her across the face.“In love, it seems.Nonsense.You won’t marry that old lecherous pig.”“I’m pregnant,” Bhanu lied easily.“And he’s the father.”The wedding took place at Tella Meda with no pomp or show, just the bare rituals.Chetana didn’t have the money for a fancy ceremony and there was also reason for haste.Bhanu insisted that the marriage take place immediately and implied that her pregnancy was reason enough for hurry.Chetana suspected Bhanu was lying but was afraid to call her on it.What if she wasn’t lying and the marriage fell through? An abortion was possible but.Chetana sighed.She hoped Meena would have the sense to not pull such a stunt.After the marriage ceremony, as Bhanu packed her belongings, getting ready to leave for her husband’s house, Kokila gave her the bank passbook Ravi’s father had left in her care for his granddaughters.She had contemplated giving the passbook to Chetana and letting her do with it what she wanted but she knew that Chetana was angry enough and proud enough that there was a chance she would throw the passbook away.“This is a lot of money,” Bhanu said, and then looked at Kokila.“Does Amma know about this?”Kokila shook her head.“She would kill me if she knew.”Bhanu grinned.“Amma likes money.but I think she hates Manikyam’s husband more.Why didn’t you give me this money before?”“I thought it would be wise to give it to you when you were ready for it.Are you angry with me for not giving it before?” Kokila asked.Bhanu shook her head.“I would’ve just wasted it.Now it will help Babu and me have a better life.He has a good business but this is.Do you think I should send a letter to them saying thank you?”“I don’t think it’s necessary,” Kokila said.“In my opinion, the man doesn’t deserve thanks.He did this, I think, to assuage his guilt for turning Ravi and Chetana out of his house.If he was truly penitent, he would’ve accepted Chetana and you and Meena after Ravi died.But he has chosen to not accept you as his granddaughter.Just take the money, make good use of it, and be happy.”“I’ll keep it just as is and not tell Babu about it,” Bhanu said.“I’ll save it for a rainy day.Do you think that would be wise?”“I think so,” Kokila said, impressed with the maturity Bhanu was showing all of a sudden.“Do you think you’ll be happy with Babu?”Bhanu nodded eagerly.“I like him.I know he’s not young and handsome, but I don’t want that.I want a man who loves me.No, I want a man who worships me and will take good care of me.Babu will do that.I’m not going to spend my life waiting for a prince to ride down on a white horse to sweep me away.I’m not going to end up like her, sitting in Tella Meda, going out with men like Srinivas and having no home of my own.”“Chetana did the best she could,” Kokila said in defense of her friend.“She made mistakes,” Bhanu said firmly.“I won’t make mistakes.”When it was time for Bhanu to leave for her husband’s house, she had tears in her eyes.She hadn’t thought she would cry but suddenly she was swamped with sadness.She knew she would miss Tella Meda; she would miss Renuka, Chetana, even Meena.Now that she was leaving she could be benevolent.She even touched Charvi’s feet on her way out, something she’d never done in her entire life.She was just sixteen and she had achieved the one thing her mother had never been able to do: she was leaving Tella Meda, forever.“She is getting away,” Chetana said as she wiped her tears after Bhanu left.“Oh, Kokila, did you ever think that I’d have children who would grow up so much that they would get married?”“Someday Karthik will grow up and get married too,” Kokila said as she watched her son bounce around the courtyard.“You let him marry whomever he wants and accept his wife, okay?” Chetana said, and Kokila smiled.“He’s too small for me to worry about the kind of woman he marries,” Kokila said.Chetana shook her head.“One minute they’re born and the next they’re grown up.I think Bhanu was lying about being pregnant.”Kokila was shocked.“How do you know?”“She had bleeding last week, I think.She’s cunning, that girl,” Chetana said.“And Babu, they say he takes pictures of naked women in that studio of his.”“Maybe you should heed your own advice and accept whomever your daughter has married,” Kokila said.Renuka was sobbing quietly in the courtyard, sitting by the tulasi plant.“She’s sadder than I am,” Chetana whispered to Kokila.“She raised Bhanu,” Kokila said, and Chetana nodded.Whether she liked it or not, and she didn’t like it at all, Chetana knew she had abandoned Bhanu as a baby and Renuka had picked up the responsibility.Chetana had always looked at Renuka with disdain, as a woman who stole her child, but now that Bhanu was gone maybe it was time she forgave Renuka for something she herself had forced her to do.“It’s okay,” Chetana said going over and putting her arm around Renuka.“She lives close by, almost next door, she’ll come and visit often.”Renuka looked up at Chetana and fresh tears started to roll down her cheeks.“She is like a daughter to me,” she said.“And you are like a mother to her,” Chetana said as emotions choked her as well.She hugged Renuka close and they mourned the loss of their daughter.1990 5 March 1990.The Indian Government announced interim relief of 3.6 billion rupees to half a million victims of the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy.20 October 1990.The Andhra Pradesh government declared a fiveday work week for all offices and educational institutions starting November 1, 1990.The ActressIt was unimaginable that Subhadra would leave Tella Meda.She had been like the house, solid, never needing any repairs, self-sufficient and irreplaceable.She had been with Charvi for forty years now, a lifetime really, but at the age of seventy, she was starting to feel tired and burdened by the chores at Tella Meda.That didn’t mean she relinquished control of her domain freely to Sushila without a grudge.Subhadra liked Sushila very much and in the three years since she had come to Tella Meda Sushila had become just as much of a permanent fixture as Subhadra had been.“She doesn’t make the pulusu the way we do,” Subhadra confided in Kokila as she packed her things in two big black metal trunks and one big suitcase.“She doesn’t cut the ladyfingers properly.They get sticky if you don’t cut them correctly.And she has no idea of how to make chakli properly.She puts too much chili powder in the batter.I don’t feel right about leaving like this.”Kokila had heard that long-term prisoners when freed had trouble adjusting to the idea of the world outside.They preferred to stay in prison rather than go out and live with real people in the real world.Subhadra was trying to find reasons to stay in Tella Meda rather than leave [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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