The Runaway Brinda

 Brinda stared at the life size mirror in front of her; her gaze cold and clinical, as she tried to summarise the image staring back at her in three words. The words that came to her mind were confident, radiant and stylish. Privilege was the one thing that set those who had arrived apart from the wannabes, and privilege was something that Brinda possessed in sackfuls. This was a fact that Brinda was acutely aware of, for she was not born with a silver spoon in her mouth. Her life was anything but that of privilege, until her ‘parents’ decided to adopt her and bring her into their world of luxury and privilege.

Some relationships are born from the depths of the human heart, and those, Brinda realised, were the best kind of relationships. Brinda recalled the warm welcome that she got when she first came home. Appa, Amma and Ajji adored her. She had a nice, big home, beautiful clothes and lots of toys. She got to eat yummy food, and soon, she began to look radiant and feel confident. Her past life was all but forgotten, or was it?

Life was beautiful, but Brinda missed the freedom that she had before she was adopted. This feeling became more and more intense when she saw some of her old friends in the workers colony behind her apartment. What if she could experience freedom for a few minutes? 

Brinda came up with a plan; a plan that she was confident of pulling off. After all, Nethra akka, her new nanny, was scared of her and did not have a way to manage should things go out of hand. It was time to execute the plan.

Brinda stepped out to play ,with Nethra Akka in tow. Soon she reached the back gate of the apartment, the place where she could see some of her old friends . Brinda took a deep breath and tugged at her leash with full force, running towards the worker colony barking loudly, even as Nethra akka helplessly bleated, ‘No Brinda, sit!’

 Brinda’s barks were met with equal enthusiasm by her brethren in the workers colony , who barked with in full force. Soon, there was chaos all around , as Brinda smiled in satisfaction. She was free at last!!

Comments

  1. SrishtiMay 5, 2026 at 11:31 PM

    With privilege comes responsibility must be the masking statement that was created by someone to shift the focus away from freedom you describe in your piece 🙂

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Aditi SowmyanarayanMay 5, 2026 at 11:43 PM

      Agreed😂 sometimes that responsibility can be wearing a “t shirt with the words bitch on it”, sometimes it is a glossy looking leash … the list goes on

      Delete
  2. RachanaMay 6, 2026 at 1:29 AM

    Superb Aditi.. Midway I started feeling Brinda seems ungrateful :)

    ReplyDelete

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