Isha's Choice

What is LIFE?

"They say it's from B to D.

From Birth to Death, But what's between B & D

It's C- a choice that has to be made not between good and bad but between bad and worse."

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Wiping her tear stained cheek, Isha slides down the bed post and leans herself on the wall behind. Her tears cascade non-stop on her now rosy cheeks as she wipes her red nose to her Kurtis's sleeve trying to stop her running nose.

She always knew that the amount of choice and freedom that her brothers had were infinite compared to her. They were never redeemed for their choices and were always given everything and anything they have wanted. But, it wasn't the same with her. It also wasn't like they didn't love her. It's just that they were overprotective of her and never let her choose anything that was not in benefit of her.

Isha had learnt to deal with three overbearing men in her life. It never hurt this much as it was her choice to let them decide for herself. But, it wasn't the same today when her whole family refused to let her go to Gurukul.

Gurukul college of Dehradun is the most prestigious and reputed college one could have ever heard of. Discipline and Valour were it's speciality. It had take Ishitha eleven months and eighteen days in exact to prepare for its entrance scholarship exam.

Today morning she had woken up with bundle of nerves awaiting the result of her hard work. Her mother always told her that Hard work pays off and no intelligence in world can compete with hard work and true to her words, Ishitha had secured a scholarship seat in Gurukul in her interested field Engineering...

Her excitement knew no leaps and bounds as she had hollered her happiness all around the house only to be faced with furious and disapproving eyes of her family. All her excitement died in an instant when they declared that Ishitha wouldn't leave the home no matter what putting a full stop to all her dreams, desires and ambitions.

She wanted to shout and scream at their ridiculous partiality between her brothers and herself. Instead, she walked out of the living room silently controlling her tears not to hurt them. She decided to give them her infamous silent treatment until they accepted her choice and as soon as she was inside her safe heaven, her room, she let the tears free soaking her pale cheeks.

"May be we should let her go, " Nakul says sighing at his crying sister. She had never cried so much in her entire life and it pricked his heart to see her cry.

"How will she stay without us? How can she adjust in a hostel room with new people? New place" Varun argues stating all reasons and biting his tongue at the important reason.

"How will he stay without his little sister who is his stress reliever. Without speaking to whom, his day isn't complete..."

Both the brothers sigh as they see their sister slowly passing into slumber. As they hear her soft snores, they open her room door lightly without making noise and walk towards her carefully not to wake her up. As they reach the bed, Varun softly wipes her tear stained cheek while Nakul wraps a blanket on her protecting her from the cold winter night.

Both of them take turns in kissing her forehead before leaving the room. They knew that their sister was strong to live her life by herself but the bitter truth was that they weren't ready to see her all grown up making choices for herself.

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Ishitha stealthily opens her eyes as she senses her brothers leaving the room. Life was bed of roses for her as her family protected her from all the thrones but she wanted no craved for something more. Something she could be proud of, without her family's involvement in it and it is then she made her choice.

She wants to experience life. Not just the security of her home and love of her family but also the hardships that challenge you, when you are away from the life you've always lived.

Making her choice, Ishitha packed her clothes in a small travel bag throwing in all necessary clothing and nothing extra. Good thing, Gurukul College had an uniform for its students and she wouldn't need many extravagant clothes. In fact all she needed were her pyjamas and night tops...

Satisfied with the packing, Ishitha gets to work on another important task. Breaking her piggy bank.

Her brothers and father spoiled her with money on every Rakshabandhan and her birthdays. But her mother had always advised her to save money for something big and following her advise Ishitha has been collecting all the money in her piggy bank. Now, counting it she had a total sum of Fifteen thousand seven hundred and nine rupees collected over a span of seven years.

Happy with her money collection, Ishitha rechecks her certificate documents and other stuff she would need to provide at Gurukul and then sits down to write a quick letter to her family explaining her point of view to them.

She knows that they will be furious and hurt tomorrow with her choice of decision but for once she wanted to be selfish and choose the path of thorns for herself. Something she has never done before.

Booking a cab on Uber, She changes her dress and stealthily makes her way towards her balcony. Tying her mother's saree to the balcony's rod, she checks it's knot strength. Satisfied at her art work, she throws her duffel bag down and carefully slides down along the saree making sure to not fall down on her face. Successful at her attempt, she picks up her things and walks slowly on her toes towards the main gate where she finds the watchman sleeping making her run-away attempt easy. Escaping the house without getting noticed was her first step towards the new life awaiting at Gurukul.

Or so she thought...