Everyone says that India is an incredible country, and it's true because there are many cultures, religions, languages, ways of praying, and celebrations.
This story belongs to a girl named Astha, who comes from a below-middle-class family. Her story began on August 2nd, 1987.
Astha is the third girl among her parents' five children - she has two elder sisters, one elder brother, and one younger brother. As a child, Astha was very cute and had an extraordinary memory. Her father was a popcorn seller, and her mother worked as a maid.
When Astha was three years old, she witnessed an incident that she could never forget. It was a winter night, and everyone was asleep when she heard some noise and shouting from her parents. She saw her father beating her mother and using vulgar language, threatening her mother about the incident. Astha saw her mother and elder sister run away from home to call the police. When Astha's mother and elder sister left, her father tried to hide a wooden stick in the mud and threatened her other siblings not to tell anyone where he had hidden it. This incident was very scary for Astha.
After some time, Astha's mother began selling popcorn on the streets with her, and in the mornings, Astha and her elder sister worked as maids in some houses. It took six months for Astha's father to come back home after a bad incident. He was not well because he had hidden from the police, and he asked Astha's mother for forgiveness. Astha's mother forgave her husband, but at that time, Astha was not aware of what had happened or why.
Another incident that Astha remembers is the flood that occurred when she was a child. She saw water everywhere and could not understand what was happening. Her parents took her and her siblings to a neighbour's house, but the flood did not stop. Even her little dog died due to the flood because her parents forgot to remove its neck chain.
When Astha was five years old, her elder sister took her younger brother to school on a bicycle. It was a memorable time, and Astha still remembers that after two hours, they came back home with two orange-coloured ice creams.
When Astha was in second grade, her parents decided to get her elder sister married. Her sister was just 14 years old, and the man she married was 30 years old. At that time, Astha was not aware of the age difference or the concept of child marriage.
One day, Astha's mother received the bad news that her father had passed away. Her mother began preparing to go to her father's house, and Astha washed some clothes to take with her. Suddenly, Astha's foot slipped on an iron rod, and she suffered a bad injury to her wrist. The next day, Astha's mother went to her father's house for the cremation, but she herself was badly injured by a train due to her father's negligence. Her mother's condition was very bad because she had suffered a brain injury, but there were no external injuries. Astha's house was near an army training camp.
After some time, Astha's family moved to another rented house on the first floor, above a flour mill, and across from a grocery shop. Two years after her sister's marriage, she gave birth to a boy named Mank. Mank's father divorced her mother because his parents did not want a child born on a Tuesday. They had planned to exchange wives with Astha's brother-in-law's family, but Astha's sister did not agree to this. She decided to tell her mother about the situation, and Astha's mother decided to file a divorce paper.
Part-1