Elated she was, with the new world set afront... she rejoiced as her heart gained beats, her cells divided and the organs formed... she floated elegantly in the ocean of her dreams.. "It's a baby girl again" she stopped as she heard a sigh... her newly gained beats did not last long....

He ardently worshipped Saraswati, the goddess of knowledge.
"Remember you are a girl. Learning is not your cup of tea. It's better that you quit school and get involved in domestic chores" He said when his daughter asked for her school fees.

"Behave yourself", her mother told her, when her dupatta slipped off her shoulder. Women should look decent in the public."
Meanwhile, her brother blew whistles and passed ugly comments on a group of girls at the bus stop.

"A girl should be two things... who and what she wants." He quoted on his facebook wall. "Why did you have to wear a short skirt at the party? Did you purposely want those scumbags to drool over your bare legs?" He bashed at his wife later.

While he sang praises of Ma Durga at the temple, his own mother lay abandoned in an old age home, counting her last breaths.

And while the society held a candle march to preach feminism, she burned herself like a candle...Raped. Groped in public. A subject to constant judgements. Tied with the invisible chains of slavery... and still managed to give away the light...and then she gradually faded off, highlighting the essence of womanhood...

© Aditee Joshi