The hut was silent. She entered; there was no one in sight, her mother, siblings none were there. She came out after hanging her school bag from the hook on wall and changing her school dress.
She entered the kitchen; her food was at place, carefully covered. There was no sign of her mother.
She finished her supper of rice and a little curry, quickly washed her hands and went out to play with her friends.
It was evening when she returned home, her mother was back, so were her siblings.
Her tiny brother ran to her, “Didi it’s your marriage!”
She looked at her mother but she pretended that she was not listening to them and started to chop the vegetables with great attention.
“Ma?” she looked at her with terrified eyes. She has seen her whispering with some women quite frequently these days.
A handful of young girls of their village had been wed off through these women, they never returned. Their families get letters from distant places like Haryana or Madhya Pradesh, Money Orders but these girls never come to visit.
“Ma?” she repeated her question.
“It’s been fixed, the boy works in a Jute Mill in Gujarat. They are demand-less, not only that, they will bear the expenses of the marriage.” Her mother turned her back and started to cook.
“But Ma…..”
“Don’t be selfish!”
A NOTE – hundreds or more girls from West Bengal are married off (?) to states where female population are too low in comparison to male population, mostly their parents get money from the pimps who act as middle-men/women, A society which just won’t let the dowry system rot in hell makes its daughters bleed in its name.
This month I will share my knowledge on this curse.
Reblogged this on Thoughts.
hello, i have been following your stories and what a great discovery i have found. you have help me to think of issues that may have only been a brief thought in passing but now some time is spent thinking deeper. Today’s blog makes me feel sad for the women and girls sold of to marriage without a say. Thank you, I will continue to follow you
even the very thought of this practice freezes my soul, if a child cant trust her mother and father, who will she trust in this world?
Reblogged this on Sharmishtha Basu's poetries.
touching…
happy that it touched you.
I love the final sentence! Also enjoy your art.
thank you so very much.
Such a terrible practice!
and it really, really hurts to say that it is a very rampant practice in India.
This is so sad. It makes me want to cry – but then again it makes me SO angry! It will stop, but when? Your voice helps to make it sooner.
In poor countries the scenario is really bleak. it has to stop! under any circumstances but how?
The way you have presented the issue of human traffiking makes it more real. Thank you for sharing!
in my country, esp my state its a menace.
It is becoming a menace in the least likely places. Many people here in America don’t even know that this is an issue.