There’s a cry in the room, a girl is born“But I wanted a boy”, the father said with a scorn
The girl was taken out of the room as her mother cried
“She’s a girl”, she said, “Is that her crime?”
The girl grew up like the rising sun
In her innocence she asked her mother, “What have I done?”
“Why is it me who’s always looked down upon?”
But her doubts were hushed away by her father’s frowns
“You are not born to ask, you’re only born to answer”, said the father
As he made her life more miserable and harder
The world said, “Be thankful to your father he allowed you to live”
“You have nothing to take, you are here only to live”
The girl cried in the night till her eyes were sore
“I was born to live like the dead, there’s no hope”
Each passing day was like clinging to life
Even though she would rather prefer to die
She saw her mother being beaten up at night
Bearing all the pain and still putting up a fight
“It’s all because of me, I’m a bad omen,” she said
“I don’t deserve to live. Oh Lord! put me on the death bed”.
She was taught that for women there are no nights or days
“You are not here to enjoy, you are here as a mere slave”
Slave to the never-ending wishes of the “superior class”
She could sense her life being shattered like glass
Malvika Kapur, IX-C,
Sacred Heart Senior Secondary School, Chandigarh
