Change for future

I was cutting vegetables in the kitchen when my daughter came running to me. She looked happy, and she had a paper in her hand. She kept her arm around me and sat in my lap. “Maa, I passed the exam. Now I will go to 6^th class.” She said in excitement and handed over her report card to me. It took me nearly 1 minute to just read her school’s name, which was written in bold letters on top of the card.

 I used to go to a school in my village in Rajasthan, where I studied till 3^rd class. At the age of 11 I got married to a man who was 12 years older them me, and had a kid of half of my age. Before I can understand the meaning of marriage I was pregnant with my first child. By the time I turned 21, I was mother of 3 boys. Though I conceived more than 3 times, once my kid died just after the delivery and other times I suffered miscarriage because of several reasons. Having kids at young age and not getting proper medical care, took toll on my health. I was in my thirties, but I looked much older than that. Eyesight was getting weaker and so was my body. “Maa, I want to have kheer today.” Gudia’s words brought me out of my thoughts. “Sure! I will make sweet-sweet kheer for my Gudia.” I kissed on her forehead.

My oldest son (my step Son) entered the kitchen and said “So Gudia, you passed 5^th class right.” Gudia ran in joy, and gave her report card in his hand. He looked at the card and said “Hmmm, now it’s time I should start finding alliance for you.” Gudia looked confused, she came and stood near me. “She is a kid now, what is the hurry for marriage.”I said. My son Rakesh rolled his eyes “She is a kid? At her age you became my mother. Don’t you remember that?”. I held Gudia close to me and said “That was old time, now things are different. Her teacher ji says that girls should not be married before 18 years of age.”. Rakesh drank water and said “That madam is from city, she has no idea how things work in villages. We know what is best for our girl.”.  I raised my voice “But in TV also they show that child marriage is illegal.”. Rakesh shouted back “looks like TV is making you very smart. Don’t forget Baba is coming back tomorrow, and if I tell him about your protest, just think what he will do to you.”

He left the kitchen and I asked Gudia to go to her room, I sat there only, lost in my thoughts. My husband does not drink alcohol and abuse me, because he doesn’t need to be out of his senses to do that. He points finger on me for each and everything. I am not supposes to have my own wish or word in this house, I just have to follow what he and his sons decide.

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No one gave ear to what I said and they fixed my Gudia’s marriage. Gudia is sad, because she won’t be going to school anymore. And I am so restless; I don’t want to see my girl leading the same life which I lived. I was having sleepless nights, as I was afraid for my daughter’s future. Next morning Gudia’s school teacher came home to see her. She wanted to speak to my husband and make him understand that child marriage is not right, but he didn’t listen to her at all. She asked me, why I am not stopping my family from doing this. Why am I silently seeing my daughter’s life getting ruined? I said nothing and stood there with my head down. Before leaving teacher ji said to me “The person, who silently witnesses the sin, is equally responsible for the outcomes.”

I spent the whole night with my eyes open; Gudia was sleeping by my side. I looked at her innocent face, she had no idea how her own father was busy ruining her future. Tears rolled down from side of my eyes.

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Gudia was dressed in her wedding dress and my sons were standing near the main gate with their father, to welcome to groom and his family. Barat came, everyone looked very happy. Ladies were dancing and guests were congratulating my husband for following the tradition and getting her daughter married at a young age. I was standing in a corner and was silently praying to god with my eyes closed. I opened my eyes when I heard the jeep’s sound. Yes, the police was there. They held my husband and scolded him for arranging his minor daughter’s marriage. The senior inspector asked “Who called and informed us about this marriage, please come forward.” Everyone in the guest was clue less and was looking at each other.  I came in front and said “I called you Sir.” My husband yelled at me for calling the police.

Today morning when everyone was busy in the marriage preparations, I dialed the emergency number from the landline and informed them about this marriage. I have seen that number flashing on TV many times before, in different awareness program ads given by government. If I would have been caught calling them, my husband would have killed me. But to me, that time my Gudia’s future was more important than anything else.

Police caught all the males of my family and also the groom’s parents. Some villagers where rolling their eyes on me, for informing the police about this marriage. But I was not feeling guilty, I was relieved. I knew that now I have bigger challenges to face and harsher questions to answer. Still I was happy, because I acted against a bad practice. Someone rightly said “If something irritates us so much, we only need to change it.” And today I became the change, to change my daughter’s future.

PS: Child marriage is illegal, but it is still practiced in some parts on India.

Real Feeling

If I have to tell the incidents which made me feel close to nature and gave me a real feeling, I will go back to my childhood. I was raised in a town which was like a planned township. There the roads were wide and clean, and trees were planted on both sides of roads. There were plenty of playgrounds and open areas for kids to play. Every house had a garden, full of beautiful plants and trees which gave sweet fruits. That’s the place I grew up, that’s the place I lived the longest part of my life till now.

I and my friends used to play every evening in the nearby play ground, and once we were tired playing, we used to tell scary stories. I was the listener most of the time as I used to hear only Ramayana and Mahabharata stories from my mom, so I knew no ghost stories to share with my friends. Whenever I was not playing with my friends, I used to read story books or comics in our garden at “my Adda”. Yes I had an Aada in my garden, which I made. We used to have a papaya tree in the garden which was surrounded by many small show plants. There was not much space in-between for an adult to sit, but I placed some bricks there and made a place to sit for me. I was small that time, so when I used to sit in-between those plants it was difficult for others to find me, but I was able to see everythingJ. I used to sit there for hours and read books, play with my doll, sing songs, or simply look at people walking outside on road and used to cook up imaginary stories. I didn't like to share my adda even with my brother; no one else other than me was welcome there. Whenever I sat under that tree I had a very nice feeling, the real feeling.

Similarly, at my maternal grandparents place they had a big garden, and my grandfather had planted many veggies and flowers in the garden. Whenever I was at their place and my granny used to ask me to bring chillies for the curry, I used to run to the garden and pluck fresh green chillies for her. I used to help my grandfather in watering the plants, and used to feel very happy seeing flowers blooming on the plants. I used to chase the colorful butterflies and used to cross my finger and make a wish every time I used to see two myna birds together in the garden. All that used to make me feel very close to nature.

Time passed and I got busy with my studies, going out for playing reduced and then stopped. “My adda” was no more spacious enough to accommodate the grownup me. Now evenings were dedicated to the computer games and chatting with friends online. Still the walk in the garden and sitting in garden in summer nights, used to make me feel close to nature. When I got job and left my hometown, my last connection with the nature also broke down.

In the concrete jungle when people want to get close to nature, they go for a trek or take a trip to some jungle resort. I too did that, but the closeness I felt with nature during my childhood was not felt again.

But this last time when I visited my in-law’s place, this real feeling came back. They too live in a township, and have a huge garden in front of the house. They have many veggies and fruit trees in their garden, which resembles my maternal grandfather’s garden. My husband walked me through the garden and shared his childhood memories associated with those trees and the garden. One day I myself plucked tomatoes, chillies and coriander leaves from the garden and made spicy chutney with that. It tasted yummy and was very fresh. The feeling of growing your own food was amazing.

Whenever I am close to nature I feel very happy, and thankful to the Mother Nature for all her blessings. These are my real experiences, which are always very close to my heart.

This is my entry for The Kissan 100% Real Blogger Contest on indibloggr.

My Sunglasses, My Style

I read about this contest “My Sunglasses, My Style” on Blogadda, and I was very excited to take part in it. I love Sunglasses; they not just act like protection for eyes but also add a style to the whole look. I wear my sunglasses whenever I step out in sun. Some days when we make a plan to go out somewhere for a causal outing and I do not have much time to dress up, my shades save me. I love big frames and dark shades as they go very well with my skin tone.

 So I went through the sunglasses collection of gkboptical.com, and I must say they have a huge collection. I had tough time deciding what to take and what not, because everything was so good.  Finally I zeroed on these two Sunglasses.

Sunglass Number 1:

This is a DOLCE&GABBANA square shape Sunglass with purple lens (Modal number: DOLCE&GABBANA DG 4074)

 

I chose this because I love the purple shade. This will look great in day time, and the purple shade will relax the eyes in harsh sun. I can wear it for casual as well as formal outings. The look I will pair it up with can be a lavender color Shirt or a white long T-shirt with dark color skinny denims. I will pull my hair away from my face to make a messy bun or high ponytail. I will wear a big round dial watch with it, and keep the style minimalist.

Sunglass Number 2:

This one is an Aviator from Ray-Ban (Modal number: RAY-BAN RB 8301).

 

 

This one is a lighter shade, so I can wear this in day as well as night time. It has polarized lenses, which helps reducing glare and gives clear vision. They are great for driving at night time, this is one of the reason I selected this Sunglass. So this one I will pair up with my funky printed T-Shirt and capris, or Jeans to have a fun look. I can also team it up with my checked Shirt and Jeans. I will leave my hair lose or will make a side ponytail. I will wear some beaded bracelets too.I will also do little eye makeup with mascara and kajal, as this sunglass has lighter shade lens, my eye makeup will be visible through them.

 

When I remove my Sunglass I use it as an accessory by I hanging it on my T-shirt’s or shirt’s neck or from my Jeans front pocket; sometimes I also hang it on my handbag. I also like to hold it in my hand. Because when we have empty hands we mostly fold our hand and stand, but if we have the shades in hand we automatically get a posture and it looks good.

These are my two looks with these wonderful shades, what’s your?

This entry is a part of the contest at BlogAdda.com brought to you by GKB Optical Sunglasses

And guess what, I won it :D

When Journey Meant More Than Destination

This post has been published by me as a part of the Blog-a-Ton 25; the Silver Edition of the online marathon of Bloggers; where we decide and we write. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton. The topic for this month is 'When Journey Meant More Than Destination'.

I entered the club, and went straight to the bar. “Good Evening Sir, your special drink?” the bartender asked me. I smiled and nodded in agreement. I was very frequent to that place so all the staff knew me. I glanced through the crowd and turned to the bartender who was making my drink. “Here you go Sir.” He gave me my drink. I raised the toast and took the first sip of the drink. I was enjoying my drink and the music there when I saw her, sitting with her friends. Her golden locks and killer red dress were making her look smoky hot. I inspected her from top to bottom but she did not notice it, as I was sitting quite far from her. I asked the bartender to make a drink for the lady and give it to her from my side.

In next 10 minutes, the drink I sent for her was back on my table. “Tough chick.... I like it” I thought and smiled.

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Next day I was in that bar again, I ordered my drink and started waiting for her. I was sure that she would come, as I had got this news from my sources in the bar (I told you I knew all the staff here). She came after 30 minutes, in a little black dress. This girl knew fashion very well and was beautiful too. Today I decided to go and talk to her face to face. I walked to her table, and asked her “Can I buy you a drink?” She pointed to her wallet and said “Thanks, but I like to buy my own drink”. She turned back to her group and did not bother to see if I was still standing there.

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Since last three days I was trying to talk to her but nothing worked. Today I came to the club with a new plan. When she came and settled with her friends I sent chocolates for her, and this time she did not send them back. No women can say no to chocolates, and when its wine chocolate it works wonders. I also sent a note asking for "Coffee tomorrow morning". I saw her opening the note and then she kept it in her purse, as if she saw nothing on the paper.

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I was there at the coffee shop, with a bunch of 11 red roses, and she was 20 minutes late. She wore a white frilly skirt with floral top. She walked straight to my table and said “I will take an Irish coffee.” “Anything you love. Well, this is for the lovely lady” I gave her the flowers. Again flowers did their magic. We sat there for two hours and talked nonstop.

Next week we meet every evening. We went clubbing, movies, everything was so much fun.

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“Here is your place your majesty” I drove her to her place after the dinner. I got down and went to open the car door for her, every girl loves to feel like a princes and I knew that. She held my hand and came out of the car. She waved her hand and we said goodbye. But suddenly she turned back to me and asked “Would you like to have some coffee?”  “Sure, why not?” I agreed instantly.

We came to have coffee but I found a wine bottle in her kitchen so we decide to have that. She looked sensuous in her night gown and the dimmed light added the to the effect. She came and sat very close to me, I was not able to resist any more, I kissed her. She stopped me initially but later started responding to my kisses. We had a wonderful night.

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I left her place early next morning. When I was in office I got SMS from her saying “Last night was so beautiful, I am missing you so much”. I read the message but could not feel any excitement or happiness. I deleted the SMS, and saved her number as “DO NOT ANSWER”.  Yes, I reached the destination of this journey. The surety of destination never excites me as much as the unpredictability of the journey. I am a chaser. I love to run behind the beauty until I get it. To me, the journey means more than the destination.


PS: Reports say that many men get the feeling of fulfilment in chasing. you can see this link.





                               

The fellow Blog-a-Tonics who took part in this Blog-a-Ton and links to their respective posts can be checked here. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.