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My mother’s words challenged my refusal,“What is wrong with the boy?” True, there was nothing wrong in him. Nothing wrong with me, either.
My mother’s words challenged my refusal,
“What is wrong with the boy?”
True, there was nothing wrong in him,
Nothing wrong with me, either.
We were just two boats that had been tied together
And told to cross the ocean of life.
Without oars, without love,
We were expected to survive, somehow.
He was shy, with a nice smile,
Made small talk and had a good job.
Left alone in the living room to talk,
Befuddled fireflies inside a burning lantern.
We talked of everything but love,
Two people pretending to briefly be friends,
Discussing our marital future like a business enterprise.
The air felt heavy, old and sterile.
In crisply ironed clothes, he looked earnest and sweet.
But he left me cold, and I left him tired.
We talked without communicating.
Knowing the rules, we played the game.
There was no fault in the boy
And none in our stars.
Surely error lies in seeking to control
Love, that immeasurable transcendental.
With this in mind, I choose my path.
No longer can life feel so arranged, so enforced.
My defiant ‘no’ unleashes hell.
The boy understands, my mother does not.
She threatens, begs, cries and cajoles.
My father looks on in disappointment.
Unwillingly, I leave the comfort of home
To find the peace that independence brings.
Image source: Still from Thappad, edited on CanvaPro
I am a proud mom to two beautiful little boys, loving wife to a darling man, and a grateful daughter of wonderful parents. Before taking a career break to be a stay at home mom read more...
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UP Boards Topper Prachi Nigam was trolled on social media for her facial hair; our obsession with appearance is harsh on young minds.
Prachi Nigam’s photo has been doing the rounds on social media for the right reasons. Well, scratch that- I wish the above statement were true. This 15-year-old girl should ideally be revelling in her spectacular achievement of scoring a whopping 98.05% and topping her tenth-grade boards. But oddly enough, along with her marks, it’s something else that garners more attention – her facial hair.
While the trolls are driving themselves giddy by mocking this girl who hasn’t even completed her school yet, the ones who are taking her side are going one step ahead – they are sharing her photoshopped pictures, sans the facial hair, looking nothing less than a celebrity with captions saying – “Prachi Nigam, ten years later”.
Doctors have already diagnosed her with PCOD in their comments, based on photographic evidence. While we have names for people shamed for their weight – body shaming, for their skin colour- racism, for their age- age shaming, for being a female- sexism, this category of shaming where one faces criticism for their appearance has no name. With that, it also has zero shame attached to it.
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