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Marriage advertised: every household in India wants a bride who is convent educated, fair kind, and maybe comes with some gold!
A fair and beautiful bride is desired.
Capable of lighting the kitchen’s fire.
Convent educated with a disposition benign.
Who could breed sons in a line?
Decorating herself with her family’s ornamental pride.
No matter who’s wrong, she will be tried.
Precious and valuable like a sapphire.
With a purity to withstand the burning pyre.
A girl who will make the Fortune in favour, turn.
With skills and qualifications that will help her earn.
Her in-laws will not let tears glisten in her eye.
Bruises of childhood will now become scars on the thigh.
“Laxmi of the house”: wealth personified, she is.
Yet no wealth is as easy to part, as this.
Her purpose in life, since birth, is told:
To breed for a family she hardly knows.
“The princess will now become the queen.”
Her reign however is nowhere to be seen.
Her nuptial makes all happily grieve.
Darling Daughter with dowry is driven.
This poem is a part of the 2015 anthology entitled An Address to Indian Patriarchy by Nishtha Mishra.
Image source: Philippe Degrootee, free and edited on CanvaPro
Dr. Nishtha Mishra is an internationally published author. She is a Doctorate in English Literature from one of the reputed Central Universities. She has been an all round topper and has 5 gold medals to read more...
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The issue arose with the last name of the child. Mihal insisted her husband’s second name should be added as he had passed away when Sonu was in college.
Sonu and Roopa were all excited to celebrate their tenth wedding anniversary. It was even more special as they had just welcomed their bundle of joy in their lives. It is been just a week. Sonu’s mother Mihal wanted to have the naming ceremony as well on the same day.
While the preparations went on with inviting guests, booking the best event management team, and the buffet menu for the night, Mihal concentrated on the little one’s name. According to their family astrologer, they agreed on the name Sonia. Sonu was from Kolkata while Roopa was from South India. They followed all the religious rituals from both sides of the family and hence because of that their marriage took place without much hassle.
One of my friends told me that her husband criticized her for locking her phone, whereas the husband never allows her to touch his phone and locks it in the cupboard.
Early in the morning of May 23, 2023, around 6 a.m., I got a call from my cousin from abroad.
While speaking, he told me how he took care of me as a child. He might be two years older than me, but we studied together. So, calling him by name was not at all a problem for me. I was too sleepy as I went to sleep late the previous night.
While talking, he said, “We gave you freedom.” My eyes were sleepy, but the mini-me in me awakened me to reply to him, saying, “Freedom is not to be granted by others. It is to be lived by everyone. Men always think that they are the owners of freedom, and they control their mothers, sisters, wives, and daughters!”
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