Girl- A Burden Says Who?
“Vedika, why didn’t you come to say goodbye to Channo aunty?” asked Latika while caressing her younger sister’s hair who was lying on the bed.
“I don’t like that old lady.”
“We should be respectful to our elders”, pacified the newly turned teenager.
“Every time she comes, she starts brainstorming Ma and Baba for having a third child which no one can guarantee would be a boy. And they don’t say anything to her. On the contrary they start teasing me knowing very well that even the thought of it boils my blood. ”
Vedika sat upright with eyes as red as blood.
“I can never see anyone else except you as my sibling. If we ever get a new baby, I promise that I am going to abandon it on the railway tracks.”
“And then I will visit you in juvenile home with your favourite vegetable cutlets”, joked Latika.
Saying this she hugged her little sister.
“Our parents have always been very proud of her and never showed any remorse of not bearing a son.”
“Why does she keep saying that one day we will get married and Ma Baba will be left alone? Is a girl born only to be married off eventually? Or even if we are married, can’t we still look after our parents?” A storm of questions was raging inside her.
“Don’t be so upset just before your milestone tenth birthday. Some people will never progress irrespective of how many motivational messages they may forward in a day or the progressive videos they may like.”
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The next day Vedika woke up to an envelope with a bank slip stating that her parents had opened a Fixed Deposit in her name and the note in the birthday card read “COLLEGE FUND FOR OUR LOVELY DAUGHTER”
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[ratemypost]
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