HI this FF is for Women, who believe in empowerment. Read it for your sis 🙂
“Ah! Finally, Tihar came. Now I can rob my brothers’ wallets.” Sheetal, my friend said as we were moving towards our home.
13 years before, when my mother was pregnant and ready for the delivery, I was busy praying god for a brother… a brother with whom I could play, a brother who could be my shield and savior, a brother about whom I could boast among my friends, but He didn’t listen to my prayers… After some yelling and crying voices, my father (I didn’t know he was happy or sad) came out and shouted staring towards the wall that the second child was also a girl. I who was 4 then, had cried reverberating the whole hospital and I had even slapped my sister when I held her for the first time. I was sad then and still am sad…
Today I wish I had never slapped her… I wish I had hug her and said, “She is the best gift I ever got.” I wish that first slap would instead have been the first pat… but no. Maybe the society had shaped me in that way or the environment of my family had always been bad for a girl. Me and my sister, were sinners because we were born as GIRLS in a male-dominated society.
Well, that has been a part of my life throughout these 17 years of my life. But that would not be finished there… we were deprived… deprived of many opportunities because our father was never supportive. But mom was the superhero. She always supported us going against all the odds, even when she faced domestic violence but we were always saved by her and never beaten by anyone. Well we, rather I remain as one of the luckiest girls living in far-western region of Nepal.
And worst of all, the menstrual periods. My sister got periods for the first time when she was 11 years old and I got when I was 12 years old. It was very hard to maintain those five days at first, but mom taught us how to use a clean cloth as a pad. Still those days were a curse because of Chhaupadi Practice. We had to remain out of the house on rough sheds and were believed to be untouchable by others. We were given less food and water. By the way, I once had heard Goddess Kamakhya, goes through menstruation cycle once in a year and when the nearby Brahmaputra River goes red due to her blood, people hustle and bustle to touch the river water. So if there is a “Goddess of Menstruation”, then why are we declared impure?
We were just two daughters because mom got some reproductive problem after my younger sister was born. Thank god my mom did not have to be one of the “Baby producing Machines” like most other aunts in our area.
These were our daily lives… but something happened last year on the day of Govardhan pooja that left every one of us shattered