Sinner

If her Bhanu
Could speak, smile
And move!
Fun, a great fun
It would be!
She laments.

Today a busy day,
A wedding day!
She’s excited
And sorry too.
Today is
Bhanu’s marriage.
She will go
Her in-law’s house!

Little Bhanu speaks not
But can feel.
Bhanu feels her love.
Bhanu is her mate
Bhanu is her love.
In silence,
She speaks to her
And advises
Dos and Don’ts
Of in-law’s house.

Who knows! At least
She knows not that
One day
She too, will go
Her in-law’s house.

In her young mind
She plays the play
Of doll’s marriage
But knows not
What marriage means!
One day
She leaves Bhanu behind
Goes her in-law’s house.
That day, in secret
She hugged Bhanu
And kissed Bhanu.
She handed her ‘love’
Over to her sister.
She cautioned her sister
Again and again
To take care
Of her ‘love’.
Perhaps that day
Bhanu too, cried much!

In-law’s house is
Not ‘her house’.
She can’t laugh
She can’t cry
As she wishes!
As if a pair of eyes
Prying her and
Censor her feelings.

Her husband works far.
He comes home
Once a year.

********************

Days pass, years pass
She becomes mother.
A young mother
With four children.
She feeds them,
She nurses them
And disciplines them.

Then once-
Bolt from the blue!
Disease of sin
Kills her husband!
She has had her
Childhood stolen
And independence stifled.
But now
Her only hope too
Is dead!

Loss of love
And loss of wedge
Horrify her future.
She despairs, then
She falls sick.
Doctor tells
“She has acquired her
Husband’s sin”!

News spread the way
The flood floods field.
Now, her in-laws
Despise her
Neighbours hate her.
Sin! Sin of enjoying
Forbidden fruit!
They expel her
Out of village.

But where would
She go?
Her in-laws deserted her.
Her parents, for fear
Desolated her.

Alas! This vast land
And this open sky
Could not accommodate
A poor life!

She whimpered
And resonated!
My lord!
They snatched my
Childhood away,
In name of marriage!
They snatched my
Independence away,
In name of marriage!
In name of marriage-
They
Gave me pain,
Gave me poverty,
Gave me sin!
Now, they expelled me
Out of your land!

Lord, just know that
I loved life
And wanted only
A living!