Flying from no where !

• My birth made my family unhappy?

I was born in a village named ‘Manoli’ in Rajasthan. In my villages a boy’s birth is celebrated with ‘hitting thali’ and a girl's birth is not celebrated; rather it is a sad moment for most of the families in my village. I was born at 2nd number after my eldest sister.

We are tragically 6 siblings. My family was more sad after my younger sister was born and then finally they were happy when my brother was born at 4th number. It was celebrated, my family was very happy that they named my brother Akash. Now one boy was not enough in the family so my mom was forced to have more children to get more boys. In the desire to get more boys my mom gave birth to 2 more girl children.?

This was the birth story, but now my parents don’t discriminate against girls or boys. They love all of us. My family feels proud of all of us at present.?

My opinion: I see my parents as they were forced to practice the useless societal beliefs which were trying to increase the patriarchy. My parents had child marriage, my father was 11 year old when he got married. Despite all the situations I feel they followed the society rules blindly without asking questions.?

It is critical to form your own beliefs!?

• My first periods?

The readers ( boys) must be thinking to skip this but it’s important that you understand how all females in the villages suffer from many such small things.?

When I got my first periods, I couldn’t share it with a single person in this world. I didn’t know what to do; I was bleeding in each corner of the school wherever I was sitting and I was so afraid of how people must be thinking about me and my school dress. Later from my second period I started using a cloth under my dress to manage the bleeding. I heard no such word called ‘pads’ by that time.???

I used to light up the DIYA to God those days and my mom strictly told us that females can’t do it in periods. I was very much aware about this but I didn’t believe in this and I was still continuing the lighting up of DIYA in my periods. Somehow my mom got to know that her girl has grown up and has started bleeding. She told me again not to follow the process in the periods.?

I still struggle to understand that females are not allowed in some temples, they are not allowed to perform some specific tasks during periods.?

• Breaking the society norms for female?

I strongly believe that questioning everything around you helps to understand this chaotic world and yourself better. Society rules are for people who can’t make their own rules and need other people to lead them.?

In my childhood I never saw a girl reading Bhagavad Gita?on speaker during Navratri ( it is a Hindu festival that spans nine nights and is celebrated every year in the autumn) .?

I used to question my Mom a lot about why only male read the Bhagavad Gita in the temple. She used to tell me ye ‘Aurato and ladkiyo ka kaam nhi h’ ( this is not for females) .?I knew that my mom has believed the way she has seen things from childhood but now she has a child who doesn’t believe blindly on things the way they are rather questions why they are the way they are.?

When I was 10 year old I went to the temple and asked a man that I would also like to read on the speaker, surprisingly no one denied though few male candidates were not happy about it. I was happy that for the first time the whole village is listening to a female voice reading Bhagavad Gita on speaker.??

People were gossiping around that ‘Tamatar ki chori Ramayana padhti h speaker pe’ ( the girl child is reading Ramayana in the temple) . My father’s name is Inder Raj but people in my village call him ‘Tamater’ as his skin color is very fair according to them. My father is the first person in my village supporting our education even if it was out of his financial capacity. I don’t remember a single time when he differentiated us from my brother.?

• My first reward of honesty?

I and a few of my friends used to collect the mustard leftover in the farms after harvesting and collecting by the farm owners. This used to help us to get a few bugs to buy Kanchas and something to eat.?

I sold the mustard to a small shop owner in my village for 1.5 rupees. When I came home I realized that it was only for 0.5 rupees ( 8 annas) but he gave me 1 rupees extra by mistake. I went back and returned him 1 rupees. He appreciated my honesty and gave me some sweets to eat.?

That day I felt the value of honesty, it was not the sweets but the feeling of appreciation and the feeling of being responsible that even if someone has paid you extra it is your duty to stay honest.?