Apple of your eye - Part 15

The light shades of blue and green coloured wall became blurry. Everything suddenly turned dark in front of her eyes. Within few seconds, everyone around her realised that she had fainted. Her father firmly held her in his arms and put her on the bed. Her mother sprinkled water over her face. She didn’t respond for few minutes. After constant sprinkling of water on her face and rubbing her palms, she woke up to the hard reality.

She wanted to forget this as some bad nightmare. But it wasn’t. She couldn’t believe her uncle could ever come up with marriage for her. Wasn’t preventing her from going to school more than enough as a punishment? What she did was not a big sin? It was just a curious expedition to the wilderness. She didn’t expect her uncle to be like everyone else at her family.

“ Are you fine, child? I know the news might have had some influence over you. Look at you! You are still shivering. But you don’t have to be scared. Marriage is something that you cannot avoid. And you should be lucky that you are marrying a powerful personality.”, he said. She looked stunned at the words of her uncle… the same person in her life who always wanted her to strive and carve a niche for herself.  Her heart ached with disappointment and grief. She wanted to run away from everything for the first time.

Her eyes swelled up with continuous flow of tears. “ Why do you cry? Your uncle is right. How long will you remain with us? We cannot depend on your uncle always? Be grateful to your uncle who has bought good marriage proposal for you.”, her father supported uncle. Her temper was rising and she wanted to scream. But that was not expected from perfect daughter. A perfect daughter never raises voice even if some decision made was against her well being.

“ I .. need… time…!!”, she stammered. Her uncle was quick to respond, “ Take your time, child! I know you will choose what your family has chosen for you. You know that your family only thinks about your welfare.”  Her father looked at her sternly. “ Why do you need time? It is decided that you are going to marry.”, her father said. Her mother didn’t speak any word and in her family, only men had a say in all family decisions.

“ Give her some time, brother! I will come later to know her decision. She will never let us down.”, he said, walking out. ‘ Never let us down’  echoed in her ears. Yes! That was expected from her by her family. She was expected to accept the fate of her life blindly. She was expected to forget the dreams she had grown up dreaming. But the big question was - Will she let her family down?

( To be continued)