Kamala had turned twelve. One day, while answering nature's call in the field, she noticed a dark stain on her skirt. It looked suspiciously like blood.
As she looked down, she was horrified to see blood trickling down her legs.
Frightened, she ran to her mother.
"Maa! Something terrible has happened", her eyes were wide with fear.
Tears running down her cheeks, she told her mother. After listening to everything, her mother smiled.
"Kamala, the blood is a sign of your womanhood. You're a big girl now", she said.
Then she gave her a bunch of hay wrapped in rags to wear under her dress, so that it could absorb the blood.
Kamala was really confused about all that was happening. She couldn't understand what her mother meant when she said 'sign of womanhood' and she didn't know what her body was going through. Her stomach hurt like hell but she was relieved to know that at least she wasn't going to die.
Later that night, as she lay in bed, she heard her parents talk in lowered voices.
"She has come of age", her mother was saying.
"Great. I have already found a suitor. I have been looking for a suitor for quite sometime", came her father's voice.
"It is Ram Raushan, the sarpanch of the next village. He is affluent and has considerable power. He'll make a perfect husband for Kamala."
"But", her mother dared to interject. "I heard, he's quite old. Our Kamala is only twelve, you know."
"Have you lost your mind, woman? Even after I've told you about his wealth, you're after his age? Forty five or fifty is no great age for a man. Moreover, he has seen Kamala and has made the proposal himself. Have you any idea how lucky we are to find such an eligible bachelor?"
That seemed to shut her mother up for a while.
"What are his demands?", she asked quietly.
"I don't know yet", her father replied. "I'll go and invite him for dinner tomorrow so that we can negotiate the dowry."
Kamala knew that marriage would be her doom. But she was already a slave in this house. After marriage she'd still be a slave, only in a different house.
How bad could it get?
___________
Sarpanch: Head of a village.
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Is It A Sin To Be A Girl?
General FictionKamala is unwanted. She was unwelcome in the house the moment she was born. Because, she was born a girl. She is a burden to her family. Physically and mentally abused, married before she was an adult, and a victim of domestic violence. Will she e...
