Pieces

"What miserable fortune I have !! I should have left you in the health center only. If I knew this is why you went with your friend that day, I would have locked you...." Jyestha walked through the verandah pretending not to hear anything. But the shrill voice of her mother is actually getting to her head now. She had not got used to with it, but she cannot just given in now. She kept walking, holding her trolley in one hand, looking forward.

"Such an ungrateful daughter was bestowed to me to bear with. What a selfish girl have I raised? I understand you have no sympathy for your mother and father, but no compassion for your little brother! Such a witch !" Jyestha wanted to take a deep breath and reply, she couldn't. Her brother was always a favourite in the family. A long-wanted son after a daughter, why wouldn't he be ? Her father is a quiet person, doesn't talk much. But his behaviour shows the obvious inclination of his affections. Jyestha still remembers the day. Her father was discussing with his brother's private tutor about enrolling him in a coaching centre for preparation of entrance examinations. That was the first and last time Jyestha had asked for something for herself. She wanted to get enrolled too. The result was her getting grounded by her mother for one week. She was constantly reminded during those one week that she was an unwanted irrelevant mistake of her parents' life. They never wanted a girl. She was reminded every day how her mother's life was ruined after her birth. She was never enrolled in the coaching center. Instead she was sent to the local college to study. She had completed study 2 years back. Her brother, anyways, secured a seat in a private engineering college after five attempts. Education, being one of the most profitable business in the present scenario, often gives heartache and headache to the parents. The same had happened to their parents. So, if in this scenario, their daughter suddenly manages to secure a job, even if it is pretty much mediocre according to their general perception, they are likely to appreciate it. But no, it is a little different in case of Jyestha, her parents did not actually appreciate her job, they gave her a chance to be useful and lend her money for her brother's future. Jyestha also thought that initially, even before her parents did. "Mother will love me," she had thought. But then, she watched her parents trying to marry her off, it never mattered who the groom was. Jyestha changed her mind. 

   Jyestha felt her mother's voice coming near, cursing her with an eternity of misfortune. It is time to choose. An eternity of misfortune? Or the acceptance she had longed for ever since? Jyestha came out of the house. Sitting in the bus, she looked at the sky. She never knew the sky can be this blue.