The Rising Girl

It was an early morning after finishing yoga and pranayama, Puja went to see the rising sun.

There can be nothing more pleasing to the senses than the sunrise. This is the heavenly hour for a nature lover.

As Puja is a nature lover she likes everything about nature, starting from the mud water to walking on the beach barefoot. She was watching the sun as the golden ball which seemed to be rising and rising. Birds sing to its shine.

She saw the street from upstairs. Men and women who go out for morning walk enjoy sun's reddening beauty.

The lovers of morning walk stop on their way to look at the sunrise. Puja removed her glasses and she felt, the first rays of the sun are cool and bracing to the eyes.

She started thinking, "Oh! Someone take me to the hill station."

Because she knew that at a hill station, the beauty of the sunrise is beyond description. Suddenly, she was awake from her thought as she heard milk vendors and newspaper boys were calling their trade at every turn of the street.

A little later, small boys and girls in shining uniforms were seen going to the school.

Plants and trees started feasting on the rays of the sun.

She felt sorry for the late risers who missed the beauty of the sunrise.

As the sun gets higher in the sky, the day’s activity begins. She again came back to her room to start her daily routine for the office.

After finishing her work she started walking for the office. On her way, she tried to make calls to all her near and dear ones. She started talking with her father, then with her little brother, then she ended her talk with her elder sister. She was stuck for some minutes as her sister again asked about her marriage. Again she denied for marriage. Suddenly, she felt the insecurity of her life. She started asking the question that arises in every Indian youth’s mind, that is, whether to love and marry or prefer to marry and then fall in love? She was in dilemma.

If she decides to go for the love marriage route and is hell-bent on finding ‘the One’ in order to live happily ever after. She considers the fact that love marriages require an equal amount of work put into it for it to be happy and peaceful. Just because love is pre-existing does not mean that it will continue to be so for eternity.

While arranged marriages come with greater security, with greater involvement of parents, there remains the question of accepting a bunch of almost-stranger as your family for the rest of your life.

Also the amount of judgment that the girl or boy has to go through, scrutiny of physical appearance in case of girls and financial status in case of boys, is a huge deterrent from certain educated people nowadays.

Unlike in love marriages, gender-biased roles for both men and women are much more strongly enforced in arranged marriages. There are advantages and disadvantages to both, yet one thing is for sure, the decision of marriage, be it arranged or love, should be taken with careful consideration and much deliberation.

She kept herself busy whole day in office but still felt kinda bored. As she was disturbed, she wanted to share her tensions and emotions with someone but she didn't have the courage to share and as it was night for this moment, she wanted her parents should take proper sleep, she can't give more tension to them. She decided to remain silent and tried to know the wishes of her family.

She lives far from home, She is trying to be independent and strong.

She breaks most of the times but nobody knows she often cries till she sleeps.

She is mentally trying to pretend to be professional, smart, strong, smiling and talking.

That night she simply started crying in its darkness, as much she thought about herself. She felt helpless and more insure as much as she thought about the importance of fair color, dowry system, the chances of getting rejection etc.

She let herself cry. And then woke up in the morning, opened her window and power through.

She reminded herself that -"Every situation is temporary, I don't know where I will be in 5 years time or what life has in store for me. On days I feel down, allow myself to appreciate small things like maybe a beautiful flower or the sun (or rain?) on my skin, the buzzing of bees may be they are trying to say me- Good morning Puja, how are you? How was your weekend? etc, Maybe something good is waiting for me just I need to make my present good."

She straightened her back and took a deep breath. She reminded herself- “If you wanna make the world a better place, take a look at yourself."

She took the mirror and looked herself in the eyes and started smiling. She patted her shoulder and started telling-"Hi Puja, be active, already you are late for the office, start your day girl."