SHE SAT AT THE BACK AND

THEY SAID SHE WAS SHY.

SHE LED FROM THE FRONT

AND THEY HATED HER PRIDE.

THEY ASKED HER ADVICE 

AND THEN QUESTIONED HER

GUIDANCE.

THEY BRANDED HER LOUD,

THEN WERE SHOCKED BY HER SILENCE.

WHEN SHE SHARED NO AMBITION,

THEY SAID IT WAS SAD.

SO SHE TOLD THEM HER DREAMS

AND THEY SAID SHE WAS MAD.

THEY TOLD HER THEY'D LISTEN,

THEN COVERED THEIR EARS.

AND THEN GAVE HER A HUG WHILST,

THEY LAUGH AT HER FEARS.

AND SHE LISTENED TO ALL OF 

IT THINKING SHE SHOULD BE THE GIRL

THEY TOLD HER TO BE

BEST AS SHE COULD.

BUT ONE DAY SHE ASKED,

WHAT WAS BEST FOR HERSELF

INSTEAD OF TRYING TO PLEASE EVERYONE ELSE?

SO SHE WALKED TO THE FOREST AND 

STOOD WITH THE TREES.

SHE HEARD THE WIND WHISPER AND

DANCE WITH THE LEAVES.

 SHE SPOKE TO THE WILLOW,

THE ELM AND THE PINE

AND SHE TOLD THEM WHAT SHE'D BEEN TOLD

TIME AFTER TIME.

SHE TOLD THEM SHE FELT ,

SHE WAS NEVER ENOUGH.

SHE WAS EITHER TOO LITTLE 

OR FAR, FAR TOO MUCH.

TOO LOUD OR TOO QUITE,

TOO FIERCE OR TOO WEAK,

TOO WISE OR TOO FOOLISH,

TOO BOLD OR TOO MEEK.

THEN SHE FOUND A SMALL 

CLEARING SURROUNDED BY

FIRS AND SHE STOPPED...

AND SHE HEARD WHAT THE

TREES SAID TO HER.

AND SHE SAT THERE FOR HOURS 

NOT WANTING TO LEAVE,

FOR THE FOREST SAID NOTHING.....

IT JUST LET HER

BREATHE!!!

Its been 5 years she got divorced. It was hard for her family to understand and accept her decision but it all went well because of her father's support. He father, the last person she hoped to help her. As for her, her father was the human form of patriarchy. His say was the last words for the family, like the judgement of Supreme Court. Although he was strict to them but she knew he cared. And that care overflew when he saw her state that day. That day he saw a broken women who was his daughter, the apple of his eyes, his first born. He fought by her side, most of the time shielding her but never overshadowing her as he knew that the world will be the road of thorn for his daughter and granddaughter and they have to learn to walk on that road, not as a victim but as a survivor. 

As for Ahaan, he was punished for 3 years for sex selective abortion under Section 312 of IPC. Definitely it was not easy to fight a legal battle against him, it took 3 years for my daughter to get her justice but finally we did that. We won that case but i lost honour in the society. Everywhere i go, people had only pity or curiosity in their eyes which became suffocation for me. Then came relief in the face of Zoya, my best friend from school. After marrying Ahaan, my contact with her became negligible but thanks to her, she understood my problem and asked me to move to Mumbai as she had a perfect job for me.  It was in a company as a Public Relations Officer. I did that course in college as add-on for just fun but who knew that that course will  set my and my daughter's life one day. Thanks to that offer i came to a new place where no body knew my back story so it was easy for me to move on. Definitely the wounds are there but its not fresh and doesn't hurt me as much as i thought it would. All thanks to my daughter, Zoya and my family.After spending 4 years in AR i am the head of PR department and my life is much smoother than it has ever been.

"Maa.... Maa where are you?" My 7 year old daughter called out for me.

"Haa Anu, what happened? I'm at the study." i replied from the room.

"Maa, dekho na kya ho gya. Bhut khoon beh rha h. Jldi aao." i rushed as soon as i heard khoon (blood). She has all my habits and that concerns me coz she is as clumsy as her mom, or maybe more?   (Maa, look what happened. Its bleeding alot. Come soon.)

"Kha ? Kha? Kese chot lg gya? kese gir gyi tum anu?" i asked as soon as i reached the living room and but got shocked as well as sighed when i saw her carrying a puppy in her hands who was bleeding. (Where? where? How did you get hurt? )

" mai nahi, ye puppy gir gya khi. Dekho kitni chot lagi h isko. Please isko theek kar do." she said while sobbing. Anu is a mini me, but this trait of hers, her being a dog lover comes from Ahaan. He loved dogs, he had two dogs in his house. And i was dead afraid of dogs but after marriage i had to live with them, love them with the same intensity like his, treat them like family. Overtime they became my friend and my fear of dogs went away. I still can't understand how can a human who loved animals killed his own child because the it was a girl?  (Not me, this puppy got hurt. Look how wounded he is. Please make him right.)

"To Anu isme itna rone ki kya baat hai, tumne maa ko dara diya tha bacche. Ruko Mumma avi iss puppy ko theek kar deti hai to fir ye tumhare saath khelega. Ok?" i pacified her.  (Anu what's there to cry, you scared me kiddo. Wait let mumma treat this puppy and then he'll play with you. Ok?)

"Fir se ghar me kutta." Zoya shouted as soon as she stepped inside the apartment Like the previous me, she is also afraid of dogs. And she is the sole reason why Anu hasn't turned this house into dog's shelter. (Again dog?)

"Zoya Maasi isko chot lagi thi." Anu tried to make Zoya understand. (Zoya maas, it was hurt.)

"Baby iss duniya ke saare jakhmi dogs tumhe hi kyu milte hai?" she asked again. ( Baby why all wounded dogs of the world meet you?)

"Because they want to get healed fast. And they know that my mumma has magic in her hands." Anu reasoned.

"Then they must know that Anu's maasi hate them." Zoya didn't budge.

"Maasi.." anu was cut in between.

"No maasi. I want it out of our house before i freshen up." Zoya gave an ultimatum. Anu looked at me for support but indicated that i can't help her in this matter. Zoya and Anu team up in almost everything and make me feel like a third wheel but that's not a case when it comes to dogs.

After an hour

"Anu?" Zoya asked when she came to living room after freshening up.

"At garden, playing with that dog." i replied

"Thank god" she sighed 

"So how come you're early?" I asked her.

"That's because tomorrow boss's son is coming back and we have to report at 8 sharp. So we were left early today." she explained.

"Ohh the D Day is finally here?" i asked

"Ohh yeah baby. I heard he's scary. Doesn't talk too much, is very professional and is very strict." she gave details about the boss's son personality.

"That's good." i exclaimed.

"What's good about this?" she asked shocked.

"He doesn't talk much, is strict that means less scandal or unnecessary problems, means less work for me. Will love to work with him" i winked. We both work at AR. She at design department. 

NEXT DAY

Whole staff of AR is at work before 8. Why not, nobody wants to get into bad books of their new boss. There's rumour in the office that this son of boss has never been to India before, lived in states his entire life with his grandparents and is now back to sail this sinking ship of AR. Because the current boss, Armaan Singh Raizada is getting old to handle company and his youngest son is too immature to handle the business. 

Exactly at 8 am sharp, our new boss Arnav Singh Raizada walked in the office of AR in his full glory. Everyone stood to greet him and he responded curtly a2nd walked straight to his office. After 2 hours of his meet and greet with every department, it was PR department's time to have a chat with him. We went to his office.

"Sir this is PR department with its head Khushi Gupta, and two assistants Zeeshan Matthew and Tanisha Banerjee." His Manager Aditya introduced us while he shook hands with the three of us.

"Hello Guys. Glad to meet you. Hope to work well together in future." Our boss said.

"The pleasure will be ours." i replied. " Umm Sir, i need to have a short interview" i said.

"Why?" he asked confused and looked at his manager. He looked uninformed as well.

"Wo actually, we are going to announce your arrival. We'll release a press release but i know as soon as we do that ,we'll have follow up questions. That's why i wanted to be prepared beforehand." i explained.

"Ok. So how about we meet after half an hour in this same cabin?" he asked.

"Okay." i affirmed.

AUTHOR'S NOTE

 NEW UPDATE GUYS. HOPE YOU ALL LIKE IT.

THE POEM IS TITLED "BREATHE" BY BECKEY HEMSLEY

I REALLY LOVED THIS POEM. DON'T WE ALL FACE SAME SITUATION EVERYDAY?

AND NEXT UPDATE AFTER 300+ VOTES AND 50+ COMMENT.

HOPE WE'LL REACH THAT MARK SOON.

THANK YOU!!