“Go straight inside baby” Bhiku the rickshaw wala told her before dropping her off at the gate. It was the month of July, schools had just re-opened and all of 8 year old, Gulgul, the girl with chubby cheeks felt liberated. It had rained heavily in the afternoon and at 4 o’clock when the school ended, the roadside was full of big and small puddles making her mind race and imagination run wild as she sat in the rickshaw to reach home.
And there it was, a huge puddle just outside the entrance of her home. There was a stone way through the puddle to the veranda of the old bungalow and it was easy to reach the door without getting her feet soiled -as she was told time and again, girls ought to behave demurely and in proper fashion, she even started to walk on the pathway. One step and the second one, she saw her own reflection in the puddle, stood there admiring the sky being reflected in water. A couple of water drops from the nearby tree flew with the wind, caressed her face and fell into the puddle. She touched the water with the tip of her black shoe, and saw the ripples. Soon she was sitting on the pathway throwing pebbles in the water. The small puddle was now lake in which there was a boat and little Gulgul was rowing the boat, touching the water, feeling the ripples . Her private little world suddenly became more beautiful enriched with her imagination as she saw little colorful fish and wished to touch them. “Oh the water is not so deep, I can get down from the boat and follow fish – I want to see where they go, I shall be back soon”. And little Gulgul went where her imagination took her. Picking up small stones on the way, her feet wading through the ankle deep water. The fish kept going round in circles and she kept following them while she sang oblivious of the faces of the neighbors looking at her and laughing at her. She played in the muddy puddle and giggled happily in her own blissful world.
And then suddenly her world shattered. Mother opened the door and shouted – “Look at you!!! is this what we teach you?” “You are a girl and have you not learnt to behave after all these years?” One slap, the second one, and the third one and a few more after which she stopped counting. Broken red bangles around her, she was being dragged. Grandfather stood inside the big room and spoke loudly “you women, you can’t even take care of children” She heard him. He always scared her; though her brother, just an year younger always sat with the grandfather and ate, she just could not dare to even look at his burning eyes. She was the eldest daughter and was told to behave “like an elder one”.
Mother angrily kept beating her and dragged her to the room at the end of the aangan. “You will never learn will you? This should teach you a good lesson” and little Gulgul was shut in the small room with boxes, wooden doors, and full of things that are not needed. She sobbed for a long time and then lay on the floor and fell asleep.
When she woke up it was morning. She was in her bed. She rubbed her eyes open and saw her brother asleep, and her grandmother saying loudly “Get going you girl!! See what time it is!! not good for a girl to keep sleeping while the sun is high up in the sky!!”
Another day in the life of Gulgul had begun.