Divergent Skies over a Parallel Ground

 She swept the floor as I picked up my school bag and kept it on my desk. She swiftly moved ahead with a wearisome look on her face. I pulled my chair and sat down, resting my hands on my desk. "How old are you?" I finally broke the ice. "I'm four months younger than you, and turned 16 this year" she said. I was amazed when I heard it... she was just 16, and so was I...

She came to my house daily, and performed those same household chores. She scratched the same floor and did the same dishes everyday. She did those things as if she was made for it... While, I sat in my room and attended my online lectures, gaining knowledge about the world. I looked out of the window and imagined an open sky for myself. If she would've been gazing at this same sky, more or less it'd be a burden for her...

I remember her talking about her husband once... yes, her 'husband'. "I don't even remember when I got married, though my husband does, we talk over the phone at times..." she said with a mundane sparkle in her eyes. "You know child marriage is illegal, right... I mean anyone could complain and you don't know what could happen next" I said, trying to speak out one of the most obvious things I know."Nothing or no one can stop us... this is how it has been functioning for years and it would continue to work like this" she snapped back instantly. I chose to remain shut...

My mother, often asked her to atleast go to the government school nearby and try to learn. "I feel shy in going to school..." she says this everytime. Irony smirked as my mother said "We feel ashamed if we don't study..." I've talked to my mother about her several times and my mother would say the same thing, "We should consider this as a privilege that we live in community that values education and gives us a space to grow..." I was never wholly convinced with that answer... the question WHY kept on ringing my mind everytime I looked at that girl, of my age, doing the exact opposite work as I do...

I always wanted to talk to her, explain things to her, tell her how important it is to learn and to develop. Everyday I looked at her, things started burning up inside me. My concern to initiate a change was turning out to be a resentment, that she would never understand. Slowly, I started realizing that all this time, I was trying to project my feelings onto her. All this time, I wanted her to change her condition just because that was my choice and not hers. Her choice was to blend into this system, to just follow it like everyone else and to accept it without any questions.

To retrospect my opinions towards her, I asked a few questions to myself... is she actually not eager to change her conditions? Would she really mind an open sky to spread her wings... has she really succumbed to the weight of her environment? Is she really not like me? I've asked these questions to myself so many times, and the only thing I've realized is that, only if she would've been in a better environment... she could've initiated a change. If she had a few choices like me, she could've broken the monotony. Only if someone actually made her aware of a beautiful sky that awaits her freedom, she would've tried. And I wouldn't completely blame her for her choices, because she didn't have a choice at all. After all the environment she lives in and the community of which she is a part, works like this. Every mere person and every mere practice they follow, is responsible for her situation. Maybe, she didn't have the same privileges or choices as me...

I look at her once again, suppressing the agony in my heart. I take back the idea of giving a little piece of my mind to her as I finally realize that, she is not allowed to dream, to propose a change... she is restrained into this cycle with many...