He emerged through the blue abode, stabbing the fairies in the white robe, sprinkling their blood for the world to see, and wake up to the beauty of pain. However, oblivious of the wounded souls, they captured the breathtaking vista for the virtual eyes and moved on to begin a new day. Pari watched the scene unfold before her but she didn’t feel the urge to stop him like every day. She didn’t want to denounce the injustice for this is her day. The wind whispered the secret to the stars when clouds sprinkled tiny beads of love for their favorite child is celebrating. Today all her wishes will be granted. It is her day, she will rule…
The lucky charm
Pari, as the name suggests, is a fairy in a world of happiness. Her birth was a celebration as she is the first fairy girl of the generation. The pampered little girl was always guarded and spoiled rotten by the fairies. Nonetheless, Pari could not beam in the unrelenting deluge of affection. She wanted to see the world, grant wishes, and be with humans. “Why am I denied the joy of what I am destined for?” she would ask her mother but never got a reply. As she grew, Pari’s desire to see the human world grew with her. Her yearning didn’t go unnoticed.
As always, Pari was looking at the earth through the wounds of the fairies where the sun punched the hole to mesmerize the humans and spread light in their world. She could never fathom the relevance of spilling blood for spreading luminescence. While she was immersed in her muse, her mother’s gentle touch brought her back. “He has agreed to meet you”, she said. Pari was rooted to the spot, unable to utter a word. Years of waiting, uncountable requests, and unrelenting tears later, finally, He acquiesced. She is going to meet the ultimate power. The Creator himself.
With trembling steps she went to Him. Pari was dumbstruck at what she saw. Amidst the fairies who were being stabbed in the morning, he was sitting with his legs crossed, no! he was floating. She could see the wind play with them, the fire pampered them and the earth remained dark. “Your wish will be granted today,” He said. Pari was shaken out of her reverie. “You can ask anything you would like and start granting wishes to humans from today. But on one condition,” he added. Pari looked at him with narrowed eyes. ‘Now what tricky condition is he going to put forward’ she thought.
“You have to go to earth and the moment you land, you must meet the people whom you see there. Talk to each one of them and come back,” he said. Pari was ecstatic. Isn’t that her wish too? Immediately she agreed to the condition and set out to the earth. She could see the Sun sharpen his scimitar but she had no time to wait. Journey to the earth seemed longer than she imagined. But somehow she had to do it for this is her destiny. When she landed on the earth, she saw flowers everywhere, wearing the garlands of mist and waiting for the sun to emerge.
He emerged through the blue abode, stabbing the fairies in the white robe, sprinkling their blood for the world to see, and waking up to the beauty of pain. However, Oblivious of the wounded souls, they captured the breathtaking vista for the virtual eyes and moved on to begin a new day. Pari watched the scene unfold before her but she didn’t feel the urge to stop him like every day. She didn’t want to denounce the injustice for this is her day. The wind whispered the secret to the stars when clouds sprinkled tiny beads of love for their favorite child is celebrating. Today all her wishes will be granted. It is her day, she will rule…
The mistake
She looked around for humans but there was only a handful. ‘Oh! this seems so easy. I have to meet only 4 people and can go back. I will finish it in a minute’, a smile escaped through her parted lips. Looking around, she saw a woman sitting in a corner, crying. She went to her and asked, “What happened? Why are you crying?.” The woman looked at her with lifeless eyes and said, ” I made a mistake.”
“Mistake? What mistake,” Pari asked. “I gave birth to a girl,” the woman said. Pari was shocked. “Giving birth to a girl is a mistake? What are you saying? I have heard that when I was born, every universe was celebrating.” The woman smiled but life has churned the soul out of her and her smile couldn’t reach her eyes. Pari wanted to ask more but she had a task to complete and get back to her world so that she could get what she asks for. She patted the woman on her shoulders and took leave.
She saw a girl in her teenage sitting with a knife in her hand. Pari ran to her and took the knife. “The knife is so sharp. My mother has told me that we should not play with sharp objects lest it will hurt us.” The girl turned to Pari with anger, surprise, and apprehension pasted on her face. “What happened to you? Did you give birth to a girl too?” Pari asked.
“No, I didn’t give birth to a girl but I too made a mistake.” The girl said. Pari looked at her in askance. “My mistake is that I wore short clothes,” the girl said.
“What are you saying? Is that even a mistake?” Pari asked. “Yes, it is. By wearing short clothes, I provoked them. If I hadn’t worn them, they would not have done this to me.” she said. Pari could not understand the cryptic verses nor did she want to because she had to reach somewhere. Hence she moved to the next person.
By now, she knew the drill and asked. “Did you make a mistake too?” The lady whom she talked to was a nun. She said,” Yes, I too did a mistake. I didn’t give birth to a girl or wear short clothes but despite being a nun, I wanted to sing and dance,” she said. Pari could not take it any longer. She looked up and asked her Creator, “What kind of world have you made? One cannot give birth to a girl, or wear short clothes and even worse sing or dance.” When she looked down, she saw a woman wearing a black robe. She went to her and asked ” You are not wearing short clothes, nor can you give birth or dance at this age. What is your mistake?”
“I went out in the night,” saying this, she looked away. Pari felt like the whole world was crumbling down on her. On one hand, she thought the sun has been cruel and the creator has been unfair to let the fairies get stabbed. On the other hand, the world that she yearned to own is full of unfathomable rules.
“WHAT IS MY MISTAKE?” everyone was shocked. They looked at each other to see the origin of the oracle. “Why are you looking at each other? Look down,” it continued. They looked down and could not get their head around what they saw. A chill ran down Pari’s spine.
The voice went on ” What is my mistake? I cannot sing, I cannot dance, I cannot go out alone, I cannot give birth to a girl. Much less, I have just come out of my mother’s womb about less than a year back. What is my mistake? That I was wearing just a diaper?” The words reverberated in the garden, sending the ripples through the air, creating a storm of ear-shattering screams.
About the story
I myself don’t know when this story took birth. It was all along in me. Maybe it did when my classmate molested me and I had no idea about what was happening. (I was just nine and had no worldly knowledge like kids of this age. Maybe it did when years later, he relived the fun he had, with his own fictional adaption, and reproduced them to his friends as a nine-year-old girl’s sexual drive. Funnily I had no memory of the incident). Maybe it did when powered by these stories, the men and boys started hitting on me and asking me for my rate for a day. Maybe it did when I regained my courage, years later.
Or maybe it did when I had my daughter and as a post-delivery shock or some magic or some scientific reason fathomable to only mental health experts, the blocked memory resurfaced and I started reliving the moments. Maybe it did when this memory that emerged changed my relationship for good. Or, maybe it did when I turned out to be a hysteric overprotective mother. Maybe it did when I embraced Holistic Wellness to heal myself. I have never shared this on any public platform yet though I have never shied away from opening up to friends. When I read the theme “Volatile Life”, I could not think of anything else to write. Thanks a lot, Sonal, Meena, and Ujjwal for this initiative.
For the uninitiated, this post is written for StorytellersBlogHop FEB 2021 by Ujjwal (https://mywordsmywisdom.com) & MeenalSonal (www.auraofthoughts.com).