शंपा

A message from those young married hearts

Everyone has the right to dream but this is not true for millions of girls in many states of India. Today we are talking and debating on girls right to education and health, what about their right to dream?? Shouldn’t that be dealt with first? Before they can even begin to realize their aspirations, they are forced into marriage. At the tender age of 14-15 they are expected to be a wife, sexual partner, mother, & daughter-in-laws. One third of the marriages in India are child marriages. We all are aware about the statistics, and never fail to quote them, without realizing their actual implication and effects on the poor little child. Sadly, we fail to see the plight of the child bride. What about getting physically, mentally and sexually exploited every night and being unable to object? What about getting pregnant as a child yourself, and facing multiple abortions? These are much greater than the daily stresses that we face in our own lives. In many states of India sex ratio is strikingly low. A girl child either gets killed by forced abortion or if she somehow manages to be born she will be killed by boiling milk, by being buried alive or being suffocate to death in earthen pots. Resulting into the groom’s family giving money to bride’s family because very few girls are left for marriage and it becomes more like auctions, considering that the parents are normally economically weak .The parents then force their daughter to marry. This poem is about a girl called Shampa in conversation with her mother, forcing her to get married. The question I raise is- “Is it a curse being a girl? Because either you will die on the day you are born or luckily if you somehow survive your dreams will be killed every single day.

पेड़ की टहनियो से झूलते हुए,

और दूर से ढलते हुए सूरज को देखते हुए

ये सोच रही थी शंपा

हूँ में बापू का बोझ?या माँ की मजबूरी?

क्या छोटू गुस्सा है मुझसे? या मुनिया है रूठी ?

ना तो माँ से ज़िद की थी चूड़ियों की,

ना बापू से माँगा रुपया.

फिर क्यों भेज रहे है उस गॉव मुझे,

जो ना जानू में किस दरिया के पार.

ये सुन माँ बोली ,

सुन री छोरी,

ये तो रीत हे कोरी.

तेरे ब्याह से जो पेसा आएगा,

छोटू तेरा पढ़ जाएगा, मुनिया तेरी पढ़ जाएगी.

घर पे छत भी दल जाएगी, ब्याज भी अपना उतार जाएगा.

यह सुन शंपा माँ से बोली,

मेंने पैर दबाए थे तेरे जब छोटू नही माना था

स्कूल जाना छोड़ा मेने, मुनिया का बचपन सवारने को.

ब्याज चुकाने के लिए, मेरा सौदा कर,

मुझे तो खोया तूने मूल चुकाने के लिए,

मुनिया को ना तू खो देना

यू तो भोर हुई थी,

सूरज आया था चढ के,

पर दूर से पेड़ की टहनियों से झूलती हुए

शंपा देख रही थी उसे ढलते हुए ….

उसे ढलते हुए……

Meenal Choubey

National Law Institute University Bhopal

meenal.choubey2292@gmail.com