“Buwa I am not feeling too well. Is it okay if I skip the household chores today?” 13 year old Radha looked at her father with pleading eyes. Prasad looked at his daughter and noticed that she did indeed look a bit unwell. Her pale droopy eyes, shaking limbs and erratic breathing gave it off. However, he did not think of it as that much of a big issue. “What will you do? Sleep all day? Can’t you just drink some hot water and start working? If you do not do the chores, who will? I am not keeping you at home for nothing, Radha. I would have sent you to school otherwise. And anyways, you do have to practice all this. How will you survive at your husband’s house after you get married?” The zillions of questions thrown by her father was making Radha more nauseous than her burning fever was. Radha was getting dizzy and she knew that it was not because of the fever anymore. Radha was only seven years of age when her mother had died from bronchitis. She was left with her elder broth...
The mosquitoes have been buzzing all night. I tried swatting it away with my hands but it has been continuously buzzing for so long that now my hands are too tired to even try. I try to sleep but the itch in my leg and the constant pain in my lower stomach is sucking my life out of me. Period cramps are the worst thing to happen to a woman. Imagine the pain you feel when a truck drives over you or when 106 knives are stabbed on your stomach. Trust me when I say they are less painful than period cramps. I wish I were exaggerating but I'm not. “ ए माइली को बुबा सुन्नुस न |” This is probably the eighth time that I have called out and been ignored by my husband. I wanted to tell him how I have been burning up all night and how these mosquitoes are sucking not just my blood, but the entire life out of me. I wanted to tell him that I am lying on a puddle of my own blood. I wanted to tell him that this pain in my stomach will not go away unless I drink some hot water. I wanted ...