Helplessness

Society has certain “customs” that are followed blindly. Almost all, if not all of them, are senseless. Bhavya and I decided to write on a few of them for a week of the Ultimate Blog Challenge in July. We’re doing posts on the same theme each day (like A to Z in April). They are fiction here. But it may be someone’s reality. The theme for Day 14 was DOWRY.

UBC DAY 14 – HELPLESSNESS {55 FICTION}

“Just thousand rupees sir,” he told.

The foreigner looked at him curiously.

“Nine hundred,” came the counter-offer.

“It’s a matter of life or death, sir. Only thousand, I beg you.”

The deal was struck. And he rushed back inside.

“Here. I have it.”

His daughter cried, helplessly.

The lakh now complete, the marriage was solemnized.

Author’s Note: In India, the dowry system (dahej in Hindi) is the payment of money or expensive gifts to the groom’s family along with the bride. The gifts are supposedly to help the newlyweds start their new life, but the system itself is said to be a financial strain on the bride’s family. The payment of dowry has been prohibited by both Indian civil law as well as Indian penal code, but the practice still continues, and is considered a factor in observed domestic violence against women. (via Wikipedia)

(14th July 2014)

Vinay Leo R.

Poetry & writing to me are to me, a breath of fresh air in a life that is sometimes covered by the smoke of sorrow or self doubt. They also become the sweets I share to celebrate when life offers me a reason to. But most of all, they are to me, my life. For each word I write is a piece of my heart, a thought that just had to find its way into the world.