“Come here Kusum! Why is your hair open like this? Let me tie it with ribbons.”

“I like my hair open. I feel as if I can breathe better.”

“What? Don’t talk rubbish now. Come fast you will be late for school.”

“Na Maa, I am serious. I feel caged when you tightly tie my hair in a ponytail I feel like you are squeezing my neck.”

“What? This girl is mad! Come here at once.”

***

“Why can’t you walk a little more gracefully? What’s with the hand swing and can’t you slow down your pace? Which other girl walks like you.”

“But Papa, I normally walk like this.”

“That is okay but try to fit in. Look at girls of your age, so much elegance and grace in their mannerisms!”

“Papa … Not fair !You are my Papa, not theirs’s; how can you support them?”
“What, before I scold you .. Go and help Maa in Kitchen.”

“I don’t like to be in the kitchen; what will I do there?”

“Don’t like the kitchen? Which girl says that? You are growing up. Learn these basic skills. One day you have to marry someone and then what will you do if you don’t know how to cook?

“Why should anyone marry me, if they need to have cooked food. They can just hire a cook na?”

“This girl will always be a reason for headaches for us.”

***

“Why do you keep wearing boxer shorts like your brother? What is wrong with the frock that Papa bought for you?”

“Ahhh I don’t like frocks…. I don’t like flowers and I don’t like pink. Please Maa, leave me alone. At least let me wear what I feel comfortable in. And don’t stare at my nails. No, I do not like nail paint either.”

“I don’t know what to do with this girl anymore !”

***

“Why can’t you play with girls? The entire day you roam around with boys, climbing trees, running around the streets, and what not. Are you even a girl?”

“What has my interest in sport got to do with my gender? And to be honest, I find the girls of my age too slow and energy less. I can easily beat the boys, Papa. Should you not be happy?”

“Kusum, that is your name, Beta. I had thought of this name when you were born thinking that you will bloom like a flower! But look at you !!

“Papa, please stop it now!!”

***

“Grandpa, you only tell me … what am I ? Now that you have come here for few days, you see how Maa and Papa keep telling me to change myself. Do you also think I have a problem? I feel queasy every time they try imposing the mannerisms upon me. How can I change the basic me?”

“Beta Kusum, you are quirky and quite different. But that is because you are not a quiet star. You are a meteor and one day there will be a meteor shower that will amaze everyone. Just be yourself and whatever you do, do it the best.”

---

Kusum was recalling her childhood while staring at her first trophy. ‘The Woman of the Match’ trophy that she had bagged today in the Finals of the International Women’s Cricket. It felt like a dream to be appreciated. The quirky factor in her was now being applauded. Continuous phone calls congratulating her parents were making the atmosphere filled with happiness and laughter.

“Beta… you have become a star! You have made us proud.”

“No Papa. I am not a star. I am a meteor and the meteor shower has just begun”, said Kusum.

It can make one feel queasy when one is forced to blend in by altering their own shelf.

I have decided to take up an emotional joy ride with this year’s A2Z challenge where my focus is to showcase different aspects of human behavior . I will be penning down pieces of fiction centered around emotions in alphabetical manner. I have a title for my theme and it is : A little bit of you; A little bit of me . 

I’m participating in #BlogchatterA2Z -2021

You can click on the alphabets below to read the stories that have been published so far.

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Love,

Chinmayee