A Sin – Ananya Pareek

It’s warm and dark. You glide into oblivion, in a continuous motion.  You start recognising your own self and this body where your soul has found refuge. Hungry and thirsty, you cling onto the nearest tube you can find. You clutch onto it and a few minutes later, you are quenched. Your eyes are numb in the beginning for you are just a pea-sized nothing. Soon enough, let’s say in nine months, you start sensing everything. It’s a revelation to you. Your numerous senses, which have just started working begin to absorb everything happening, your very making in your mother’s humble womb. You sense your creation in a haven of tissues and blood. Although it’s just the making of a small being, you carry a whole universe within you. You feel yourself developing into a living human over a span of few months. There’s blood surging in your veins which eventually pumps in your heart because now you have one. You become your own God and this is undoubtedly the time you are the most alive (literally).

It’s daunting because you know you are growing too fast for this small haven, it can’t contain you. And then comes the moment of truth and disaster. You are leaving your home, preparing for an entirely different universe. One where you’ll have enough space and everything will be humongous. You’ll realise the world has light and colours. It’ll be terrifying and you’ll cry tears of joy. Who knew that a new-born baby could feel a hundred emotions, all at the same time?

Except for Ragini. Ragini was quick to develop, after the 6th week her heart was pumping as if it was beating for two. She was eager and euphoric but her family wasn’t. So, they decided to kill her because she was a ‘she’. A disgrace to their family, a liability. Her existence filled them with stress and frustration. She was a burden before she was born so obviously they decided to end her. Meanwhile, Ragini’s eyes were closed in bliss, every moment was magic. She couldn’t understand what was happening outside but her haven did use to shake and quiver quite a bit recently. Maybe they were too excited for her.

One day while Ragini was sleeping, sensing the wonders inside her, she woke up in sudden pain. She couldn’t breathe and her heart had given up. Her entire universe was sucked into a black hole, also known as the hole of doom. She could feel herself ending, she could feel herself screaming but it was too late. She experienced the very end of her beginning.

It is estimated that more than 10 million female foetuses have been illegally aborted in India. India loses 500,000 girls to female foeticide annually. Most men consider themselves superior and above law, which results in the exploitation of women and a decrease in the number of women due to foeticide. Even today, the ‘head’ of most houses are men and therefore naturally, they are convinced that their kind (the ‘superior’ sex) will carry the family forward. On the other hand, a girl child (the ‘weaker’ sex) will act as an encumbrance until her marriage. This is why most families long for a king and not a queen. Thus, when men believe that women are subordinates to them, then the birth of a girl child is often viewed as futile and at times shameful. Although, it is amazing how everyone wants a wife for their son but nobody wants a daughter. If this trend continues, soon there will be an imbalance in nature and India will have to revert to homosexuality; another natural concept that they cannot accept and try to suppress and kill.

–Ananya Pareek, Amity International School, Noida

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