The perfectly bearded angels💫 |Deepsikha Roy|

It is somewhere dark where I am locked.

People outside are still giggling because I was mocked.

I was mocked of crying,

With abortive measures of trying.

Trying to escape from the world so flashy,

Because everything around is too messy.

It is not somewhere I was supposed to be dropped,

Where my body is being delightfully craved but the soul in it is cropped.

I am draped with all red and pretended gold,

Which the decent world calls bold.

The indecent world forced my toe with ornamental anklet bells which I could barely hold,

And then I realised that I could be bargained and sold.

It was 2012 and I was about to be twelve by the next month, the time when the adrenaline rush reaches at its peak, the time when completing the history syllabus was more important than life goals. 

It was almost quarter past eleven in the morning when I was hurrying excitedly for the tuitions. Excited because for the first time I was authorised to go alone since mom was busy with some household work. She handed me her smartphone in case of any extremity and I was already in cloud nine. For me, it was a feeling of an independent twelve year old (about to be) lady with her own phone (mom's) to show off. 

Pretending like a self reliant woman, I hurried through the crowd and was waiting for an empty auto to pass by. Standing there, I could see busy people all around the street and so I framed myself one. A busy little woman with her so called cell phone.

Suddenly, an auto driver called out, "Where you want to go madam?"

The word 'madam' resonated with me to an extent which made me stand straighter and bolder. I refused him by saying,

"No your seats are pre-occupied, I will catch another one."

As I turned the other side, an empty auto was arriving and without even calling, it stopped by my side. I glanced at the driver for some seconds, sat inside (like a matured woman) and addressed my destination to him. That day, the roads were filled with multiple policemen due to the arrival of some political leader the following day. The footpaths had been cleaned and the older street lights were replaced with glamorous LED fixtures. My destination was fifteen minutes from where I started so I had pretty much time to surf through my one day owned phone. I was going through all my friend's profile who were lucky enough to have a social media account (for me, those whose parent's allowed them to have a social media account were considered lucky). Soon I was away from the outside crowd and buried myself whole heartedly in Mark Zuckerberg's creation.

Suddenly, waking up from my one day owned property sensed little unfamiliar. Looking outside through the streets felt like an aberration. It was not the way my mom usually takes me to. The streets were flashy, loud vendors wondering, women lingering and the air was all about blaring chords. I asked the driver (with relatively louder voice), "I told you the address right? This is not the route to take. Are you new here?"

The driver suddenly picked up the speed and told me, "It is a shortcut ma’am, we will reach faster as the other roads are blocked by police."

Before I could react anything, suddenly from nowhere, two policemen with broad shoulders and perfectly bearded, blocked the auto and before the driver could breathe, they pulled him out and shoved on the road. The strange scene made my highly strung and I quickly made myself out of the auto to make some knowledge about what was happening. The driver tried to escape but was terrifically beaten by one of the two policemen. The other policeman came to me and shouted, "Didn't you get any other auto in the whole world? Do you have any idea where you were being driven to?"

I, who did not have any clue about what he was speaking up to, kept my head down like a child who summons himself in front of his math teacher. 

The man called another auto and asked me where I wanted to go. He followed me on my entire way to the tuition. As I reached, I wanted to ask him why they petrified the driver in such a way, but before I could, he said me with a blunt voice, "Never ever take that route again in your life. I repeat never."

It has been more than eight years now since that day. The big lady in me now has all the knowledge about where I was going to be dropped that day.

Only because I was engrossed in the phone I was given to hold, in a world draped in red and pretended gold, I realised that I could be bargained and sold.