Echummi's Learnings

Echummi was married even before she learnt to wear a saree and when she did learn she learnt to wear white only white and often when she passed a mirror what she saw would chill her spine.. A shaven head, bare hands and bare forehead Oh! how she would have loved to see colors.. A big red bindi, green bangles a purple saree- She was taught to drape herself In a way she could hide her curves And so Echummi learnt to conceal her beauty, to hide her youth and to drown her verves ''Don't look at men ''she was warned, And Echummi learnt to curb her senses and her impulses; she learnt to stifle her dreams and her sobs; She learnt to sleep on hard floors not yearn for a caress or a touch; Echummi learnt to cook every dish And to abstain from delicious food, She learnt to be absent on all auspicious occasions and not cross the path of propitious people, She learnt to go unnoticed unrecognized like a shadow on the wall.. Unheard, unseen sinking into oblivion.. Echummi learnt to die even when she was alive!