A beautiful day it was, the sky was bright, the birds were chirping on the trees, the clouds were dancing in the pinkish blue hue of the sky, the branches were choreographing to the rustle of the breeze, and in a corner of a window seat deep in thought was Humaira.
She was thinking how ironic it was that her surrounding was so bright, beautiful and happy, while she was feeling dull and sad. Thus, the picture of her life for the last four years reeled in her mind’s eye.
Many living in urban areas and the suburbs seem to think that living in a village would be serene and blissful. This was exactly what Humaira thought when she went to settle down in her hometown away from Colombo, after fourteen years of spending a lonely life in the city.
Hardly did she know then that she would see a different picture from what she saw in her mind. So there she was on the road travelling towards the home of her doom. Being young and lively did not help her either. For, rash as she was in taking decisions, she was not rational. At fifteen adapting was hard. Yet, Humaira blended well. She was fresh and unique, and the centre of attention.
When Humaira lived in Colombo she never faced a problem of criticism. For, it was an ocean where there were many colourful fishes, whereas, her hometown was a lake with hardly any. To add to the misery was the status of her family which had the fame that made every single move of its members peak the interest of the nosy civilization. Thus, the happy bubble that Humaira floated in when she dreamt of her future in her hometown was sadly broken by the reality of her situation.
Humaira was heartbroken by the fact that she did not get what she yearned for. She failed to get the care or the love she longed for, and worst of all she failed to be the calm girl that she basically was. The oppression from society only made her resilient and snappy towards everyone around her. Thus, her family crowned her as a disobedient, snappy, headstrong and wild child.
Still optimistic, Humaira accepted the challenges and started advancing in her academic and social life. She experienced new challenges of competition, festivals and explorations from her new school environment. Humaira faced her new life bravely. Yet, it was not without any fear of criticism from society.
It was hard for her to comprehend the words, “what would society say?” which her family members seemed to give so much importance to. She had always thought that people would mind their own business. However, as the decision making was in the hands of elders, Humaira was forced to refrain from doing some things she had wanted to do. She often wondered, “Why should we fear the people who do not seem to care about what we like or what is good for us?”. She learnt that it was the curse of being privileged, because society took special interest about the lives of the famous.
Eventually, Humaira became aware that her life had become a dark, damp room where she was struggling to exist. The colour of her passion had dimmed because of the impassionate society, the beauty of her multilingual tongue had diminished because of its rejection by her family which feared the criticism of society, the uniqueness of her style was fading due to the slighting of the critics in society. Society had imprisoned her.
Humaira suddenly sat straight; the house was quiet as everyone had gone to a wedding . She raced to her bedroom where her laptop lay on her neatly made bed. Firing on the computer she began to browse the net. The internet was painfully slow, and she finally found what she wanted. A happy smile spread across her face the moment she heard her family arrive. Making up her mind to wait for the perfect time she went down to hear about the wedding. After dinner, she spoke to her father about her plan to go back to Colombo to follow an external degree. He immediately rejected the idea, before he even heard her completely. But, determined, Himaira explained her real situation and the cause of her unhappiness to her father, elucidating why she wanted to follow the specific degree program. After much persuasion and a lot more conditions from her father, it was decided that Humaira would continue her higher studies in Colombo, as she had done before.
The course was starting in two weeks, and Humaira planned to leave in a week, and prepared for her new start. The week flew and Humaira departed.
The private campus she joined was posh, to suit the many affluent students, and Humaira felt at home after four whole years. She felt happy to think that she was no longer an article for exhibition, or criticism. She felt peaceful and continued to enjoy her academic and personal life which was no longer anyone’s special interest.
The days flew and the first semester was over. The holidays were due soon, and Humaira felt she should pay a visit to the few friends she had in her hometown. So when the holidays came Humaira departed to her hometown after four months.
When she arrived at her doorstep it suddenly struck her that she had never even once felt nostalgic about this place, in the past four months. On entering the house everyone started bombarding her with many questions and Humaira mused, distance does improve relationships. After lunch she set out to meet the very few company she enjoyed in the village.
Coming back home in the evening Humaira saw most of the neighbours gossiping in the lawn of a neighbour. They smiled and invited her. Though she always felt awkward about gossiping she did join them for the sake of courtesy and for fear of earning the title “Proud girl”.
The talk started about her, and took a turn in the direction of an absent neighbour, and continued to include various others. The insipidity and the absurdness of the gossip struck Humaira. But she was unable to put a stop to it due to her age and her family status. For she would never think of talking back to elders, nor preach them rationality.
Finally, Humaira left the congregation, and walking home thought, “This society would never change nor could it ever be changed!”