Broken wing

Padmini Dalai

A short story

2020-07-13

It was raining heavily.. Thunders in between. Water was dripping in some places of the old hospital walls. In one of the ward, couple of nurses were rushing in and out.

Then there was that sound. A baby cry! The sound that brought happiness to everyone around. An angel was born. To spread happiness and love all throughout her life. Yes, it has to be a "She"

Just like the bollywood movies -- "5 years later"

She was rushing inside the school campus. White uniform, messy hair bun and a dirty tie that was dirty due to rolling in the sand while playing the previous day after school. Today, as usual, she was late for the school assembly. Sandhya was the name her parents had selected for their baby angel.

Later that day in class, her teacher was teaching poems. The poem was going like this -

Someone is White

Someone is Black

Someone Yellow

And Some are even Brown

Then looking at the quiet faces of the first benchers, the chit chatting middle benchers and the ever so naughty back benchers, she wanted to make sure they understood her poem..

She screamed, "Sandhya".. Its got to be Sandhya, as she is the hero of this story, right?

Once Sandhya stood up, from her 3rd bench, teacher pointed to her and asked, "Is she white? Is she yellow?" She is black!

Alas, the angel became the laughing stock of the class. Sandhya became black. And black is ugly. Well, that's what everyone has taught everyone, isn't it?

Colorism or racism is not just cruelty, but it changes the very way one perceives life and impacts every decision of life unconsciously.

"Hey black girl" mocked Martin when she entered the class next day. It became a normal instance from that day.. She lost her confidence. Her self image. The angel began hiding her face from others as much as possible.

Look around you, do you see angels in wings flying around? No? Well, we won't know how many Sandhya's are hiding their faces, because of us!

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