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Yes, I was completely a normal girl, but did society see me as one? Or was my 'normal' always to be tainted by the 'fault' they thought I had?
Yes, I was completely a normal girl, but did society see me as one? Or was my ‘normal’ always to be tainted by the ‘fault’ they thought I had?
This year, we bring you again the Muse of the Month contest. We have received some wonderful entries for the February Muse of the Month, and had a hard time picking just 5 winners. Congratulations to all of them!
The cue for February 2016 was:
“Normal is something I can never take for granted again.”– Andaleeb Wajid, When She Went Away.
The first winning entry is by Vijayalakshmi N.
You are a normal child My mother would always tell me You have hands and legs, eyes and nose Ears and mouth You can think and you smile A beautiful smile Yet, when I walked into school New or old I was stared at As if I had something That they did not have You are a normal child, my dear You should not pay attention to them My mother would assure me And so I would march ahead Pacified for now Playing games, games of a child Learning things, growing up Like a normal child Until I felt the stares burn My back, again I would rush back Into my mother’s safe cocoon Wanting to be shielded From those stares Those whispers The comments My mother would assure me again Push me to fight the world And not be cowardly People say what they want to say You know what you are You are a normal child You should be confident She would say I knew too That she was right And so I would dust my fears And face up to the world again Unmindful of the stares Unmindful of the bias I would work hard to show them I was worthy too, I was normal As my mother said I should Yet, the stares never went away The comments never died The judgement never ceased Despite what I did The tag always hung on me “Oh! That dark girl?” I was a normal girl, but a dark one For the fair world And normal was something I could never take for granted again!
Vijayalakshmi N wins a Rs 250 Flipkart voucher, as well as a chance to be picked one among the 10 top winners at the end of 2016. Congratulations!
Image source: girl close-up of eyes by Shutterstock.
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