Neelam pens a poignant poem that is related to the shocking and gruesome custom of shaving the head of the widows and sending them to holy places. A Different Truths exclusive.

At sixteen married,
At seventeen widowed;
Before I learnt what is life,
My existence has been hollowed!

I am only a teen
And love I would to dance and sing;
My unseen husband’s death
Has plucked out all my zing!

The vibrancy replaced by white,
My head shaved, all hair gone;
The lanes of my life,
Murky and forlorn!

As I sit on the steps
Of the ghats of this city holy;
I wonder why I was born,
What had I done to get this life ghastly?

Packed off by my parents,
After all, I was only a daughter!
Discarded by in-laws, I lie here,
In front of the Lord’s altar!

Watch I the reflection
Of my tattered self in the river,
My past appears as a mystery
And my future, a blur!

©Neelam Saxena Chandra

Photo from the Internet

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Neelam Saxena Chandra

Neelam Saxena, author of 84 books, holds three Limca Book of Records titles. She has received prestigious honours, including the Sohanlal Dwivedi Puraskar from the Maharashtra State Hindi Sahitya Akademi, the Premchand Award from the Ministry of Railways, the Rabindranath Tagore International Poetry Award, the Freedom Award from Radio City, the Setu Excellence Award, and the Reuel Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2014, Forbes India listed her among the 78 most popular authors in India, celebrating her literary excellence.