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 Chandra, Additional Divisional Railway Manager, Pune, has authored 4 novels, 1 novella and 6 short story collections, 31 poetry collections and 13 children’s books. She holds a record with the Limca Book of Records, 2015 for being the Author having the highest number of publications in a year in English and Hindi. She has won several international and national awards. She was listed in Forbes as one of the popular authors in 2014.