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Deep inside a remote Rajasthan village lived a farmer by
the name Jhingru, who was 45 years old. He had two daughters Asha and Lata, who
were 10 and 7. Jhingru wanted a third child and longed to have a boy this time.
Villages in rural parts of Northern India like Rajasthan
are usually male bastions. And in this region, the birth of a girl is not
really a reason to celebrate.
When Jhingru’s wife Malti was pregnant for the third time,
the whole village was certain that he would have a boy.
Even the astrologer, who is almost worshipped like a God in
the village, assured Jhingru that he would have a son this time.
A few months later came the moment of truth…It was time for
Malti, who was in her early thirties, to deliver and the midwives had already
gone to Jhingru’s house to assist in the delivery. Hearing this from some
villagers, Jhingru, who was sowing in the fields, left his work and ran to his
house to hear that he finally had a boy. He never remembered when he ran so
fast in the last 10 years. On reaching home, he got the news…it was a GIRL.
There was a thud and Jhingru fell on the ground crestfallen
and started crying aloud as if all was lost. Some villagers tried to comfort
him. But no one could console him and he went on crying for hours.
A few days later, the baby girl’s naming ceremony took place
in a subdued manner where she was named Mita. Malti had not been keeping well
ever since Mita’s birth and had been taking medicine for cough and fever, which
seemed to be worsening.
Malti’s health further deteriorated and her cough became
more vigorous. One day, Jhingru decided to take her to a doctor.
The doctor at the local health centre referred Malti to the
Government General Hospital in Alwar’s district headquarters, where a litany of
tests was conducted. She was later taken to Jaipur for a few more tests.
The results came in a few days later. The news was grim…she
was suffering from late-stage lung cancer.
A few months later, Malti passed away and Mita was seen as
the bad omen that killed her. Her grandmother took the responsibility of
looking after the three children.
Leave alone her father, even baby Mita’s sisters, grandmother,
aunt and uncle snubbed her. Right from the time she was an infant, she never
knew what love and care actually was. But there was an old woman, a neighbour
by the name Radhe Ma, who would occasionally come and take Mita away in her lap
and play with her. This is all what love and care meant to Mita.
She wasn’t even aware that someone could be loved and cared
for.
As Mita grew up, it was time for her to go to school.
Accompanied by her reluctant sisters, she started attending school and years
passed by. She was in Class 4 now, and
her friends used to tease her, saying, “The bad luck girl has come.” Mita
didn’t get much help from her class teacher, who would, in fact, enjoy seeing Mita’s
friends tease her.
But Mita proved to be meritorious and stood first in class,
unlike her elder sisters, who just managed to not fail.
Mita knew that this was the only good thing happening to
her and before her Class 10 state board exams, she studied diligently day and
night. When her results were out, she was declared the topper in her district.
It was a proud moment for her school, which never had a rank holder in its
history.
Although the school principal gladly accepted Mita’s
achievement and acknowledged that it was a proud moment for the school, her
reputation as the “bad luck girl” overshadowed her achievement with the
school’s teachers and her classmates.
Even her father Jhingru and sisters Asha and Lata were not
impressed. The trio felt it was useless for Mita to study any further.
Jhingru had developed a dislike for Mita right from the
time Malti died. He used to often say that Mita brought his family bad luck.
He actually believed in this because after Malti’s death,
he stopped working in the fields, and as a result, his income had also gone
down substantially. And, he held Mita responsible for his poor monetary
condition.
Even after Mita excelled in her Class 10 exams, Jhingru
wanted her to stay at home and learn the household chores as he wanted to get
her married just after Lata.
“No more studies,” he had warned Mita. Asha was already
married and Jhingru was looking for a match for Lata.
One day, Mita overheard Jhingru telling the villagers that
he even wanted to get her married. On hearing this, she became furious with her
father but kept her feelings to herself. Her outstanding Class 10 results,
prompted her to dream big. But the thought of marriage just shattered it.
A few months later, Lata got married to a teacher working at
a government school. Though the groom was 20 years elder to her, Jhingru said
to himself, “At least, he has a stable job.”
Then came Mita’s turn. Jhingru found a groom for her just
15 days after Lata’s marriage. But there was a big problem. Though the groom,
whose name was Rakesh, belonged to a wealthy family, he was mentally deranged.
Earlier, Rakesh had a wife, who ran away because he and his
parents tortured her. Mita was so disgusted with this match that she tried to escape
from home the night before marriage but was caught by the villagers and abused
by her father and his friends.
She was forced to marry Rakesh. In fact, Jhingru had to
drag Mita to the podium on the day of marriage and this caused a big
embarrassment to Jhingru and his two daughters Asha and Lata. The whole village
was talking about it, cursing Mita for her reluctance.
Barely a week after marriage, Rakesh was back to his usual
self — he
started torturing Mita, and after a few days, his parents joined in. Slowly, this
torture became a routine affair for Mita.
It went on for months and one day there was violence like
never before. Rakesh kept hitting Mita with a cane and his parents repeatedly
started kicking her.
Unable to bear the pain, Mita went to the bedroom, broke
the mirror, laughed aloud to herself while looking into the mirror, took a
broken glass and put it right through her stomach.
Amid the pain, she looked into the mirror again and laughed
out loud. Finally, before the pain of life was over, she cried out loud, “If
any villager looks into the mirror at night, I will come back to kill him.”
Even in her death, the villagers were indifferent as if
nothing had happened. The police inquired about her death from her in-laws and
after a few days of questioning, things died down.
Rakesh and her parents were free to go back to their house.
A fortnight after Mita’s death, some unusual things began to happen in the village when people looked into the mirror at night. They found injury marks on their faces from where they bled profusely. Everyone was clueless and asked each other, “What is happening?” And, as this went on, panic gripped the village
... TO BE CONTINUED
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