For Flowers Will Bloom

I watched as the flowers bloomed, while the rain trickled on the petals. I felt peaceful just sitting there, watching. I sometimes wished to be reborn as a flower or the eagle of the blue sky, anything, just not me. I listened hard to everything but to my dismay I only heard banging of dishes in our kitchen and with this I predicted what would come next.

"Lianna, isn't this a job for a grown up girl like you to do?" I heard my mother's voice as she neared the backdoor. I knew she would say that, she always does.

"You ought to get married. You cannot be sitting around all day doing nothing", she continued and I knew what would come next.

"I got married when I was only fourteen and although it seemed hard at the time, I got used to it and so will you". I've heard this speech about a million times and it hasn't made me rethink my decision. I want to see the world, I don't want to be limited by the walls of my home tending to a husband I don't even love.

I see how my mother looks at my father with resentment as she attends to him, she thinks we do not know how she wishes her life had more meaning than just cooking and cleaning. However, what I do not get is why she would want me to make the same mistakes she did.

"Are you listening? It is important to understand that we women do not amount to anything on our own. Education is not an option, there go marriage is the only way to sustain ourselves and the more you wait the less chance of that happening habja."

"That is not true. There are many successful single women out there" I know better than to argue with her but I just can't help it. I hate the fact that women have to be so dependent, couldn't it be the other way around?

"Out there yes. But not in our village" she says giving me a warning look and I sigh, acknowledging this fact.

"Your father is home, take out the silverware, hurry"

"Does he have company?" I inquired. I knew we only took out the silverware on important occasions or when we had guests.

"Yes ...er.... I forgot to mention but Mr Ramajan had a few things to discuss with your father"

"Not this again", I knew what 'this' was. My marriage proposal. My face fell and it felt like my insides were boiling.

"I'll be in my room" I said as I rushed to the opposite side of the living room, feeling hot from the anger I felt.

"No Lianna, the silverware, this girl I swear" shouted my mother with irritation.

I wish they could understand how I felt. It's a thing of the past but do they care? All they want is to get more goats and pigs while my youth wears out in some old man's house. How could they decide like that for me? This is the 21st century, why is our culture so slow? Anyway I have to find my way around this.

Meanwhile, my father is laughing heartily in the living room. This was always his way of getting what he wants. Luck hasn't been on his side since I threw a rampage at one of the most prestigious bachelors in the village and he is trying his hardest to correct that. In my defense, he was a stuck up snob with no manners so I put him in his place. Ever since then, we haven't gotten word from any suitors. They are all "too scared of Kumar's feisty girl" as they put it and I was so glad to hear I made such an impression. While I was still reminiscing in my bubble, my father shook me up as though to awaken me from deep slumber and said sternly, "Your wedding's next week." Before I could even come to my senses he was gone as quiet as he came in and I knew there was no way around this. Not this time.