Mira was the star of the family. Being the youngest of four brothers and the only daughter of the village head had its perks. She got away with anything! Growing up, she was the naughtiest. She would bunk schools, play pranks and skip household chores that every mother thought was the ultimate mantra to get a good groom.
'I do not care what other people say, I will educate my daughter' Her father would say. He loved her. For him her happiness was all.
Now, putting your daughter in a school, when you can afford it, might not even seem like something to be proud of but, it is not the case here. It the 80s, while India had gained its independence and was developing well, educating a girl child was frowned upon by many, especially in the rural areas. 'Educating a girl is useless, she would marry and go away', was the most common reason for not sending them to school and limiting their learning to household work so that they works well at their husbands' home and don't earn bad name for the family.
But Mira's father did not care. He would educate Mira to her heart's content and would even let her do some job. Well, obviously he would decide if the job is safe enough of his daughter but she may work nonetheless.
It all might seem insignificant, orthodox and even cruel to some people. However, for those times, Mr. Ram Ji Mehta was the most progressive man in the village or as some said, 'a little mad'. But as a reader of this story, you may see him as only a man that loved his child and if you heard him argue with everyone to ensure the freedom of his daughter, you wouldn't imagine that there will come a day when the same father would refuse to acknowledge that he has a daughter.
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Unusual Love
Short Story'But he loves me!' Mira told herself firmly as she applied dettol on the cut near her lip. 'He seemed drunk', she thought,' it must have been an accident, he means me no harm'. She assured herself and smiled at her reflection. But as the years went...
