THE BEAUTY THAT FOUGHT THE BEASTS

           Once upon a time there was a beautiful young girl. She lived in a land where all the people who resided there were more or less normal. No one had any super powers nor was the land any special…. Though I have began this like a typical Disney fairy tale this is very much a true story.

There was this extraordinarily beautiful girl who lived with her mother in a very ordinary house in a simple little village. Her mother was widowed when this beautiful little princes was barely able to talk. She is the only daughter of her parents and thus was brought up with lots of love and affection from friends and family. Apart from her beauty she was intelligent and good at moving her body practically to any beat; she was a fabulous dancer. All these qualities put together qualified her to be a brilliant student. In class and outside the class where ever it may be most of the eyes were on her, the masculine seeking for attention and the feminine in admiration or burning in envy. All said and done she was popular.

 Oh! How can I forget. This story will be incomplete without describing this attractive young sweet heart. She has beautiful charcoal black eyes which sometimes appear hazelnut brown because of her contact lenses. Her eyelids fringed with black eyeliner, artistically and patiently done by her, just looks perfect against her spotless vanilla white skin. The Happydent white teeth enclosed by her pinkish red lips make an immaculate smile. Her curls dangles over her shoulders playing hide and seek with the flawlessly carved ears. Nose slightly pointed nicely rounded is simply adorable. One look at her and you would know that she is one healthy, attractive, capable, bold and a well behaved young lovable babe.

It seemed like spring time happiness was in the air. Her mom fell in love with a handsome and hardworking man. He promised to keep this mother daughter duo always happy and under his protection. This was a welcome change; most were happy a few jealous and a hand full sarcastic and didn’t fail to spread nonsense. What went wrong than? Everything went wrong.

Joy knocked the door but disappeared in a jiffy, happiness that she experienced had not come to stay, though much awaited it had come to go. Despite the fact that she was showered with lots of gifts by her step-father or so to say new found dad there was something that wasn’t right. After a long and tiring day of schooling and other activities she was relaxing at home, she got hold of a pen drive, which she later realized belonged to her father. Young and adventures as she was she wouldn’t be at peace until and unless she discovered its contents. She inserted the external drive in her laptop and this changed her entire life. She felt that there was no roof over her spinning head nor floor below her cold and weak feet. She saw videos of herself, she saw herself naked and harmless, having bath peacefully undisturbed without even showing hint of awareness. She experienced how Eve from the book of Genesis (Bible) felt when God called her name as she was eating the forbidden fruit; she felt naked even though her clothes were on at that moment. She just wanted to believe that it was just a nightmare. The only sensible thing she felt she should do was press the magic keys on the laptop SHIFT + DELET. She felt that by deleting the evidence of her nakedness she would be at peace, but it haunted her. Her body was numb and brains no more functioning. After a few hours of sorrow, shock, shame, disgust, hate, betrayal and nothingness she approached her mom gathering all the courage she had. She didn’t realize that the worst was yet to come……. her mom didn’t believe her and having deleted the videos she had no proof. She couldn’t think clearly, her mind was like a blank slate yet with oodles of undecipherable thoughts.

There was a glimpse of hope because; the love of her life whom she loved and trusted the most had vowed that he would marry her. Since both the families had accepted their relationship, she felt that staying with him at his house would be a better bet than living with a father who never considered her as a daughter and a mother who would not believe her. She shifted to her fiancés house. There too, life was not easy; her to-be mother-in-law wouldn’t accept her in her house before marriage. She faced all the difficulties boldly; she felt lonely since the man who promised to take her as his wife was working abroad. No sooner he came they went in for a court marriage but that could not be possible since she was just 19. They lived together even though they weren’t married. But before things could settle down and she could find the peace which she most longed for, the only man she trusted now began to treat her as his servant. Although she didn’t live in a palace before coming to his house she still felt she was a princess and deserves to be treated better. Things had changed so quickly for her. Once again she was on her own now; she could not face it anymore. She decided to return to the house of which she was the rightful heir.

She came back home, despite the fact that the people in the house were her own she had lost faith in them. She could not face the man who never saw her as a daughter rather an object to fulfill his fantasies and a mom who wouldn’t believe and stand by her own blood. She wasn’t just beautiful she was brave as well. She confronted the man who had in a way tried to outrage her modesty. She courageously spoke to him and he accepted his doings but wasn’t willing to confess it before his wife, her mother. She was depressed, she knew her victimizer but could not make it know to others who didn’t believe her. She contemplated suicide several times. Three or four times she gulped in hand full of pills which if not for the intervention of the doctors at the right time would have been successful in reserving a place for her with the Creator. Her home reminded her of the man who showered her with gifts and affection, whom she considered her father and his love as filial, but the picture was clear, it was lust. Despite of all that had happened she tried living as any normal daughter would.

Things were cooling down, life was moving on. Though her studies were affected, she fought back. She did most of the house hold chores to keep herself busy. One fine day as she was sweeping the house, the man who was the husband of her mother (she no longer considered him her father) came in with breakfast for her. She was shocked but delighted since she felt that he was trying to mend his ways. She was a committed young lady so she decided to finish her sweeping and swabbing before she could have her breakfast. It took her almost half an hour to finish her chores. When she saw the glass of orange juice that was poured for her she was taken aback. The contents of the glass which were orange were half orange and half green now. She was suspicious. She called up a friend and her bestie appeared in no time they both decided to hunt for any clue that would enlighten them on the mystery of the juice, and right enough they found a small bottle in her so called father’s closet. The instruction on it read thus: 20ml of this drug added with any addible liquid (ratio- 1:3) can make the person unconscious for about an hour or more. Once again she felt a sward pierce her already frail heart. She told her mom, who once again as earlier didn’t believe her. As brave as she was, she went to the lawful authority who handled such cases. For the third time in a row her mother broke her trust into pieces. She forced her to take back the police complaint. She took it back not because of fear but because she loved her mother. She placed the life of her mother before her own. She didn’t want her mom to be alone. She didn’t want to see her mom growing old without her husband around her. She loved her mom, but did her mom love her daughter even half as much as her daughter had loved her?

As I have mentioned in the beginning the Beauty we read about was a strong girl and is even stronger now both physically and mentally.  She is working in a respected organization, financial independent, so much so that she has her own car; the fruit of her own hard work. Yes! she still lives with her mother and her so called father. But the only consolation is that he is working abroad and most of the year not at home. Life seems much happier now. As I said earlier she is still extraordinarily beautiful but I love and admire her more because she is extra-extraordinarily strong and brave.

The purpose of penning down this story is not only because of her bravery and courage, but because of what people spoke about her. When she went to her fiancés house, she was spoken ill of, people were grumbling about and questioning her moral character. When she began working whilst studying, once again people had problem with that. They said that she uses her beauty to allure people to get her way done. When she bought a new car, there were remarks which hinted that she may have sold her dignity to get it. In midst of all this she stood strong, she was turning 21 now. She with the help of a few friends and family decided to make it grand. She celebrated her 21^st birthday with a lot of pomp. The night after the party when she was sitting back and discussing her birthday bash with her friend she realized that even those people who were talking ill about her had gone home satisfied with joy, laughter and not surprisingly with their stomachs full. She recalled, before she could host the party she was afraid that no one may come, they even discussed what they would do with all the food that will remain if the guest wouldn’t turn up. The party was a grand success, she was happy and the people who came contented.

The Beauty which we just saw here is not fictional and unlike those in most of the fairy tales she isn’t very delicate either. And at the end of all these hateful experiences she has become even stronger. And it would not be wrong to say that the Beauty turned out to be stronger than the beasts she faced. We can fondly remember her as “The beauty that fought the beasts.”

Moral: The undying zeal and quest to be the master of one’s own future. (You can draw out 101 morals for yourself form this story impregnated with ethical values)