Pari

"Pariiii.."

Lilith's voice came lilting through the stain glass window which was casting a blue ray on the side of the bed near my head.

The first rays of the sun.

I rolled off of the bed sleepily and kneeled below the window. Head resting on my folded arms on the window sill. Dark gray eyes, I felt sure catching the sunlight and turning milder... softer and not sharper like everyone else said.

The mist was still there. Hanging on with the sultry stubborn heaviness of a late afternoon siesta. But it had lifted off the bougainvilleas, hibiscus and rose bushes that I could see through my window. The leaves seemed fresh, clean and heavy from the wetness left behind by the parting mist which had just received a kiss goodbye from the rising sun.


"Pariiiiii"

This was the first day of my winter vacation. But Lilith would not let me sleep in late.  

Lilith. Of the night. Unyielding yet loving. Her rules were always meant to be followed. Maybe that is why my parent's had retained her as my nanny. Long after the need for her services had ceased to exist. Then again she did take full responsibility of me. In every which way.

I had a silent resolve too. As silent as the river that quietly flowed outside my grandmother's house. Beyond the bougainvilleas, the hibiscus, the rose bushes, the guava and the mango tress. Its presence known only in the rainy season, when it just as silently broke its banks. The only forewarning, would be the streams filled with little crabs and tiny delicate fish that would start sprouting all over. In those times, we would be stranded, the 6 houses along that stretch, while the river displayed its quiet show of anger. Water. Everywhere. Teaming with life.


"Parriiii" Lilith persisted, breaking into my thoughts.

"Such a pretty name for such a pretty little girl!" they would say. But I disliked my name. The name it seemed sealed my identity before I could get a chance to evolve. Pre-deciding my fate. My destiny. The name; Parineeta. Translates into, the married woman, in Bengali.

It was always flowing into the sea; the river.

It was not here to stay.

And neither was I.

I had taught them to call me Pari. The fairy.

I never saw a reason to protest. In any other way.