“Is it my mistake that I’m born in one such family? Do you think I intentionally took birth in such caste? No, I didn’t and actually, no one wants to, but things happen the way they are destined to.” said Akash. “Anyway, are you afraid?”
“Yes, I am,” Rashmi replied, shattered. “Why did I even fall in love with you? I wish you were born in an upper caste family. I never had a clue that these meaningless differences will become such hurdles in our way.”
“Who even made these systems of class and caste? We breathe the same air, we live under the same sky and we drink the same water.”
“It’s not the same in case of water, yours is purified.” Akash joked.
Both burst into laughter and filled the silence with their voices.
“Anyway, let’s go before we are caught by your family, who would tear us apart. Or maybe they’ll just tear me apart,” said Akash. “It’s already 4 pm and we have to leave for Banaras in half an hour. Oh and by the way, I was thinking of changing my surname when we move to Banaras.”.
“Don’t you even think of doing that!” yelled Rashmi. “We’ll live with our reality and we’re educated enough to know our rights and to not to fall prey to age-old customs, unlike our families. We will start a new life. Let’s get married in a day or two by the side of the Ganga ghats.”
She paused and then went on to say, “We have broken all boundaries of caste and class which limit our souls to love and live.”
“Yes,” Akash said. “But let me take a look at the place where we have been meeting for all these years and bid adieu because I don’t think we’ll ever come back here.”
Both looked around and laughed softly, filling the emptiness of the place and perhaps their hearts as well, for one last time.
This blog is a product of a series of workshops we conducted with young people aged 18-25 in Hazaribagh and Lucknow. In these workshops we explored writing, film-making and social media as well as exploring a large spectrum of gender issues. We hope you enjoy reading this as much as we enjoyed working with them!
