I find my own happiness

The laps of the hilly region raised me as a female of power

Upon the sprinkles of mud, my living was upon the fields

Along with the echos of moos and splashes of dhaan

Education was never in my experience

But my other friends came home and

Sketched their wisdom with a stick in the mud

“ka,kha,ga, gha”

Introduction to music was also a boom to a part of me

a bhajan played while I return to Kathmandu

world by word line by line

I remember everything

Mensuration is a part of female life,

Disciplined enough,

to stop my feet against the places I was denied to go

I wouldn’t force anybody,

It all a sense of belief an honor to tradition

I would not think of hindering

“You need to hold a hand to climb the stairs of life.”

But I climbed all of it on my own and I am perfectly fine

“Afno afno ichya ho.”

No pleasure I’d feel if I were with someone

No progression I’d get if I held someone

There are so many ladies here with wet eyes even after marriage

Choosing my own smile, I confidently say

“I DID NOT MARRY.”

Who knew the rain would flow out all my sweat and work

The greens stabbed with the puddles

And my house drizzled with the monsoon

I had nowhere to go,

I wandered as the mist

Mom on the right, Dad on the left

Both waved goodbye to my tiny life

Relatives pitied my breath,

Alone as the clouds, they handed me to Kathmandu

“Briddha Bhatta” was never in my hands

Illiteracy abandoned me

making the required papers to receive

But also,

here I am answering you from this cozy air of an old age home

I socialize a lot

I get respected

Freedom encompasses me,

I go walk along the street gazing at the flowing river

Corona had stolen it all away

I saw the struggles of my friends

Gratitude is what I hold at this age,

“Jasto bhaye pani khusi khojchu!”