October 16, 1997: Autumn is here to stay which will be followed by winter. For me life is just like the four seasons, the only difference being .. my winter season tends to get prolonged and my spring season tends to get wind up with the blink of my eyes.

For me this autumn is stangnant and all those renewed zeal and spirits of mine is slowly fading away with the fall of leaves....day by day. My spirits were dampened!

Everything seems to have come to a halt. I stayed back at home whole day wondering as to how I would utilize my precious time.

Great people say "time and tide waits for no man" but for a poor soul like me, time seems like a lover late on every occassion who keeps her punctual lover waiting for her, to have a glimpse of her.

I kept on waiting for an opportunity to utilize my time. Household chores aren't work anymore because there is just four people living in the family, little Vicky had started going to school, and I was left with no playmate.

Whole day I kept day dreaming but it was always not a happy one. It always took me back to the pains and sufferings I had seen and faced. And today, I remembered about my younger sister, the victim of child marriage.

I had reached Moirang as soon as I heard about her miscarriage. My sister was inconsolable.

She wanted to save her baby but coudnt. I stayed with her for a week. She was very weak and pale, seems like very ounce of blood had been drained from her body.

But why did she wanted to marry so early when they dont even have the proper resource to feed their tummy?? And why baby when she herself is a child who still needs to be nurtured and cared upon.

She was under-nourished and anaemic. I was drowned in mixed emotions, worried and angry at the same time.

I wasnt prepared for the shocking news next day.

One of my cousin who is also a domestic helper had committed suicide. Reason??? She was dumped by her lover after they eloped.

God why her???

She was just fourteen years old. And the family where she worked had always treated her as one of their children and why does she have to leave everything, become so stupid and got carried away, lured by a killer in the form of a twenty six year old man??

Why is the world and all its component so mean and unfair??

And why do we humans tend to seek for things we dont deserve or owe??

The pain that my sister was facing was nothing compared to what the family members of both her first and second home were facing.... I coudnt take it anymore, I wanted to run back to where I want to belong...right now.. at this moment..my second home.

The best way to fight all these pangs of emotions and worries is to run away from it... Am I demoralizing myself??...

It was still autumn weather outside the window, windy and hypocritic.......

To be continued ....

NOTE:
There is strong opposition against child labour in the entire world and mostly in the third world country. In our very own state manipur,there is a common practise of giving away innocent children as domestic helpers by the poor parents. Some are lucky enough to be treated as the children of the new home while some children have to face the brutality from their "new home".

But even if the childrens are being adopted as the children of the new home,what about the innocence that they have to compromise with by exposing them to the various facets of life at an early age? Every one of these children have a story of their own which is as important as anyone of our life story.

They are the unsung heroes who had learnt to face life"s challenges since early childhood. My story is an adaptation from the real life story of one of the domestic helper whom I know and had grown up with though the names and certain events have been slightly modified.