YELLOW Tulips- #BarAThon

Posted in Aks Corner, BAR-a-THON, Flash Fiction, Love & Relationships, motherhood, Self Love, Women@Work

Maya held the bunch of yellow tulips and took in the fragrance. This was the only constant thing in her insane life which shifted gears every other day. 5 years of marital bliss, being as much in love with her man, at the pinnacle of her career, what else did she need? A barren womb is what made her otherwise beautiful life dull and colorless. They had been trying to conceive for 3 years but she had not gotten pregnant.

Nothing is wrong with the two of you, give it time is what the doctors told them. Fingers were pointed at her, “effects of a sedentary lifestyle and taking the pill, all because you were not ready to embrace motherhood”.  She endured them for she had started feeling it’s her fault. Over time, like those tulips which had withered away, she had started to wither. Her job, reading, photography- nothing excited her anymore.

The day she overheard her MIL talk about getting her son remarried to a fertile girl who could bear them the family heir, something snapped in her.

The constant struggle to become a mother was more of an attempt to prove to the world that she was not barren, she realized she was losing herself in the midst of this mindless battle. She needed time, to get away and refocus on other things. When the time was right and she was ready to be a mother, she would become one. A child not born of her womb would nevertheless be her child, she would be no less of a mother if she did not give birth.

With that she signed up for the year long assignment in Zurich. She hoped Rohan would understand. As she stood at the airport,the yellow tulips from him were with her today. Their fragrance made her smile, she promised to nurture them, they symbolized her once battered soul which was now slowly recuperating.

Image courtesy: Teloflora

((This post has been written for the second edition of  BAR-A-THON, the fortnight-long blogging marathon for bloggers everywhere!  My theme is “7 colours of the rainbow ROYGBIV”. I present a Flash Fiction in 300 words  based on one colour  for each day of the challenge and blend it with something that personifies that colour))

barathon

 

 

Published by Akshata Ram

Chartered Accountant, Story Teller, Dreamer, Voracious Reader, Blogger, Mommy to a little munchkin, Shopaholic, Day Dreamer.Passionate about my career in the corporate world and aspire to break the glass ceiling, at the same time nurture my passion for writing. My niche area is short stories, I also write on parenting, sexism, life's experiences, micro blogs and flash fiction. I have won the best Parenting blog post at mycity4kids.com the largest parenting website in India, 4 times and several of my posts have been published in the #MostPopular category on this site garnering millions of views. I also write on Bonobology, Rivo Kids, Women's Web and Youth Ki Awaaz. My blog has been chosen as the Top Indian Blogs for the years 2018-2019,2020 by TopIndianBlogs website and found a place in the prestigious Top 22 Indian Literary Blogs in 2020 @TopIndianBlogs.

19 thoughts on “YELLOW Tulips- #BarAThon”

  1. It is a lovely story Akshata..in our society who put too much emphasis on becoming a mother..I have friends who are going through painful IVF to conceive..however the essence of motherhood is not in giving birth but in raising the child…great post.

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    1. Thanks a ton Balika! The pressure is immense and more on women to marry, have kids and be the perfect mom. These labels need to be done away with and the change can only come from us women

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  3. One needs support during this time, not constant finger pointing. Our society needs to grow up. Adoption is another way to feel the beauty of motherhood. Loved this empowering story.

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  5. Time mindsets changed and embraced people for what they are. Too much importance to societal thinking does impact one’s life. Loved that the story embraced a positive step to move on ahead despite the apparent setback.

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    2. Good point. But their standard reply would be along the lines of of ‘I’m a mother of x children. I became pregnant at y age. I know.’ Now that would be a lose-lose argument to get into.

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  9. It’s sad that we are in 2017, and we have to still deal with such regressive attitudes. But I loved the way you have shared a glimpse of the unfortunate reality, and yet ended it on a positive note.

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