The Story of the Moon (part 2)

Both daughters grew in years. Chaandi grew prettier by the day. Ansoo stayed plain. The mother was very afraid that Ansoo would feel inferior to her sister and so she tried to nurture her with utmost kindness and love. She would say to her, 'You are my oldest, the apple of my eye, let no one make you feel bad about yourself. Do not believ anyone tells you that you are not beautiful.' The mother tried to teach Ansoo to sing, to dance and to sew; but Ansoo was slow to learn. She grew more attached to her mother as she grew and her mother to her.

Chaandi, meanwhile, grew to yearn her mother's attention. She would wonder why her mother spent much time with Ansoo but not with her. She would throw tantrums, cry and even fake illness hoping that these might force her mother to love her more, but her mother only considered these the result of Chaandi's arrogance. She considered Chaandi a troublesome child with way too much pride in her looks. She grew even more stoid and placid towards Chaandi.

Then the two girls grew to be young women. Chaandi began to receive admiring glances from menfolk, but she did not care for them. Yet, she wanted her mother to noticehow the men admired her beauty. Chaandi dressed well and took care of herself, hoping that with increasing attention from the men, her mother would be compelled to admit that Chaandi was, afterall, a beauty. She would sit by the river Jeevan in all her bejewelled glory, looking like a swan. The men would praise her, write poems about her face and sing songs about her skin. Chaandi would listen and snigger, all the while hoping that her mother would hear them as well.

The mother did hear them, and the more she heard, the angrier she grew. 'What audacity! What arrogance!' she thought, 'To dress up that way, intending solely to lure men, and then turn up her nose at the victims of her own demeanor. She must be punished, or she will never be cured of this constant need for attention.' So mother locked up Chaandi in her room, forbiding her from meeting anyone till she learnt to be more humble.

Chaandi stayed locked up for days on end. At first she was puzzled. Why was her mother unhappy? Did she not see inher the goodness others did? Then she was angry, 'Mother only loves Ansoo', she thought, 'She never wanted me at all.' Then she was frustrated, 'How much longer will she keep me locked? Will she be upset with me forver?' And finally she became depressed, 'I have no one in this world who cares for me,' she thought, 'my mother does not think of me as her own, or she would love me.'

And Chaandi cried.

She cursed herself. She began to hate her life. She began to hate herself. She wanted not to exist. She wanted to lie still in the night and give up her breath. She wanted to cease. One such long night, she lay on her bed. She was willing herself dead when she heard the voice of a man.
(to be continued)