“I refuse to write in the lines,” she says with a glint in her eyes. 

The teacher was confused. None of her students had ever said such a silly statement before. “Excuse me,” replies the teacher with an angry edge. 

“I refuse to follow what has been forced upon me. I have my own opinion. Why do we even have to stay in the lines after all?” She responds confidently. 

The teacher was shocked and confused. People always write in the lines, well, at least normal people do. But is this girl normal?

“Is it written somewhere that I must write in the line?

“No but it is the proper thing to do. It’s been going on for ages.” replies the teacher strictly.

“It is not proper to take risks and dream wildly. But people still do it. In our society, we are told to stay within our limits. I cannot talk loudly, read fictional books or even go outside by myself. People have done so, but they have been killed. I am just asking to not write in the lines and you are not even letting me do that,” said the girl on the verge of crying. 

“I have no idea what you are talking about. Where do you get the audacity to question the societal rules that have been going on for ages? Be glad you are even getting an education. Do you see girls around you? No, it’s just you. You are probably the only girl in the country getting an education. Now, you are to write in the lines and to say absolutely no more now.” 

She knew she wouldn’t write in the line. The girl was stubborn like that. It would get her killed like everyone else who tried to have their own voice. 

“You talk like my parents. Don’t talk. Cook. Clean. Sit and study. Be lucky we are sending you to school. Why do we have to stay in the lines after all? Why do boys get to go to a better school and go outside and play with their friends? But not me and my sister. Not me and the rest of our girls.”

“Now you are the minister’s daughter. Therefore, I am not complaining. But another word out of your mouth will not be tolerated. I will have you rusticated! Actually, I don’t care who you are. Your own parents would disown you for such talk. Listen girl these rules were set in stone centuries ago. Who are you to question these rules?”

The girl sat down. Mentally shaken by the thought of her parents disowning her for something like speaking her mind. She didn’t even realize when the tears streamed down her eyes. Her mind flipped to the scenes every day of people starving and begging on the roads. Would she be one of them? She closed them and made a vow to herself that she would be different. She, as well as the teacher, knew that this girl might have gone silent now, but the fire instead of her would never be extinguished. She would never be silenced and would never stay within societal limits. I will fight for children deprived of the life of a normal child. I will fight one day.