Ugly Wins

The gold glittered and threw a thousand haloes across the living room.

Eight-year-old Savitri was holding her trophy to her chest as her mother wept loudly

The mother was crying for her champion daughter. 

Great at sports, debating, and English - her child would have no future. 

The father lost his job while a colleague who bickered about having women in the workplace- got a promotion. 

The colleague ensured his sons enrolled in college and his daughters never entered school. 

Thirty years later Savitri found herself fastening a loose button on her dead husband’s shirt. 

Artwork - illustration from a published Telugu rhyme 'Bangaru Papayi' and artworks by Laxman Aelay