Trigger Warning:

I was in my LKG, he was our neighbor, I used to call him bhaiya. One day, he called me up to the terrace and asked me to close my eyes and as I opened them I saw him inching towards me for a kiss. I sensed something was not right and I ran. This was the first brush I had with my innocence being lost. Honestly, I never bothered to tell my parents about the incident until today. I was at an age where I simply did not understand what happened. When the whole Me-Too movement came out, I never dared to say I am also a victim of abuse. Somewhere I felt it was my mistake and I was wrong, but no I was not. This did leave a hollow space in me and I have never been able to trust men after that. I have been a creative soul since my childhood. I used to draw and paint on broken objects and would often try making them look beautiful once again. I have also been an avid reader since my childhood. Be it in the novels of Secret 7, Famous 5, or Sydney Sheldon I used to make stories inside my head. Along with art and reading, I have always been inclined towards dancing as well. It was therapeutic to dance and express the emotions that I would suppress otherwise. This way I was able to release a lot of my trauma from the past.Poetry also did play a crucial role in helping me embrace my emotions. I often joke about how poetry started out of sadness for me (haha). I was 20 when I got into a relationship. My ex was an amazing person. Everything was going well until circumstances around me triggered some sort of anxiety. It felt like I was fighting a war from within. I was then diagnosed with clinical depression for eight years. Honestly, I have always been thankful for my trauma. I have gained much more than what I have lost through these turbulent times. This is when poetry gave me the voice to speak out. It motivated me to reach a greater sector of the audience and make a difference with my words because I know that it did for me.We women fight a war every single day and the war I fought through this journey inspired me to work on a  book of poetry. It talks about the journey every one of us has gone through some time or the other. It throws light on how we evolve from a daughter to a goddess.”