Let’s sing aloud Claudia Church’s ‘Small Town Girl’ with me…

“She’s a small town girl
With big city dreams
She pictures herself
On Vogue Magazine
Well that mountain ahead
ain’t as high as it seems
For a small town girl
With big city dreams.”

We have so many small town girls around us. I am one of them. And recently, I met a fellow girl living in Delhi.

Paromita Bardoloi is a Writer and a street theater Artist at Aatish. She left Doom Dooma in Assam years back to carve her own identity. She was eight when she wrote her first poem and today, she writes for online portals like YourStory, The Huffington Post, and Women’s Web. Did she realize her call that early?“Not really, I tried doing few odd jobs before I had a rendezvous with my writing skills,” Paromita remembers. She is known for her pieces surrounding gender inequality, toxic relationships, and empowerment of human beings. She has also written a lot about realizing one’s self-respect and self-love. The words don’t just flow on paper when Paromita writes; there is a hidden pain that shapes every word she jots down.

“All of us need to understand the other side of happiness, the side that you can only encounter after the dark. I could feel it after I decided to step out of an abusive relationship. As women, we try to fix things which are not meant to be. We think if it doesn’t happen we will never experience happiness. But you know what, it takes courage”, explains Paromita.

Thankfully, her family was around exactly when she needed them. In a powerful series of letters to her niece, Paromita writes about family as one’s strength.

“We all love you, and though you are so small now, we tell you that you are precious. Hope as a family, we tell you enough that you are loved. People learn to love and hate themselves as they were treated as a child. I hope, we are telling and showing you that each day, you are enough; you are beautiful, and you can always come back to us, no matter what. I do understand, the way we treat you, you will learn to accept and reject the behavior people met out to you. Hope, our love tells you to have the higher standards for yourself.” Her sisters are her favorite; and the single mother, the best human being in her life. “She’s taught me a lot. I remember how she handled our tea gardens and nurtured her daughters after our father passed away. The women in the East are made of iron. They are the strongest. Women, there don’t wait for a man to support or complete them. If you ever notice, you will see most women handling money matters and businesses single-handedly. Unlike most parts of Northern India, we have women taking the prime decisions of their families”, Paromita remarks.
And I think this inbuilt quality gives her the strength to fight against the odds in then-new Delhi.

Before we wave at the waiter to clear the bill of the hot coffees and chocolate brownie, Paromita tells me a little secret.

She whispers, “You know what, Lavanya, writing is a gift. I find my solace in writing which I miss about my Doom Dooma. When I sit and write, I imagine myself surrounded by green lawns and clean streets. No horn honking, no rush. The mere thoughts help me write and connect with my readers well.”