Homeless Bird: Part 2

By GLORIA WHELAN

My baap, like all fathers with a daughter to marry off, had to find a dowry for me.

"It will be no easy task," he said with a sigh.

Baap was a scribe. He sat all day in his marketplace stall hoping to make a few rupees by writing letters for those who did not know how to write their own. His customers had little money. Often from the goodness of his heart Baap would write the letter for only a rupee or two. When I was a small girl, he would sometimes let me stand beside him. I watched as the spoken words were written down to become like caged birds, caught forever by my clever baap.

Publisher: HarperCollins

Age group: 9-12 years


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