SHIVANI: THE PRICE OF SURVIVAL

Shiva was a 25-year-old young man with extraordinarily long, dark hair that fell past his shoulders. He was gentle, quiet, and inexperienced in the ways of the world. He had grown up believing that his mother would always protect him, but he had never understood how much she wanted to control every aspect of his life.

His mother was an arrogant woman who believed that obedience was the only virtue a child needed. She wanted Shiva to follow her instructions without asking questions. She decided what he should wear, where he should go, and whom he should meet.

Shiva had never been interested in feminine clothing or the life his mother secretly imagined for him. He wanted a peaceful life, a job, and the freedom to make his own decisions.

His long hair, however, had become a constant source of arguments. His mother treated it as something she owned, something she could use to remind him that he had no control over himself.

“You will live the way I decide,” she told him one evening.

Shiva lowered his eyes. He was accustomed to avoiding arguments, but he could feel that something was changing. His mother's anger had become more intense, and her demands were growing more unreasonable.

He did not know that the home he had trusted for twenty-five years would soon become the place from which he would be expelled.

That night, Shiva went to sleep believing that the next morning would be ordinary.

It would be the last peaceful night of his old life.