{"id":5161,"date":"2025-08-05T19:21:58","date_gmt":"2025-08-05T19:21:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/writers-house-review\/?page_id=5161"},"modified":"2026-03-07T14:48:39","modified_gmt":"2026-03-07T14:48:39","slug":"the-bangles-she-left-behind","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/writers-house-review\/vol-6-winter-2025-2027\/the-bangles-she-left-behind\/","title":{"rendered":"The Bangles She Left Behind"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Gayatri Patel<\/em><\/h4>\n

 <\/p>\n

I slip golden bangles onto my wrist,<\/span><\/p>\n

I hear their delicate jingle as I pin up my dupatta\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But I am forced to remember\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Bangles like mine clinked like shackles<\/span><\/p>\n

On my grandmother\u2019s arms<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Trapped in an unwanted marriage\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

At the mere age of nineteen\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Already a mother of two daughters\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A third on the way in hopes of a son\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Her bangles chime as she stirs the pot of dal\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Her world limited to the four walls of her husband’s home\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Her hands bear the weight of duty\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Never granted the luxury of choice\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Decades later, my mother wears these bangles\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The story is a little different this time\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

At the ripe age of nineteen she comes to America\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Forced to give up her education and find multiple jobs\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Forced to give up her dreams for her younger brother\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

She supports her family alongside her father for six years<\/span><\/p>\n

Her dream of opening her own business fades away<\/span><\/p>\n

She turns twenty five\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Gets tied to an arranged marriage with a man she had met only twice\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

At the age of thirty two, a mother of one son\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A second on the way, in hopes of a daughter this time\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Almost a century later, a new story is written\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

At the age of nineteen<\/span><\/p>\n

I sit in the library of my university\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Given the opportunity to pursue an education<\/span><\/p>\n

One my grandmother never could dream of\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

One that my mother could only dream of\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I make my own choices, pave my own path\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Wearing my bangles, not as shackles<\/span><\/p>\n

But as my pride and a reminder\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Of wrists that worked, of dreams that broke,<\/span><\/p>\n

Of women who walked so I could run. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

Gayatri Patel<\/strong> is a student of the class of 2028 at the School of Arts and Sciences Honors Program pursuing a double major in political science and English on a pre-law track.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gayatri Patel   I slip golden bangles onto my wrist, I hear their delicate jingle as I pin up my dupatta\u00a0 But I am forced to remember\u00a0 Bangles like mine … Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2513,"featured_media":0,"parent":5102,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-5161","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe Bangles She Left Behind - Writers House Review<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/writers-house-review\/vol-6-winter-2025-2027\/the-bangles-she-left-behind\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Bangles She Left Behind - Writers House Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Gayatri Patel   I slip golden bangles onto my wrist, I hear their delicate jingle as I pin up my dupatta\u00a0 But I am forced to remember\u00a0 Bangles like mine … Read More\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/writers-house-review\/vol-6-winter-2025-2027\/the-bangles-she-left-behind\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Writers House Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-03-07T14:48:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/writers-house-review\/vol-6-winter-2025-2027\/the-bangles-she-left-behind\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/writers-house-review\/vol-6-winter-2025-2027\/the-bangles-she-left-behind\/\",\"name\":\"The Bangles She Left Behind - 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