The Chained Goddess

Lilith, 17. Mumbai, India.

10ThousandLives is a collection of real stories from real people, all over the world. Different places, different lives but the same fundamental search for meaning, belonging and connection.

These are the moments that shape us: the quiet mornings, the leaps of faith, the fears we don’t say out loud. No filter, no embellishment. Just life, as it’s lived.

Because no matter where we are, our stories aren’t so different after all.

Picture credit: Chained Goddess - David Hostetler

Lilith, 17. Mumbai, India.

I’m Lilith (Alias), a teenager with no idea what she’s going to do in the future - because I don’t even know if I’ll be allowed to have one.

As a girl, I’ve been blamed for things that shouldn’t even be questioned. For having male friends. For wearing makeup. For doing things every other girl my age does without issue - until I do them. My parents scold me like I’ve committed a crime, convinced I’m seeking male attention. A friend’s mother caught me in a room with a boy, just listening to music, and suddenly, I was not a daughter, not a student, not a person. I was a disgrace.

My parents react exactly as expected - lectures on virginity, boyfriends, and love. They warn me about the dangers of online dating, yet they’ll arrange my marriage through a website. A ‘love’ marriage? Love is shameful. But a stranger with a steady job? A man who hits you? That’s just good planning. My mother was abused. My grandmother, my aunt. It’s not fate. It’s not a curse. It’s a choice - one that has been made for us, over and over again.

We live in a world where rape, honour killings, gender discrimination, and violence are normalised - but a woman making her own choices? That’s the real disgrace. A woman wanting to work after marriage. A woman choosing not to marry at all. A woman deciding her own future. These are the things that bring shame to a family. Not the suffering, not the oppression - just the act of a woman claiming her own life.

In a land protected by goddesses, our women are supposed to be goddesses too. But even goddesses are bound in chains. Even goddesses can be sacrificed.

People march. They hold candles. They demand justice. And then? Another girl, another mother, another grave. Another story that will be forgotten the moment the fire dies out.

The future looks unbearable because it feels like I have no say in it. Life here means living for others - parents, relatives, neighbours whose names I don’t even know. Everyone controls everyone, and society polices every choice. A girl and a boy can’t even be friends without accusations. A girl can’t live without someone telling her how she should.

I am only 17, yet I have carried depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety, and mild psychosis. It fades, then returns, like a shadow I can never outrun. But I am still here, holding onto something - maybe not hope, but the stubborn belief that life is meant to be more than this.

Living, to me, is freedom. But in India, we are taught to live for appearances, for tradition. A child is forced into school at three because that’s what everyone does. By the time they are adults, their choices have been narrowed to doctor, engineer, or failure. Girls are taught to be perfect daughters, perfect wives, perfect mothers - anything but themselves.

But life is meant to be lived, not endured.

Not everyone is always right. Sometimes elders are wrong. Sometimes I am wrong. The difference is, I am willing to learn.

And I refuse to waste my life trying to meet the expectations of people who will never be satisfied.

If I had true freedom, I wouldn’t do anything radical - I would simply exist as myself. I would study what I actually love, biology, without my parents telling me it won’t pay enough. I would get a part-time job and stop relying on them for every little thing. I would hang out with male friends without guilt. I would get a tattoo, dress how I like, and never again feel ashamed of my body. I would be confident in who I am, without apologising for it.

I would live. And I would never again let anyone tell me that I shouldn’t. Because life is mine to claim. And I refuse to live it in chains.

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10ThousandLives is curated by Liam - a writer, listener, and collector of stories. It is a collection of real stories, shaped from conversations with people across the world. I listen, ask questions, and piece together their words into something true, something that feels like stepping into their life, even if just for a moment. If you have a story to share, I’d love to hear it.