Sunday, March 13, 2011

Ladki Hona Paap Nahi???

Couple of days back, we were sitting and chatting about our future and old age and finances. Just in discussion, my husband call our daughter as "My Son" and instantly he changed it to "My Daughter". After this, my daughter disappeared for 5 mins from the room and when she came back she had her school's Annual Magazine in her hand.

(some background on this magazine) It contains all events performed during the year and also poems, thoughts, stories, pictures written by students.

She came to us and tell us mom-dad please listen to this "Ladki Hona Pap Nahi!!!" - a poem written by one of the students. We (me & my husband) both were dumb struck and were thinking what is it that we said prompted her to get this book and read out the poem to us. Then we realized that we were talking about our future and in same my husband mentioned that we need to be independent in future since we have a girl and we can not rely on her for our old age (which is true even if we would had a son). While saying so he forgot that she is around and might be listening. OR we thought that she is too young (she is 8 years) to understand this but we were wrong.

This incident opened my eyes and i realized that my girl is no more a little kid. Suddenly i felt like i am a Mother of a Girl who needs to be real cautious and start giving learning lessons to her girl. In the environment we live, every other day you hear, a girl is molested or teased or shot. I am afraid and frighten to see my daughter growing. The thought makes me worried. Is it really true "Ladki Hona Pap Nahi!!!"? I grown up in safe environment in Gujarat whereas in Delhi/NCR the life is totally different. After reading news and hearing incidents around, you always give a 2nd thought, Do I really want to live life in a city where there is no guarantee if you will be safe while returning home or going market and give this life to your girl?

I see so many girls at work staying alone, managing all on their own and also taking care of their dignity. I have friends who grown up in Delhi and must have passed through similar experiences we hear in news. I would like to ask all of them, Is it really that bad around? What is it that I can do to make my girl safe in such environment?