She had skin soft as velvet. Her lips were shaped like Cupid’s bow. As I mushed her hair, she smiled the softest of smiles, while she was lost in her own world. While she slept, she reminded me of Aurora, the sleeping beauty from a fairy tale heard in a time that is now a distant memory. When awake, her eyes were fixed on me, such big an beautiful eyes, as if asking me “Do you think am pretty? Am i beautiful?” I tell her, she is so beautiful that it gives me ecstasy and pain at the same time. Its should be criminal to be deemed that she was so beautiful. My heart trembled whenever i held her in my hands, yet she said my skinny arms were strong enough for her. How can something be so beautiful and yet so fragile, i wonder. Like a butterfly, she sets my heart afire. She makes me feel fiercely protective and want to fiercely pamper her at the same time. I want my arms to be so strong that i can defend her from all the evil bastards yet so soft that my touch on her cheek should not hurt her. This moment wont last her, but as long as i have her in my arms, i can feel time freeze, a moment captured in eternity. This kid may cry for no reason, but all you want to do is to pamper her, to feed her, to cajole her, to make her smile. For that smile shall set your heart on fire. That smile will make butterflies flutter in your stomach. Can there be a greater happiness than making a girl smile?
If at all there can be something sweeter than sugar, naughty as spice, and embodies everything nice, it must be her! When she is angry, you only wanna be sorry. When she is happy, you only wanna bask in her glory. You wanna lift her, high above your head and twist, just to make her smile, throw her up and catch her in mid-air. She is the best thing that will happen to you, that will ever happen to you. She is an addiction you can never recover from, a high that will wanna make you dance with her in a trance.
But where is she? She is murdered while she is in the womb. She is underfed and dies before she could reach her naughty twos. She is raped, if not literally, but with lusty eyes that lie all around. It doesnt matter if she is a grown up girl, even if she is a kid she will be abused. One in every ten has been brave enough to report it. Many do not. She is dying, bit by bit and you are killing her. Not literally, but by turning a blind eye to her sufferings. To the atrocities. That ultrasound kills her even before she can feel life. Even before she can breathe.
As a country, we have progressed amazingly, despite our governments. But this bias towards the girl child, is still ripe, like in the good ol’ days. Hitler committed a terrible crime by sponsoring the Jewish genocide. But some Indian parents go one step further and kill the unborn girl child while it is still in the womb. And the entire family appreciates such a decision. These days, it has been deemed a crime, so it is all hush-hush. No one wants to speak about the elephant in the room. We are among the top 5 countries to be considered most dangerous for women.
One in every two girls is malnourished. A whopping 750,000 girls are killed every year – foeticide or infanticide or malnourishment. Maharashtra, Haryana, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Punjab, the advanced states are the ones where such things are statistically high. The other states are no better – it is just that statistics are hard to come by there.
So how do we stop this? by taking to streets when the next Nirbhaya happens? No, it starts with a fundamental change in your attitude. Stop being a chauvinistic pig. Stop expecting a woman to be your servant. She is your equal. Dowry is a crime! Oh yeah, we do not ask for dowry. We simply ask the girl’s family to take care of the wedding expenses. And you want a grand wedding. In some parts, a marriage would cost anywhere between 50L to 1C. Maybe more. And no, these aren’t any HNI kid’s weddings. It is a typical middle class wedding. Be a man, have the balls to stand up and stop such financial torture. Start loving the girl child. Be a lover of beauty. Your girlfriend/wife is a work of art – relish her. Oh yeah, we all know how unmanageable she is and have laughed all those jokes. But be aware of the difference between a joke and taking a joke too far. stereotypes aren’t always true, mind you. But then, just forget everything and love her. Just love her. that is enough. She will make you proud!
Today the 24th of January has been declared as the National girl child day. And this post is a tribute to the girl child! Save the girl child
Ideas Without Boundaries 