A Daughter's cry....


Female foeticide.... An issue which has always stung my feministic instincts. . To me, foeticide is an evil which has to be uprooted from the society at the earliest . Every child is a blessing from heaven, its full of promise and we do not have any right to take away its life. Such inhuman acts question our basic moral and ethical values. .
This is a little poem of mine on female foeticide...


"I was cozily cuddled up
Feeling the warmth of your womb
Unmindful of the fact that
It would turn out to be my tomb.

From a mass of tissue
Growing up each day with your “bon succour”
Into a being full of life
Least expecting the great disaster to occur.

A child is a blessing from heaven
A girl child, even more precious
Protecting it from all odds is your forthright duty
How then could you commit a sin, so atrocious??.

A land where womanhood is sanctified
Rivers being named after women
But the birth of a girl child,
Is still considered an omen.

Let not this evil prevail
Nip not a bud before it blooms
Strike foeticide at its roots
Lest our nation will fall to its doom. "

She....

Sunday... The day started with the serene and tranquilising atmosphere of the church. I headed home n buried myself in the day's issue of sunday magazine.The column by Kalpana Sharma on Page 3 has always been my favourite. Her writings have always unleashed a renewed spirit in me, inspired me to do something for discriminated women.She takes up a wide range of issues where injustice is meted out to women.

As I was pouring through the day's issue, i wondered about a common opinion, the women of our nation do not have much role models to emulate. True!!.. I thought about myself, many articles describing brave feats done by women have aspired me , but i ve never found a strong lady to emulate.

My grandmother was beckoning me for breakfast.As she laid the idlis on my plate, I looked up at her. There stood a woman, a strong woman... An epitome of greatness... I wondered how an uneducated, village-bred woman could have crossed so many hurdles single-handedly ,when educated, civilised women of today easily succumb to domestic struggles of life.As a woman, she has always had the guts to speak for herself and stand up against anybody, even her near ones, if she feels they are wrong.She has endured alot and has sailed through the losses of life with courage and perseverance.As I turn back the pages of her life, I see that she has exhibited patience, courage and endurance in its extremest degree.

Even now, at the age of 68, she is the same old strong granny, young in spirit and never settling for the least. Though well-rooted in the customs of the past, she has blended well with today's trend and has always been an eager learner, curious to know about the latest breakthroughs. She is even prudent enough to advise her son-in-law about investments.

To me, she has always been an inspiring granny,a second mother,supporting me to scale great heights. She has never forced her views on me, she believes my dreams and encourages me to pursue my passions.I have never experienced the slightest signs of gender discrimination from my grandmother which has been experienced by most of my friends .

"It's one of nature's way that we often feel closer to distant generations than to the generation immediately preceding us."

Most true... I realised that if we spend time with our grannies at home, we can easily understand the trials they have been through and how courageous they have proved themselves to be in such trying circumstances where cant ever imagine ourselves to be in. My friend's granny had given birth to her daughter in a bullock-cart. We trumpet that we lack enough women leaders , but we miserably fail to look at a strong woman in each of our home.Their tales have enough cure for all our wounds and would definitely invest a sturdy spirit in us.

"The history of our grandparents is remembered not with rose petals but in the laughter and tears of their children and their children's children. It is into us that the lives of grandparents have gone. It is in us that their history becomes a future." ~Charles and Ann Morse