The Drive.....

It was just another day going to work or was I mistaken?

A monday morning all ready to start the week, the car engine roared and I took a deep breath to focus my attention to the week ahead. As I reversed from the garage I could faintly remember the beautiful weekend that just passed by and how I wished it were a day or two longer.

The traffic was at its peak and was at snail's pace. As I waited at the signal I saw the beggars making their rounds at each car. A woman was carrying a child, not more than 2 years, on her waist and walking from car to car begging for money. She was using the child as a tool to persuade the occupants in the car to give her money.

I looked and wandered about the child and what would be his/her plight in all of this. He would be groomed to be a thief or a beggar when he would grow up. His life was meant to be doomed from the time he/she took his/her first breath of air and started to cry. The cry would have been of pain rather than of happiness to be welcomed into the world of misery.

I sat back and thought of the children who I had met, children of my cousins, friends, acquaintances. All those children would have had been born in the same manner as the child on the street but their destiny would have definitely been different to the child in front of me. The love, care and tenderness their parents bestowed on them would be only a dream for this little one.

If fate had played its cards right, this child could have been an asset to society. He/she could have been a writer, an actor, an engineer, a doctor or any other professional but because of the bad parenting he/she was to be in the life of misery with the goons of society.

The drive didnt last long as the thought of the child kept playing in my head and made me wonder. What could I have done to make this a better place for the children of tomorrow? How could we as the elders of today work to make the city a better place for all to live in?

If we all were to make our cities, towns and villages a safe haven for children that would be a start to ensuring our children would not have to bear the same brunt or anguish that we as children may have had to endure.

The drive to make this world a better place needs to begin and start at home. Else there would never be a home left for the future generations.

The Beauty of G-W-L

The first sight of her is in the form of a mother, then if you are lucky you get to see her as your sister and then as your wife. All the three forms are packed with love, care and a fragile touch of comfort. There isn't a soul on this planet who would not have been touched by their presence at some point or the other in their lives. Most of the sons are closer to their mothers than their fathers. But still in our very great and progressing country there are episodes of infanticide and the killing of the GIRL child. The understanding that a girl is not lucky for a family without a boy.

I read about a couple who kept having kids but were so lucky to be blessed with girls and they had 4 of them but the husband and the in-laws were not happy with the girls as they wanted to have a boy in the family. The result was that the fifth time they got lucky. The irony of it is that when they grew old and wanted their son to take care of them, it was the daughters who came to their aid and supported them when they needed the love and comfort the most.

I have been among the few who has been blessed with two sisters, one elder and the other younger to me. Although, I was the middle one, I was pampered by both my sisters and showered with unconditional love and care all the time. I must state that I have been really greedy of it and have tried to reciprocate the same towards them when I could, but I got more than I gave!!

In the last few years, the bachelors states of Punjab and Haryana are facing a major crisis. There is a shortage of woman for them to get married to. I recently saw a documentary on one of the Indian news channels which showcased their plight. Apparently, they are going down south to find brides for themselves in Maharashtra and Kerala. The ironic part is that they are giving dowry to the girls side to get married to them and the same parents who would profess the boy is lucky for them are now treating the daughter in laws with a lot of dignity and respect. This is something that they have now started to realize and have initiated a drive of information to the literate illiterates the importance of the girl child.

World over, the most prosperous nations have been the ones where the Female sex has been given more or equal opportunities as men and the developing and third world nations are the ones that are still in the primitive age of treating them as a second to the Males. Look around you and see it for yourselves. Compare it and you will find the reasons for it is all inter-linked to the support of the people and its benefits. There are exceptions like the gulf states but yet they are progressing faster than most countries as far as equality is in question.