Daughter's Day!

So it is daughter’s day!

I never knew this day ever existed. For me each day is a celebration because my parents were happy with me each minute of their lives. I was born and brought up in a broad minded family. I’ll not say they did not have inhibitions where daughters were concerned. They had their doubts about the insecurities that a female faces in this world.

I have defied many traditions and stand here only due to the strong support of my friends and family. My husband and in laws have a major role to play in my confidence and the current role that I am in.

Many good stories are shared on this day.

I wish to share a story which I recently witnessed. Arohi (Name changed) is a D-Staff who is employed in my organization from day one. She had been married for eight years but was unable to give birth to a child. In June this year she adopted a baby girl. She brought her to the school to seek my blessings.

When I saw the baby girl she seemed a cute little baby girl and I presumed that she would be eight or nine months old.

Arohi told me that her age was one year and ten months. I was shocked. The girl was weak as per her age and could not even sit straight. Curiosity and concern splurged out and I asked what was the reason for this condition.

This child was the fifth girl born to a mother who wanted a son desperately. But when she saw a girl child for the fifth time, she refused to take care of her and neglected the child. When Arohi offered to adopt the girl child, the original mother gladly accepted the offer.

Since then Arohi and her husband took care of the child. After a period of three months that girl child is staying with her new parents, she can walk and also tries to run. Her weight has grown in proportion to her age though it will take some time for her to grow in height.

This Saturday when I saw her after a long time, there was a major difference in the child. The child looked healthy moreover she was happy and in fact running around and playing and having fun.

All the girls involved here are daughters. The first mother, the baby girl and the second mother.

Below mentioned are the statistics directly taken from the website of Children’s Rights and You-CRY-

1.      42% of married women in India were married as children (District Information System for Education (DISE) 3)

2.      1 in every 3 child brides in the world is a girl in India (UNICEF)

3.      India has more than 45 lakh girls under 15 years of age who are married with children. Out of these, 70% of the girls have 2 children (Census 2011)

There is an urgent need for the spread of education among girls because I believe that education is empowerment. The best help in this world is self help. So we need to spread awareness about education and empowerment among women to uplift the society as a whole.

Today when I read that it was Daughter’s Day, I could not stop but pen down these few thoughts around something which I experienced recently.Daughter's