rey @hope

Born in a family which welcomed the birth of a girl child whole heartedly, I considered myself lucky to have enjoyed the girlhood stage of my life. Staying in the northern part of the country most of my life, I often witnessed gender discrimination in the neighborhood families. The anti-girl attitude was tough to understand especially when my sister and I were never made to feel unimportant by our parents. Our mother was subjected to sympathy from the women around for having two daughters and she was also constantly advised to have a third child who may happen to be a son. In my growing years I even heard women saying that I hope I give birth to a son, even if he turns out to be a goon later, I won’t be subjected to the pressure from the family to keep producing children till a son is born. Sad but true this attitude has not changed completely. Colourism which is another form of discrimination based on skin tone is so very common and I not being a fair skinned female have enough and ...

           I was on my usual trip to the neighborhood market to buy regular groceries. My regular fruit vendor, Chandru would exhibit the best of fruits each time I would visit him. There was a reason why I chose him to others. An observation that made me curious every time I visited his stall.     He would distribute a free seasonal fruit to every kid who visited his stall without fail. A part of his earning from every customer was collected in a different box. So when I paid him Rs 120/- he put Rs 20/- in that other box.  My curiosity couldn’t be controlled and that day I asked him about the two money boxes. He smiled and told me that he gave the collection to an elderly couple who stayed on his way back home. Chandru had lost his only child and parents to Covid due to lack of support. He saw his own child in every kid who visited his stall and his parents in that elderly couple. Life will go on says Chandru…the smile that he misses is foun...