Mother
Saraswathi has been eagerly and anxiously awaiting for her mother from village, since yesterday...
Today will be the most significant and crucial day in her entire life...
She is quite tensed and nervous about the results...
But, much before her mother could reach her, she delivered a cute baby girl, at the
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PS: Saraswathi was married off by her family at age of 11, and was widowed at the age of 13.
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According to the United Nations, maternal mortality in India (which indicates the number of women dying in childbirth or from pregnant-related causes) is 25 times higher for girls under 15, and two times higher for 15-19-year-olds.
- Religion plays a key role in such harmful traditions and practices. Tradition and superstition are further reinforced by necessity
- Rural poverty similarly puts pressure on families to transfer the economic cost of a daughter to another family as early as possible.
- Married girls are generally separated from their immediate families, taken out of school to be "transferred" to her new-husband home, where they are expected to be used as free labor, sex objects and procreative machines. The teenagers health is put at risk. They are much more vulnerable than mature women when it comes to sexually transmitted diseases.
- Education and the empowerment of women are, beyond a doubt, two of the best remedies in a largely male-dominated country.
- May 9 2010 is Mother's Day.
18 comments:
M having tears in my eyes....Again a touching post...
I like the style in which u hv written...and your so apt pictures on your blog gives the rght feel while reading...
U r the king of microfiction..
gud luck
Madhulika.
@ Madhulika Garg...
All the victims of child marriages deserve your responsive tears ..... Though we are quite empathetic , we need substantial and radical actions to stop such atrocities on hapless girls in this patriarchal society... We need social and welfare development prior to economic development .
Yes, thanks a lot buddy for the pat and yes a pic do carries many unsaid emotions and i try to communicate through them wherever it is possible...
Keep expressing :)
Giving birth at the age of 13? :o
Giving birth at the age of 13? :o
That's awfully early. :(
@ Nethra...
It is not just early,....it is cruel, risky, unhealthy, and brutal i would say....
But it is happening with lakhs of girls in the country we live which boasts as one of the fastest developing economies ....
and i have seen girls carrying their small kids in their hands walking out of hospitals....pathetic
I am so touched... Wow!! That was so painful.
My grandma got married when she was 13 and gave birth to her first child when she was 14.
The situation is pathetic and awful indeed...is it traditional biasing,financial situation ,societal pressure or what...Atleast think about the health of the girl...Will she be able to nurture another life until she herself is completely grown up....
Who will voice out for them..??
Ooh! That's terrible...being a mother at 13!!
Like the issues you raise through your fiction!
Keep expressing!
A pathetic and an awful situation.. Child marriages still rule the roost in many villages in India.. A sad truth indeed..
A fitting post for mother's day..
Wonderfully written..:)
@ Raji ...
You are correct....most of our grand moms marriages happened when they were around at the age of 13...
But still its quite painful to know such happenings in this century of communication and information technology in the so called developing India...
@ Geeta...
The rural and urban divide is not only economic but also social...
You are correct when you talked abt nurturing... increasing nuclear families in villages too is a matter of concern where such incidents often occur...
Voicing...yea, indeed there are many NGOs working on this issue. Though we have legal measures to stop this malice, we need much more social resolution at grass root level along with active public participation to eradicate or minimize this evil social practice...
Shilpa Garg...
Yes, Terribly terrible.... i cant imagine how our great grand moms managed to tackle this issue...but as of now i perceive it as a social evil leading to creating further gap between two segments of india...
It is quite a liability for the marginalized sections living in poverty whose lives are intertwined by many social and economic factors...
Yes, i opine that every writer is a social activist , voluntarily or involuntarily. Taking social responsibility as one of our ends of blogging/writing indeed adds a sense of connectivity to the people and society. Thanks for the pat :)
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@ Sushobhan...
A sad naked truth indeed...we have been a failure in becoming a balanced welfare state and instead we have joined the race of consumerism to benefit a few elite groups leaving the remaining herds to the whims and fancies of social evils.... except for vote banks and WHO numbers, their identity has been restricted to statistics tables...
Thanks buddy :)
Hi Mahesh,
Niku heart touching topics ella dorukuthai. Very good Mahesh, All the Best.
If there's a GOD, he deserted us, and the one next to him, is treated like this....and we are called HUMANS....!!!!
dude it was the most saddest post ever....:( mother at 13...;(
i am touched that you always write about crucial, current issues that need to be looked into.
this was a truly moving piece of fiction with a strong grounding in reality.
@ Siddhesh...
Yea.....verry sad indeed....imagine the plight of the victims who has to sacrifice their lives for someone's mistake ...
@ Mehak...
Thanks a bunch for this responsive feedback .... i opine that being a writer it is an obvious and implicit responsibility to reflect the societal happenings around us at least in some of our writings so that the hapless victim's voice is communicated and reported to the much privileged people who have the enormous potential to make the required difference with their active participation in some manner,if possible....
I would say that i am waiting for the moment where "walking our words" will be a reality...
Thanks again :)
@ Raju...
Thanks for the pat.... We need to just look around taking few moments from our busy and cozy lives to know the harsh realities and brutal evils happening in the same society we live due to the social and economic division , since ages.
It gives a sense of accountability when you write on behalf of those victims who hardly know the means to vent their pain and agony in their ever struggling lives....
Bring a citizen, Social responsibility is quite a obvious deed i feel.
Thanks anyways...
@ Raghava...
Well said...apt response .... to the heart.... keep responding buddy..... Your feedback always adds weight-age to the topic. Keep visiting and opine your thoughts.
Thanks ra :)
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