in a little village, there was a little girl called dinky,
when she would blush and the world would go pinky.
the innocent beauty came but with a price,
she was bartered for a field of rice.
she dint know what was going on,
just happy she was as papa confirmed he would visit her in her new playground.
she sat there in her wedding sari, all decked in red and fawn,
until night approached and reality dawned.
her body was touched, she was entered, she was strained, she was stained,
ripped off her innocence she was maimed.
morning sun and battered she,
life was not what it once seemed to be.
she continued living , she made pain her friend,
in hope of her papa to return, she lived in pretence.
until one day, daddy died, and her hopes were untied.
dinky cried, and then with vengeance her pen took a ride…
“pinky dinky ponky
father had a donkey,
donkey tied, father died,
now dingy rangy lanky dinky donkey”
Donkey! yes you heard it right… I did state the fact that little girls are traded today, exchanged -as goods were once upon a time. Like how people trade donkeys and cattle. A fact that many English speaking, ravenously vocal urbanites are blissfully unaware of… it’s a reality that many minds are closed to. For us it is still THAT INDIA we see in arty movies.
Child Marriage is equivalent to child sex abuse, much worse than the umbrella term RAPE or MOLESTATION. A shameful part of the glorious India that we boast of often… where the child woman spends her life in distress, pain and darkness.
What can we do about it??? Well, we could talk, blog and tweet. Our voices can definitely make a difference. yes, not all differences that you make could be quantified… the effects of your words would not be often tangible. But needed is the belief of the mind that things would change, with the positive vibes packaged in words and verses. Or I have another option… we could be resigned and cynical that things will be so and nothing can change it and sit on our cozy chairs with wrinkled expressions and whine “O Pity My My”
Or are we waiting for a story of courage in distress to infuse in us the energy and enthusiasm to realize the necessity of change in THAT India? Or are we still just too busy debating cattle class virtual reality tweets when in reality women is traded as cattle?
That child woman in THAT India, who goes through it… without a whimper!
Loading ...
a post that shakes and shocks and talks of hope at the same time.
agree when u say that we need to discuss issues, and discuss it with certain “positive vibes”. the attitude we adopt, inspite of the stand we take is what makes all the difference.
cheers to u n better tomorrows! hope people read this post and soak in what it means.
The abuse of the girl-child in the name of marriage is infuriating and unpardonable. The practice needs to be condemned, but more importantly, it needs to be examined in the context of patriarchy – what it produces and who is privileges.
Patriarchy has its roots in the concept of man as the provider, and woman as the producer. This binary has traditionally privileged man who impregnates and provides the seed for the growth of family, and the male-child who upon growing up is expected to then provide for the family, even if that means trading his own girl-child. Sadly, as a producer, the girl is considered nothing but a commodity – interchangeable in the market run by men.
Aham is a dear friend. He has penned ever so thoughtfully this enduring evil in Indian society. What we need is to challenge our binary thinking, go beyond the dichotomies of provider-producer, and think of the body as one doing both irrespective of sex and/or gender. Quite in the humanist Marxist sense, production will need to be looked at as both mental (creative) and material (bodily) and their constant interactions in real time-space. It is with this, that we will begin to see men and women as different but also as equal. The tensions between the sexes might prevail, but they will at least be based on an equal footing. Right now even the founding plane has little room for the girl-child growing-up.
Thank you Aham.
In solidarity, Kush.
This is really intriguing. Just can’t imagine what pain the girls are going through while being a ‘product’ .
We could talk, blog and tweet.
The maximum contribution that we can do at this time is this. Unless you are a full time social worker we cannot do much about this. These forms of communication are definitely making enough sound, loud to be heard. Child marriage is a very bad social evil. Eradicating it very very necessary. It is 21st century for God’d sake. What are these people who are hung on these actually thinking. Spreading awareness is the best way to fight this. I encourage all the readers the spread the word.
Nice Article, buddy!!! Keep the going!
CASTRATE THE BASTARDS WHO DO THIS !!
That is all I have to say
child abuse comes in all size and shapes. even when we keep on denying it, the fact is that atleast one of every ten folks we meet have gone thru one form or the other of this gory…
sigh… wake up people… kids are not instruments to quench your sexual thirst… or who knows in future your kids will be subjected to the same.. we don’t want that, do we??
nice post Harish… esp the clever adaptation of “inky pinky ponky”..
The poetry shakes u, the reality bites. But unfortunately or however, I know this is the reality. Have no idea how I can stop this but surely I do NOT believe in being cynical n thinking I CAN’T. If u say so, we’ll blog n tweet. Because end of the day, it’s the same society that does this. Some strings will always be attached. In fact, there might not be child trading everywhere, but child abuse is something that is much more common, in places we can’t see it, can’t think of it. So We ARE important. I support.
a subject being ignored since years. people who can do anythign are just sittin there idly thinkin that every thign is all right. we need to awaken them and show them the truth on the face. a beautifully written piece of awareness.
Makes you think…what basic needs, i.e. the lack of them can make people do…I think it is important to know and understand the mind of the parent before they take this heinous step…saying -what they are going to do is wrong-is an understatement, but one way of looking at it would be that they are simply doing this to live another day…i dont wish to discuss adjectives for all the people who are part of this racket. If we are to stop this, it needs to done from both ways. Not only this activity needs to be stopped but also the cause of it which is poverty. Our politicians (and their voters) will never-ever get over with caste politics. Development will never be their agenda. They will continue to rot like this and sacrifice their offsprings for that another day.
If there was one real ‘leader’ in the country he/she would focus on the eradication of poverty and illiteracy. That is the root of all evil in India. People just look for solutions for different problems but never at the root of it all.
“Child Marriage” We as Indians are so used to this term. We have this – “yah it happens in some parts of India!” attitude towards it. But Harish your post has brought some of the ugly aspects attached to this practice.
We in our own urban worlds are safe from this practice. But aren’t we still susceptible to small children being subjected to child abuse. And do we not raise our voices against it. Then, how different is a “Child Marriage”. Isn’t it equivalent to child abuse – both sexual and mental? Children who can barely understand simple relations are pushed into this ugly one.
I feel very strongly against this practice. And as a conscious citizen I want to help, but I don’t know where to start from. I can help the social media tool to spread awareness… however; can we do something more concrete?
Harish, thank you for writing this beautiful and heart wrenching piece, I am sure it would have made a lot of people think. And lets all at least begin somewhere. And this is just the right start.
this is really touchy. we talk about it but it still is a dark reality in the hinterlands. There are NGOs and activists but still doesnt percolate to the masses.
I would repeat the apathy statement of yours that defines us Indians these days.
Nice post. Engages a lot. Appreciate !!
It’s very sensible writing to expose the real facts. What I feel is we need to make people educated on these stuffs. If the young girl or her friends or some of the unknown well wisher of her knows that child marriage & human trading is illegal then they might have atleast attempted to save them legally. More than this people should be made matured in these aspects, they should be taught what they are doing is wrong. If we keep doing this if not now, atleast in next generation or next to next it will change… Most valuable thing that we can give to society is educate people who are deprived of education…. Let’s try to bring a change….
awesome work buddy….and yes for us child marriage is some antiquated concept, practiced in maybe some African country, but it happens in our country in almost all of the villages which are few 100 kms away from our cosmopolitans .
Nice Start
its an issue that we are aware of. but do nothing about it. our of carelessness or helplessness, doesn’t matter.
and the problem is, its not a law and order situation that can be overhauled by tweaking the government machinery. it is a societal issue, that can be tackled only by talking, understanding, sharing with the people that is directly affects.
i see education of the girl child as one way. i see educating the village panchayats as another way. yes, govt. ngo’s, etc. will be needed a lot, question is what can we do on an individual level.
let’s make a beginning.
by writing, sharing, spreading what u’ve written here.
thanks.
A thought provoking article…..the abuse of the girl child is not just about child marriage but also about the unequal treatment, neglect and the biggest molestation even in the safehold of their own homes. “Childhood is no longer the playground of Innocence”. and this problem though is rampant in villages and the remote areas of our country, we should not delude ourselves in believing that The girl child in cities and metros are better off…the situation is grim there as well.
This attitude stems out of medieval attitude of people towards female sex and also a gross lack of mannerism in our society, and this can only change through spread of awareness, people speaking out against such incidents of child violence and molestations.
Our silence promotes these incidents, it’s time that people start speaking up and taking stands against these issues, so that the guilty are punished and feel deterred in doing something like this again.
the india we call glorious is actually the home to some of the worst human rights crimes in the world.
enough words already written about the issue and suffice i think to point..
Statistics on child marriage in India are usually grim to read. Recently released data from the 2001 Census are no different. According to census figures, 1.5 million girls under the age of 15 are already married…
…the government must understand that legislation will only go so far in improving the plight of girls and women. Legislation must be supplemented by other measures such as education if a girl is to be empowered. Nobel laureate Amartya Sen, among others, has championed women’s literacy as a basic ingredient for their empowerment. This gives women a greater voice in deciding their future as well as raises their economic worth. If more and more girls are educated, and subsequently enter the job market, their parents are less likely to see them as economic burdens. This is likely to stem the rush to get girls married as quickly as possible…
read more http://tinyurl.com/yldxp26
also do visit http://tinyurl.com/ygz6qzf
some stats here from unicef http://tinyurl.com/yl5zzpc
Amazing pattern of highlighting a major issue. Its not the only issue that needs 2 be notice rather there are lot more issues that needs a voice. Now its time 2 gear,stand and raise voice , in & for lot more women in need.
Thank you all for your comments.
I had to dance topless for two years to make cash to pay my bills and save some money. But it was very enlightening, by the way. I’m talking about light from the gutter.
[...] reading our Bell Bajao blog on domestic violence I came across a very powerful poem and post on child marriage in [...]
I strongly believe in education for females (regardless of age) and opportunities that will have some tangible effect on the state of play in these social groups where women and children are seen as less than human. Talking/tweeting is good but not enough, we need to practice and spread genuine compassion, charity and accepting individual human rights regardless of age and sex and race/ social groupings. Let’s start small – with one’s family members, neighbours, pets…