Between waiting for my husband to come downstairs for breakfast and finishing my morning tea, I opened up the paper. When I read the paper I scan the first page for anything but the words 'Sonia, congress, M.Karunanidhi, Raja, 2G' these days. Anything else is acceptable. Well, the first article that caught my eye was the the one about the rumor that Dr.Abdul Kalam died in the Coimbatore Military Hospital and how Shobaa De had already posted a condolence message on Twitter. I laughed for a minute. Sometimes Shobaa De needs to really wait for the news rather than hurry to be the 'first' one always! Seriously!
Scanned through the next page and there it was - 'Ask the Cop' section. Ask the Cop is a section allows people of Coimbatore to question and interact with Sylendra Babu, the city commissioner of police. Land problems, dowry harassment, gunda trouble - anything from the commissioner. I personally think this is an amazing way to reach people and tell them where to go when something went wrong.
Just below this section was another article that featured child marriages. Apparently, 22 child marriages were stopped in the Coimbatore district in the past one year. That line made me shiver. When I got married last year (I was 23), my friends in Google thought THAT was child marriage. And here I'm reading about a 14 year old girl who was forced into marrying her elder sister's husband because her sister could not bear the 'fruit of the family!' What rubbish! When I was 14 I was riding a bicycle every evening and watching The Popeye Show and grumbling about how TNT cuts off most of the show to start at 9pm! And here they are forcing a kid to marry her sister's husband. What kind of a sicko is that guy anyway! I was furious.
Didn't they stop Sati and child marriages long back? Aren't we in a world where parents wait for their daughter to finish college and work till they found her an 'America mappilai' and send her off at the Peelamedu airport? Either I've been away from home too long or ignorant. I choose ignorant, and the first one also. Both true.
Wow, child marriages. Still. Hmm. Going back to the article, the little girl's friends gave her the commissioner's number and she called! She spoke to Mr.Sylendra Babu and the police stopped this ridiculous wedding and took the girl to school where she wrote her final exams. Relief. I felt better when I read that. But I couldn't help wondering about what would have happened if she hadn't called. Man, that kid would have borne the 'fruit of the family' and if she couldn't then her husband would probably be looking for another younger sister if any. If you cannot have a child, go to a fertility clinic. Don't go sister shopping in your wife's house! What a prick!
Its good to know how kids are aware of what's right and wrong. At that age many wouldn't understand that impact it would have on their lives later. If I were this little girl, I would thank those wonderful friends and take them with me lifelong!
And all you men out there marrying chunnus and munnus, wait till I get my Kiran Bedi hands on you!
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3 comments:
ur kiran bedi hands! i love! good post and a tongue in cheek casual style of writing. what a breath of fresh air i say! promise ti post regularly, i will put u on my blogroll :)
Pragi..I had read this article in Times of India. I least expected to even think about this article again as I twitched for reading such articles yesterday! And here I am willing to leave behind a comment. Although what am about to share is least needed of me when already the subject itself is shameful enough. But when this article has taken so much of your attention, I got a grip of myself to speak about this.
Just to clear what the episode exactly was, according to TOI,the paper I give full credit for being the cheapest in news and money terms(Rs.1.50). TOI has nothing that really is "news". It has gossip, scandals, no-good advertisements all over, semi-nude pictures inside etc. No wonder my dad keeps asking where is "THE HINDU"! Shamefully I regret having discontinued The Hindu in exchange for a paper thats full of no-good advertisements with pieces of above mentioned unworthy information stuck in corners!! And for its paper quality even my dog would refuse to poo on it! Excuse me Pragi if its all off topic..but I really know where this media is heading too! Just wait and watch! I have vented out enough to get back to where we were.
As per the experts (TOI) on such issues who took the extra pain in finding out exactly what this useful issue was all about...
The guy already had "Fruit(s) of the family". Meaning, two young daughters. The reason he gave his most-dumb wife and even dumber in-laws was that a "male" child/grandchild is possible by marrying his wife`s sister. What can one comment on fools like these? Except that the poor victim although being a 14 year old had managed to get her life back!
Naveen - ur dog refuses to poo on TOI! you've got yourself one high-maintenance tied-ass (literally) of a dog!
Reema - :) thanks! keep checking this space - i post often!
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