(during the navratris of April 2017)
I stepped out to buy some eggs today.
The first corner shop was shut and the second one was also closed. The third shop was open but had stopped selling eggs a week ago. The fourth shop which was further away had displayed their last remaining crate of dirty eggs outside the premises. The owner asserted that he would not touch the eggs as he handed me a cheap plastic bag to count and store the eggs myself. Never mind the profit from selling those dirty eggs that he was ready to lap up! I left silently and drove for at least another kilometer before I could buy the simple grocery item.
Chaitra Navratri - When the Hindu Goddess ‘Shakti’ is worshiped and offered prayers during the nine days. When people fast and abstain from eating non-vegetarian food and worship one of the nine forms of the goddess on each of the nine days. Little girls are offered tasty treats of halwa-poori-chana and fussed over by bhakts who wash their feet, decorate their bodies with ornaments and new dresses and gift them bangles and bindis. Girls are regarded as the timeless manifestation of the Goddess Shakti. During those nine days.
This holy period of fasting has more of a special prominence in the Northern and Central India than the other parts of the country.
Anyhow, I served a bowl of boiled egg salad to my husband, who has been following a strict diet plan for the last three months. His daily diet plan is uploaded on his phone app by one of the leading health programs in the country.
Afterwards, my day at work began as usual.
Until my eyes fell on this recent piece of news while surfing some websites for Indian demographics - 19 aborted female foetuses found in Maharashtra's Sangli. A few more related news items appeared that gave out a stench of some dark statistics. These headlines were - ‘Female foeticide, India's 'ticking bomb' from Al-Jazeera; ‘Female foeticide continues to dog Indians in the diaspora!’ from Indian Express.
As if it was not enough, stark articles of female infanticide cropped up alongside - ‘India loses 3 million girls in infanticide - The Hindu’. As per UNICEF, the decline in child sex ratio in India is evident by comparing the census figures. In 1991, the figure was 947 girls to 1000 boys. Ten years later it had fallen to 927 girls for 1000 boys. Since 1991, 80% of districts in India have recorded a declining sex ratio. A deep-seated cultural preference for boys is skewing India's sex ratio and making slaves of women.
And, guess what?
The States with the worst child sex ratio topped up with crime statistics of female foeticide and infanticide also belonged to the Northern and Central India - Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh. (Daily News and Analysis)
I was left baffled!
Is it by sheer chance or a random observation? But, how can we, the masses that submit ourselves to the holy service of the supreme Goddess Shakti, also KILL her? After all, we worship little girls for nine days, don’t we? Is it possible for a family to sing glories of the Holy Mother and light a lamp at dawn before visiting an ultrasound centre for sex determination at dusk? Or go for an illegal abortion the next morning? Wait! We might be abstaining ourselves from such activities during those nine days. Just like we abstain from eating non-vegetarian food on those nine days.
Those. Nine. Days.
We need to reflect. This is not about mocking particular parts of our nation or a religious ritual. Nor is it about teasing vegetarians. It is about attacking the hypocrisy that has assumed mammoth proportions. And it isn’t doing any of us a favour.
Let’s believe in the powerful form of Goddess with all humility - not necessarily confined to those nine days but throughout the year... and during our entire lives.
Can we do this? Please.
I stepped out to buy some eggs today.
The first corner shop was shut and the second one was also closed. The third shop was open but had stopped selling eggs a week ago. The fourth shop which was further away had displayed their last remaining crate of dirty eggs outside the premises. The owner asserted that he would not touch the eggs as he handed me a cheap plastic bag to count and store the eggs myself. Never mind the profit from selling those dirty eggs that he was ready to lap up! I left silently and drove for at least another kilometer before I could buy the simple grocery item.
Chaitra Navratri - When the Hindu Goddess ‘Shakti’ is worshiped and offered prayers during the nine days. When people fast and abstain from eating non-vegetarian food and worship one of the nine forms of the goddess on each of the nine days. Little girls are offered tasty treats of halwa-poori-chana and fussed over by bhakts who wash their feet, decorate their bodies with ornaments and new dresses and gift them bangles and bindis. Girls are regarded as the timeless manifestation of the Goddess Shakti. During those nine days.
This holy period of fasting has more of a special prominence in the Northern and Central India than the other parts of the country.
Anyhow, I served a bowl of boiled egg salad to my husband, who has been following a strict diet plan for the last three months. His daily diet plan is uploaded on his phone app by one of the leading health programs in the country.
Afterwards, my day at work began as usual.
Until my eyes fell on this recent piece of news while surfing some websites for Indian demographics - 19 aborted female foetuses found in Maharashtra's Sangli. A few more related news items appeared that gave out a stench of some dark statistics. These headlines were - ‘Female foeticide, India's 'ticking bomb' from Al-Jazeera; ‘Female foeticide continues to dog Indians in the diaspora!’ from Indian Express.
As if it was not enough, stark articles of female infanticide cropped up alongside - ‘India loses 3 million girls in infanticide - The Hindu’. As per UNICEF, the decline in child sex ratio in India is evident by comparing the census figures. In 1991, the figure was 947 girls to 1000 boys. Ten years later it had fallen to 927 girls for 1000 boys. Since 1991, 80% of districts in India have recorded a declining sex ratio. A deep-seated cultural preference for boys is skewing India's sex ratio and making slaves of women.
And, guess what?
The States with the worst child sex ratio topped up with crime statistics of female foeticide and infanticide also belonged to the Northern and Central India - Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh. (Daily News and Analysis)
I was left baffled!
Is it by sheer chance or a random observation? But, how can we, the masses that submit ourselves to the holy service of the supreme Goddess Shakti, also KILL her? After all, we worship little girls for nine days, don’t we? Is it possible for a family to sing glories of the Holy Mother and light a lamp at dawn before visiting an ultrasound centre for sex determination at dusk? Or go for an illegal abortion the next morning? Wait! We might be abstaining ourselves from such activities during those nine days. Just like we abstain from eating non-vegetarian food on those nine days.
Those. Nine. Days.
We need to reflect. This is not about mocking particular parts of our nation or a religious ritual. Nor is it about teasing vegetarians. It is about attacking the hypocrisy that has assumed mammoth proportions. And it isn’t doing any of us a favour.
Let’s believe in the powerful form of Goddess with all humility - not necessarily confined to those nine days but throughout the year... and during our entire lives.
Can we do this? Please.
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