A book fair!
My kid came home with excitement that there’s a book fair in her school and she asked if she could buy few books and cute supplies. Being a book and stationery lover myself, I said I will stop by and both of us can shop around. Seeing lot of little kids eagerly waiting in the line with books, scented markers and erasers of their choice in hand, it took me back to one of my childhood memories.
Back then, we lived in a joint family — in Manduva illu , a traditional gigantic home with huge courtyard in the center, rooms around with mud tile roofing and walls built with stone whitewashed with limestone — in middle of two acres with lot of fruit trees in the back and a big well with stone stairs near the kitchen area and neem tree in the front of the home and a huge gate to enter the house, which’s mostly closed. I was around 11 or 12 years old, on one of those summer holidays, I happen to know that there is a book fair in a nearby town. I requested my mom to take me there like every other year. Living in a joint family means — wherever we go , we go in packs, with aunts, cousins — an old ambassador car squeezed with at least 15 people. A book fair is least appealing for most folks, somehow I was able to convince most and were about to start in an hour.
Our usual conversations happen under our humongous neem tree which used to provide shade for the entire clan. While we are still conversing about the book fair trip, we saw a distressed skinny woman open the gate hastily and crying out loudly, running towards the well. Followed by her, we saw a guy chasing her. By the time, we could catch up with her and her husband, she threw herself in the well. Luckily, the guy jumped in the well and rescued her. The men in my family came and warned the guy, while my mom and aunts counselled the malnourished woman. That was the first time, I saw what abuse looks like. That’s when I realized how important financial independence is in woman’s life. I could then relate to why my mom insisted on education and financial independence. I was able to connect those dots. We haven’t gone to book fair that day, but have been to several book fairs later. That memory of women’s disdain for life stayed with me forever, not the books and supplies I got in book fairs.
Luckily I am blessed with forward thinking parents who saw educating a girl child is as important as educating a boy child, which I am grateful. Growing up, that was not the case in my place. I am glad things have changed a lot over the years. Women are no less than men in every aspect!! Yet for some kids, education is still a privilege even now. My heart aches every time I see kids not getting basic needs. With the progress I have seen, I am hopeful that in coming years, most if not all kids will get basic education and lead a better life.
Happy women’s day!!