THE GOOD GIRLS

THE GOOD GIRLS

William Wordsworth put it 'The child is the father of man'. Well said figuratively. It follows, the girl child is the mother of human race. She is the mother of all, of Jesus Christ, of Sita the virtuous, of Mahatma Gandhi, of Mother Teresa, of Albert Einstein, of Leonardo da Vinci, of Liz Taylor and also, unfortunately, the mother of Adolf Hitler, of Ivan the Terrible and of a few of such species. She is the communicator. Everyone speaks the mother tongue. The girl is made more at home than the boy ever. Right from day one, she is the father's pet and her mother's joy. Love and care are the first things that she is exposed to, in the family. Purity of tradition and culture is to pass down the generation through her. She is to be homely foremost. It's a quick but a long journey, memorable indeed, to adolescence, womanhood and then, to motherhood. All along she is guided by the family, by the society and the culture. The initial awareness of the girl as distinct from the boy comes from the most colourful attire she is adorned with, and the long hair the parents prefer her to grow which differentiates her from the boys. She is more tagged with the mother and the womenfolk. She is part of her mother, close to her (where most people would disagree) and is one with her, the father a disciplinarian often, to be held separate at a little distance and admired, always looked to for material comforts and luxuries. Stern advices may come from him at later stages. Love seeks no barrier towards both the parents. Providing security for the girl is the main concern for both the parents on hand.
Madhu is a good girl. Her mother is awake and at the chores in the kitchen, making tea and some breakfast. Madhu too is up as it dawns and lends her mother a helping hand. The lessons in accomplishments start there. She learns how to cook food, make up a breakfast (sometimes out of nothing), serves it to others, then serves it to herself, gathers her books, gives finishing touches to her home-work, gets ready and dresses up pretty to be off to school. She is the object of love and tender care by others in the household. Madhu is helpful, she too cares for others. She is self-dependent, learns to be self-confident. She need not be reminded of a morning wash, she selects herself a clean and fresh dress, shoes polished by her the evening before, she doesn't shout at her mother to arrange her books and some snacks for break, she is in time, spick and span, ready for her transport. Confident, poised, she is amongst her friends in the school, college or at her work place as appointed. Madhu is all smiles, radiates happiness from within all around. She has a happy home, she always belongs to them, come what may in the rough and tough of the outside world. She is happy to return to the fold. For Madhu, the school lays the foundation of character building, for acquiring knowledge and developing inter personal relationship. All her classmates are carefree. All are in the same uniform, none shows off 'big' in expensive attire or neither 'too small' to dress shabby. Some maybe tall, some short, some are fair, and some dark. That's the way God made them, the genes are different, racial and ethnic differences persist. Yet, they are equals as they see one another, the teacher too sees them as one, ready to learn, ready to grow. Religious and cultural differences do matter little. All stories are told at one time in the same language, the poems seem to mean the same thing to everyone. She comes to arrive at the same result as the other girl, if they got their arithmetic right. Boys are taught the same lessons as the girls. She perceives a certain equality of opportunities without discrimination. Though some are blessed with higher intelligence and some with less, she finds that there is place for everyone. There is competition, yet there is ample scope for co-operation. The girl who was absent for a week due to illness can be helped with missed lessons without losing the competitive edge. Madhu easily makes friends with others. They have the same interests in music and dance. After the regular classes too, they take to learning classical music and dance. Music and dance are pleasing to mind and body. Madhu feels relaxed. Mixing with her classmates, juniors and seniors exposes her to interactive skills of inter-personal relationship. She learns to keep up friendship and make no enemies. She is happy to excel others in English Language but not disappointed when she loses out on History. She is excited at winning the race but not heartbroken at losing at the hurdles. There is always another time. To play and participate in games makes the essence of competition. She is also happy in others' success. She can put up with both success and failures. Madhu shares her food with others at breaks which she too enjoys. She lends her books to the needy. She enjoys being with her friends at leisure. She is not utterly selfish or greedy. She is happy in sharing her joys with others. She wouldn't mind spending her money even if it maybe her pocket money in buying you a Coke or some Chips. She is not unduly secretive or reserved. Madhu is communicative, frank and fair. She does not talk ill of others. Madhu is reliable, she is independent, she can easily distinguish between the right and wrong and goes with what is right. By the time she leaves the school she has formed a character of her own and is able to set a goal for herself which is acceptable to her family and attainable to her. Madhu enters the college with a specific goal of academic or professional courses and studies. She is now widely exposed to both good and evil alike, may even be in the midst of storms of uncertainty and distractions from the goals set. She enjoys more freedom. Parents accept her individuality, often under the impression that she knows the way about. She is good who stays on course and steers her way clear through many a storm. The Indian curse of ragging can take the toll. Ask the senior who rags the junior in the most brutal manner why she or he does it? Quickly, she or he retorts that they have been ragged earlier. Humans, the boys have a darker side of their personality of takes the pleasure out of troubling others. They derive pleasure from this instead of becoming good citizens.
The boys and girls brought up under the watch of the family and the school are left free at the college, more often, away from their home. The college teachers treat them as equals to them. Knowledge is only for the seeker. In the present day nuclear families, the children have been pampered so much that they are not in need of material wants which can be easily acquired through money. All pleasures are just for the asking except the pleasure of enjoying others' suffering or predicament. She's lucky if she escapes the wrath of seniors. The good girl too can get entangled, as ill luck should have it .The law prohibits ragging. There is seldom any dress code for girls in supposedly higher seats of learning. If anybody imposes it, it should be resisted tooth and nail; the girls and the parents would agree. The fashion and the cosmetic industry is worth billions of dollars have risen due to this. The wealth has to be flaunted, wants have to be created among fashion conscious. It is bread and butter, on both sides of the bread for some. If money is not coming by enough, mark your future for the present. Lenders are many, honest takers are few. There is a glut in the money market, there's plenty to mismanage. In the name of fashion, the dress recedes from the top and shrinks from the bottom. The good girl stands out fashionable enough, befitting to the occasion, place and time. She values her body beautiful, keeps her head high against temptations. She's tradition bound, holds herself in high esteem. She loves her family, friends and relations; she is being loved and cared for. She is accomplished and self-assured to face the realities of life and take maximum happiness out of it. She carries others with her. She is Mother Teresa, Florence Nightingale, Madame Curie, Rani Laxmi Bai, Indira Gandhi- all future editions in the making, as also the ordinary mortals, the home manager, manual worker, teacher, nurse, doctor, lawyer, office worker, administrator, business woman, writer, journalist, social worker, singer, dancer, artist and the like. She is cool, collected, empathic, good natured, active, honest, patient, committed, religious, resourceful, quick and sharp-witted, self disciplined and above all, calm and serene. And, quiet flows a good girl's wisdom. Girls are girls, bold and beautiful. They are quite a wise species. They live longer than their opposites. Some of them have climbed to the pinnacle of success by dint of their hard work, and fortune smiling on them. Yet others are shy due to some inner restraints and unfounded fears or anxieties. They too turn the tide duly and leave their indelible footprints on the sands of time, in their respective roles as a wife, a mother or a business tycoon.

A good old girl, none else played her role better!