The construction worker’s daughter

The worker’s daughter that I noticed was while I was on my seventh floor balcony watching the construction workers on a Sunday. Some were working while others were enjoying the winter sun, the boys were playing… but this family had a target to complete.

I observed this family of four… father, mother, son and daughter. I saw the daughter pick up one concrete tile after another and bring it back to her parents. She was concerned. She was involved. She was helping her parents. Her brother, I noticed, was at the other end playing with a ball.

No I did not ask myself, ‘Why are 5 mio girls selectively aborted annually? Why is their mortality rate 75% higher? Why are there 107,000 dowry deaths a year in our country?’ I just smiled and filmed the scene for all to see. And I promised to blog about it… to say girls don’t deserve gendercide.

Watch my video before you go on to read the rest of this post:

I had shot this film a few months back and thought I would shoot some more clips to convert it into a longer film. And then I saw the TEDx presentation done by Evan Grae Davis and I said to myself, ‘You can’t possibly delay the film any more now. You got to do it now. You got to do it today!’

I remember having discussed this issue with Specky, my wife, a few weeks back. ‘Why is the male-female ratio so skewed in our country?’ I began, and then added, ‘When will we learn that even boys need to marry a girl… and that girls are no longer confined to a few clichéd jobs. They are everywhere.’

Specky said, ‘Girls are no longer just satin ribbons, pink frilly frocks, dainty shoes, and delicate tutus. They have long since adopted the role of decision-maker even in our country. And yet…’

And a couple of days back, we browsed through the list of videos at the FTideaCaravan website and stumbled upon the absolutely clinical and emotionally mature presentation that Evan Grae Davis had made. He talked about the 3 deadliest words in the world – ‘It’s a girl’ – and then went on to blast the reckless gendercide that is so rampant in this part of the world, particularly India and China.

According to him, gendercide originates from a ‘strong cultural preference for sons’ and has led to some really shocking statistics:

1. 5 mio girls selectively aborted annually
2. Mortality rate for the girl child is as high as 75%
3. 107,000 dowry deaths still occur in parts of the country

He wasn’t just lambasting India. He also mentioned that China too had its ‘one-child’ policy that was more draconian in the way it was implemented and the statistics there too alarming:

1. 37 mio more boys than girls
2. 1 mio more boys are born compared to female births
3. Sex trafficking is rampant in the country because of this skewed ratio
4. 70,000 child-bride kidnappings reported

We were shocked to learn that more than 200 mio women missing which statistically is more than all the deaths added in both the World Wars we’ve had.

Specky said, ‘This is shocking!’

I showed her the video that I had made and said, ‘This video isn’t really talking of the harm that gendercide is responsible for. It is aiming to impress that the girl child is actually a boon.’

‘I think your video does communicate the thought rather beautifully.’

The Evan Grae Davis presentation that had spurred us into action is also a video that each of us must watch… and I have it right here for you:

I must finally also add that all that matters to an individual is how he or she was able to identify a thorn hurting humanity and what steps he or she took to generate action that would rid the world of that thorn. It is vital to not just identify a problem, but making sure that it is communicated to everyone is equally important as it is mass awareness and mass action that will make the problem leave us in peace.

The construction worker’s daughter_01

The construction worker’s daughter_02

The construction worker’s daughter_03

The construction worker’s daughter_04

This post on indiblogger.in is dedicated to Franklin Templeton Investments who partnered the TEDxGateway Mumbai in December 2012.
and
This post is written as a part of All that Matters contest at BlogAdda.com in association with INK Live 2013.

Arvind Passey
31 July 2013

Note:
Evan Grae Davis responded to the tweet that I sent him. He saw the video, read the post, favourites and RT-ed my tweet and then replied with these words: 
Evan Grae Davis ?@EvanGrae tweeted: “@arvindpassey thank you for your thoughtful and beautifully written blog. We need more voices like yours!”

Evan Grae Davis replies

Well… now we’re friends on twitter!

Evan Grae Davis_now friends on twitter

Article published in Awazaapki.com Read it HERE

This post was declared as one of the winning posts by Blogadda:

.