Revenge of the gods!!

I was tired of reading about the attacks on women and children in the newspaper. One day while doing nothing suddenly I started having flashes in my head. I imagined a meeting of gods. All the gods sitting at a round table wearing their white robes and shiny white hair. They were distraught with the plight of earth. Unhappy about what humans are doing to earth they decide to call it a day in the human beings chapter. The architect of the “Humans” project says “I designed them to be intelligent so that they could work towards welfare of all the other species, nurture them and help others grow. But these selfish maggots have ruined everything. There is a hole in the atmosphere. They have dug up the earth everywhere, cut trees, caused extinction to several species. They have disturbed the circle of life. We need to pull back this product before they ruin our reputation.  We need to plan for a smooth and sure shot extinction of this species without causing any further damage to dear earth.”

A tragic nuclear world war was out of question, because it would ruin everything that god created on earth. The technical lead amongst the gods came up with a plan. “Let’s destroy their sense of self-preservation”. They will ruin their own species that way. Other gods were confused. How is that even possible? That’s the basic survival instinct we have inculcated all the living beings with. The technical lead says, “Exactly, we will make them not want to preserve their own species. Let them choose not to have offspring”. This Idea worked like a charm. Most of the wealthy humans in developed nations stopped wanting to have children. They began to despise the abstinence and responsibilities that are required to raise a child. For them there ambitions took priority over starting a family.

The plan worked in one half of the world. However failed in the other half where people were unassuming and not very ambitious. They were poor yet lived happily with their families. They were the ones who reproduced at the highest rates. This could possibly be because they were happy people. “What do we do?” thought the gods. They arranged an emergency meeting and discussed about this superior race which did extremely well with limited resource. These people seemed to worship their creators – not the gods but the women who were their creator, nurturers and gave them a reason to strive better. Probably this was one of the reasons these people did so well. The gods were almost jealous of women in this part of the world. They seemed to be the main hurdle in achieving “human extinction”. The shrewdest of god rose and said I have a plan but to execute it we need great grit and determination. Our objective is to wipe out humanity from earth and we might have to turn a blind eye to evil that this plan would unleash. This was like an Abilene’s paradox and none of the gods dared speak a word. 

Mundan woes of a overly attached mother!

I recently got my two and half year old child's mundan done. After all the hullabaloo I still do not understand what was the big fuss about? why did I put my child through the tormenting experience. She did not cry a bit when her hair was being chopped or when the barber picked up the blade to scrape out her hair. She clenched her fist, looked at the ground and trusted her family. I kept repeating the words "you are the most beautiful baby" and she believed me. She cried out of discomfort due to a few red spot for some time and still continued for the pooja. My baby trusted us that it cant be that bad after all. She was happy that we are going to have a party and she got gifts for the mundan, especially her pink scooter. Just as we were getting ready for the party, she looked at the mirror and she was shocked. Her tears rolled down her cheeks and her voice was trembling she came near me and whispered. "mumma dont take of my hat, I want to wear it for the party".
For the first time I felt I did not have the solution to my child's problem and it felt miserable. I had a sinking feeling to see my princess so distressed and lacking the extraordinary confidence that she usually exudes. After I got her dressed up we clicked pictures as usual and she came running to check the pic but was very disappointed to see herself. Some how I kept her involved in something or the other to keep her distracted. But in the end at night at bed time I told her lets have a quick shower, something we do every night. She at first refused. I was surprised because she usually jumps at shower time. After lot of coaxing I realized that she did not want to take off her hat. I looked in her eyes and said that "its just two of us here, no one's looking". She still did not budge, I felt aghast to find out that she was shy, even in front of me!! I told her "baby I loved you even when I had not seen you, so please stop bothering yourself". She looked at me in disbelief of the new revelation. Then I promised her that I wont look at her just wash her. She agreed to that and took off her hat, still with reluctance. When we went for her shower I kept my promise and did not look up at her face. She touched my shoulders and said "mumma muje dekho please". I gave her a big tight hug. Cursed myself for not being strong enough to stop the useless agonizing ceremony. Later I told to myself that I am going to take it as an opportunity to teach my daughter that beauty is not just about the way you look. Also that we need to break free form the conventional stereotypes of beauty.

My toddler can't wait to get her hair back. Sometimes she puts my hair on her head and looking herself in the mirror exclaims that she got her hair back. The next moment she is annoyed with me and says that I should also get a mundan. Every morning the first thing she does is check how much her hair grew. She feels bad for the slightest raised voice or even a mild nudge. I try to cheer her up when she is low by kissing her bald head saying once you get your hair back how will I kiss, she finds it very funny. She calls herself ugly at times and I scold her saying "don't you dare call my baby ugly" and she runs away giggling. I don't know what else I can or should do to comfort her. My child is a sensitive one and pretty as a pristine princess, but this mundan has made her really sad. I want my chirpy bubbly baby back. I just do not know how and when will that happen.

My beautiful princess