'she'

As soon as he entered the office,i said "congratulations,sir!".
My other colleague gave me a surprised look,so i told him," sir is blessed with a baby last week"

'O realy...i didn't know that!!!! Cong....'
and...he was immediately stopped with a murmuring from another colleague explaining..'ladki hui hai....'!

I was like,"sir......???"

He replied in a soft voice, 'madam wo hamare yahan ladki ki badhaai nahi dete na'

I was a bit taken aback.
The first thing that came to my mind was...'oh! this is the reason Punjab still has the lowest sex ratio in india,where even the working class has to live in such cultural compulsions'.

Not that i have any complaints against them...infact each one of them has always been kind to me and helped me survive in this tough work environment,for which i am always thankful to them.

Not only that,that morning itself they wished me a happy birthday!!
But now i began to give it a second thought....'how can my birth day be 'happy' when i birth itself never was'.....tough question to ask !!!

And today,october 11,when i am writing this,its 'Universal day of the Girl Child' as declared by the United Nations,with the purpose of increasing awareness of 'gender inequality' faced by girls worldwide based on their gender.

Long way to bridge the gap but how long the journey would be....??

That made me a bit conscious,re-thinking about the contradictory world i am living in...looking for an answer to the same question again...."till the world balances itself,should i behave more like a female or a human?"

'ज़िन्दगी'

ख़ामोशी से चल के मेरे पास आती है....      
अपनी कहानी चुपके से मुझे सुनाती है..
                                      
हर रोज़ इक नयी दास्ताँ होती है उसकी.....
  
इक पल आवाज़ दे के बुलाती है मुझे..
फिर गुमसुम सी हो के कुछ दूर चली जाती है..          
कभी कहे आसमान छूना है मुझे..
कभी रात के सन्नाटे में चुप सी हो जाती है...                
कभी लगे रंग बिखेरती तितली जैसी...
कभी बन जाये उलझी सी पहेली ऐसी..                        
जिसका हर कदम एहसास बन जाये...
जिसका बीत जाना याद बन जाये..
                             
वो अनजान सी कुछ अपनी सी मेरी 'ज़िन्दगी' कहलाती है।