Female Foeticide is a burning issue in today's India. Ultrasonography technique is used for Antenatal sex determination, and if female, the foetus is aborted; 50 million girls have gone 'missing' from Indian population, leading to gender imbalance...
THE MISSING GIRLS
Where have all the missing girls gone?Gone! 'Gone, to the grave yard'!
Where have all the missing girls gone?
Gone! 'Gone, to the grave yard'!
She missed the bus
While being born:
They pulled her back,
Wrung her neck,
Threw her into the
Trashcan!
Where have all the missing girls gone?
Gone! Gone, to the trashcan!
As an infant, she missed the bus:
Her brother got all the milk,
Her brother got all the rice,
She, only the watery starchy broth!
She missed the bus to the school,
Her brother got on...
Because:
She had no shoes,
She had no clothes,
She had no books,
How could she then get on?
But she had flour,
Vegetables, rice and spice,
She cooked the food.
She missed the bus,
When she sat down to eat:
Her father and brother ate up all!
The crumbs were all she got...
But she had a broom,
A mop, a wiper:
She swept and wiped the floor,
Cleaned off, her own blood,
Whatever was left
Her tears washed-up.
She missed the bus to college too
She was married,
Already with a child or two.
But she got on the bus
To the graveyard!
She went up in flames in Shamshan Ghat...
Where have all the missing girls gone?
Gone! Gone, to the graveyard!
Gone! Gone, to Shamshan Ghat!
She got the bus to market too:
She was sold for a thousand or two!
Again and again...
She got on the bus to Hell too!
Again and again...
Oh, yes! Here she got on
For sure!!!
Where have all the missing girls gone?
Gone! Gone, gone to 'Hell Gate'!
For ages they wondered:
What to do?
How to get rid of
This unwanted baggage
Of doom!
They used the pillow on her face,
To stifle the scream,
Lest it was heard!
The very first scream of the birth-
She could not even get to cry,
Suppressed was the very first out cry!
Women whispered in corridors,
Midwife could not sleep after daily chores:
Their souls were black
As the night,
Which kept them awake-
Conscience pricking
Eyelids and eyes-
All night!
Then one day technology came:
What a boon!
Shot to fame!
Now we can 'do the job'
Without a clue;
Who can say,
'She' ever was?
Because,
She never was!
Oh! So easy:
Just a scan,
And then, the forceps and
'Zond', and whirring of
Suction pumps...
Or,
'Dilatation' & 'Curettage'-
Hear a bit of crunch!
The 'job' is done!!
In a minute or two...
No evidence left behind
Oh! What a find!
(This USG is just divine!!)
All is thrown into the dustbin,
Who can say?
There ever was
A Girl Missing!
Where have all the missing girls gone?
Gone! Gone, to the dustbins!
Where have all the missing girls gone?
Gone! Gone, gone...
'Missing girl', who never was!
No funeral-pyre,
No Shamshan Ghat!
No evidence, no clue:
The crime is missing!
And so is the girl!
The girl is missing
And so is the evil!
The black-soul can go on...
Where have all the missing girls gone?
Gone! Gone, to the grave yard!
Where have all the missing girls gone?
Gone! Gone, gone...
Now, the men are hard pressed too:
How to get a wife or two?
No problem!
Go to the market place,
Get a wifey, get a slave!
She will wash and clean up too
Cannot blame you, whatever you do.
A machine for bearing children too...
A baby every year or two:
(If it is boy, well and good!
If a girl-you know, what to do?)
You keep your land and inheritance too
Just like a slave in olden times...
Just like the slaves, right on now...
Where have all the missing girls gone?
Gone! Gone, gone, gone...
Where have all the missing girls gone?
Gone! Gone, gone, without a trace...
Wiped off from the face of Human race...
Is her value really at stake?
History is witness to her plight!
And so are you!
And so am I!
Author: Zoya Zaidi
Aligarh (UP), India
Copyright ©: Zoya Zaidi
Photo: 'Innocence' by and ©: Zoya Zaidi
Missing Girls- the concept of "Missing Girls" was coined in India to depict the 'gap' between the number of girls 'expected to be born' per one thousand boys, and the number 'actually born'!
According to a recent report from the UNICEF up to are 50 million girls and women are missing from India's population as a result of systemic gender discrimination.
In most countries in the world there are around 105 female births for 100 males. In India according to a study of 2001, the number is at a shocking 972 to 1000 boys born. In the state of Punjab, it is the lowest: 793 to 1000 boys.
Every year there are 50,000 girls aborted (1 in 25) according to the first ever systematic study carried out by Indo-Canadian team; There is a progressive decline in deficit in women's sex ratio from 4 million in 1901 to 30 million in 1991.
USG- Ultrasonography: Sex determination is done by Ultrasonography in the fourth month of pregnancy, and if the sex of the foetus is determined to be that of a female, an abortion is quietly carried out.
Prenatal diagnostic techniques (Regulation and prevention of misuse) Act, 28 Sept 1994, bans sex determination tests by Ultra sound technique all over the country.
Women are being 'sold' by their own poor parents to land owners in Rajisthan and UP from poorer States of Bihar, West Bengal and Bangladesh; to Arab Sheiks, from Hydarabad (AP).
Shamshan Ghat: Cremation grounds.
Poetry by Zoya Zaidi
Read 1343 times
Written on 2007-03-08 at 20:05
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