It is the women’s day
season.
On the 8th
of March, the whole world comes together to celebrate womankind on the
international women’s day.
A day when we
acknowledge the contribution of women to our lives. We fete, felicitate, honour
the woman achievers. We showcase them.
But, wait, wait, a
question!
Is there someone
behind these women that is making them achieve what they are capable of?
This is a story of my three
different conversations with cabbies in various cities.
The first story is set
in Chennai. The driver was a man in his fifties, with greying hair, sporting a
nice smile that took in its stride the unwieldy Chennai traffic.
When I asked him about
his children, he said he had two children – a son and a daughter. The son was
studying, he said, but the daughter (yes, there was a distinct pride in his
voice when he said this), was pursuing her CA and he was confident that she
would be a top ranker.
The second was with a
cabbie in Hyderabad. When asked about his children, he said that his daughter
was an aspiring Tennis player. Continuing, the man spoke about how his daughter
was a state level tennis player who was on the verge of making it into National
Tennis. But, with a tinge of guilt, he said, he had to stop the Tennis coaching
as it was proving too expensive. It was costing him up to Rs 50 K per month to
take care of her food, her coaching, her travel, her stay etc. Loans, double
shifts, selling land – this man did all to help her play Tennis, but the huge
financial hole too big to fill. So, Tennis had to stop.
But, he was clear
about one thing. While Tennis might be given a goodbye, her career could not! He
shared with me that she was enrolled in one of the best colleges for cracking
the engineering entrance. He was dreaming of her pursuing her masters in the
US!
The third guy had
younger children, two daughters. He spoke with pride again about how they were
acing their exams (My younger daughter
never gets anything less than an A+) and how he saw them becoming engineers.
All beautiful
conversations. All providing valuable insights into the thinking of the
fathers.
Come to think of it.
These men were pretty ordinary financially.
But, no, there was no
discussion of the daughter being a burden. No discussion of why she had to be
educated. No discussion about the stress of her marriage. No self pity about
them.
They were just
planning the future of their children, where the daughters would move away from
the drudgery of lower middle class.
What made these
drivers think about their daughters differently? Is it because day in day out when
they ferry fairly successful people from one city to another or to the
airports, they understand what education can do?
Or, is this the new
middle class India? An India that has woken up to what women can achieve if
given the right guidance?
So, while we celebrate
womanhood and the appreciate the irreplaceable value it brings to our lives,
let us pause a moment to appreciate the people who stand by them in this
journey.
While the saying goes –
Behind every successful man is a woman (most of the times very visible), I
would add “Behind every successful woman is a Father who has chosen to remain invisible”.
Salutations to their
spirit.
PS - Prema Jayakumar,
the girl who topped the National CA entrance examination in 2013 was the
daughter of an auto driver – an embellishment for the driver community.
