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Child and the Notion of a Family

Last few weeks have been kind of like on a roller-coster, as travel has been spread across the country from Kolkata to Bangalore. Add to that a stupid delay in the Kingfisher flight from Bangalore, and it was a tiring fortnight, which lands me feeling like a zombie last night.
The little pink angel, with slight traces of her new set of hairs was already asleep, lost in her dreams of pink elephants and red giraffe ( this is what she tells me every morning, I do not know if she makes it up but between believing and not believing her, I would chose the former, lying or not lying is her choice, believing her is my choice). Looking at her lost in her dreams, I thought not to disturb her. Then wife told me how she was all the time asking about when Baba and Nonu are friends, why did not take her with him? why baba is not available on phone, why baba was not talking to Maa on phone when they are supposed to be friends? There was no way she could understand why phone would be switched off on the flight. 
A child always imagines the complete family to be one with both mother and father and both being friends. This reminds me of an excellent article written some weeks back by Seema Goswami on Sunday about the curious plight of Padmalakshmi. I did try to read the plight of hers with all the openness of mind that I could summon, without having the brains falling out of my head, but owing to my limited intelligence ended in being no wiser after hearing her ideas about raising a child. Irrespective of fashionistas across the world getting on the bandwagon of getting kids as fashion accessories, I am totally lost at this misguided feminism intending to raise the kids without a father. Padmalakshmi's story is even more confounding where the poor guy is fighting to get a share in his child's life and this fair request seems like an audacious attempts to strip the poor lady of her fair rights as a fair sex. 

She says she has every right to decide on whether or not her child ought to have something called a father in her life, because apart from a miniscule import from the father, the child is made completely by her as an independent endevor just as she would make exotic salad as a celebrity chef. In her quest for freedom and her right to decide, is she any where looking for her child's right. I do not think there is any thing extraordinary in my child's imagination of a complete family made up of father and mother, she has a dream which is totally identical to what anyone of her age would have. This puts the onus of gigantic magnitude on people getting married and deciding to get a child. A child that you have is an individual in her own right and has a right to home that every child so rightly and richly deserve. Just be a little kinder and accomodating to your spouse, you owe it to your child.

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