It's a Girl's World- Part4

By the time I was 10, I came to know almost everything. I assumed of course.

Till this time, I was interested in global events and never bothered about traditions and customs followed by each community coz I felt they were foolish and apparently they were never applicable to kids.

So one fine day when I was majorly affected by the tradition, was when I got my first period when i was 14(people said i was a late bloomer). Tada! I was always astonished at the human body and specifically by the female anatomy that I did a whole lot of research, (thanks to the internet which helped me be an adult even before I was 10). So I was literally waiting for the day I would start menstruating. I was well prepared for what to expect and how to deal with it but what I didn't expect was the tradition which comes along with it in our community.

Apparently ages before, our ancestors had a tradition of showing off to the world that their girl became fertile and was ready to be a mother. They were so naive, the only purpose in their life was to grow big, get married, have children, help them grow big, get them married, grow old and die eventually(ok not naive but i guess an intelligent thing to do at that time, so that the human race doesn't go extinct- Darwins theory of survival or extinction, i guess). So when they organised a huge party to show off their fertile girl to their whole community, their reason for celebration and joy was justified. They were intelligent to have found a way to sell their product and I totally appreciate they did justice to whatever the situations were.

But following that tradition after centuries, when people don't even have a right to get a girl married before she is 18, showcasing to the whole world that she bloomed or to put it appropriately menstruated, if not called foolishness what else would you call it. Embarrassing a girl who already is unaware as to what's happening to her body, is in my opinion not a tradition but a way to show to the world that you are a dumb ass.

I fought when this injustice, mind you, not tradition was being followed with my sister but in vain coz she was okay with following the tradition. But when it came to me, I had to put up a lot of drama to avoid the embarrassment. Eventually I became the evil child who brought disrespect to the whole family by not following their family's tradition, 'the black sheep of our family'.

An year later my grandmother who was reaching her 80's, a diabetic, hypertensive and a cervical cancer survivor died, the blame was put on me. Reason being I angered the lord of our community by not following the showcasing of my bloom to the whole world.

My dad who never fondled me when I was a kid and disapproved my mother pampering me, came to me and told me that he wished I was dead to have brought him such a wrath in the community.

It strangely never bothered me, but put me in a deep thought. How can a person, so well educated, living in a world where everything thing is accounted for and scientifically proven, be still a believer of such nonsense. I tried to put some sense into him but all I got from that was a week of no internet and no playing out of the house-house arrest for a week for killing my grandmother.

To be Continued.....