Few days back I met a guy of around 30 yrs. He came to our blood bank to donate blood.
"Actually sir, my wife is admitted here. She had to undergo caesarean section for delivery..... One unit of blood was provided from here on loan basis and thus I've come to replace the blood loan"
"How is your wife now?"
"She is doing well Sir..."
"What about the baby?"
"Its a 'boy' Sir..!!!"
The way he presented the news, I could well presume his happiness... Anyway the joy of becoming a parent can't be expressed in words... But the amount of importance he put on the word 'boy' just clicked me... So instead of congratulating him, I asked him,
"Okay, what was his birth weight?"
"It was 2.6 kg sir..."
"That's great... Exclusively breastfeed the baby till his 6th completed months and he will be more than fine..."
You know, when I was a teenager, I used to feel good when I received the news of a newborn baby boy amongst our relatives... It was the effect of my surroundings I suppose... Then as I grew somewhat elder, I used to congratulate the parents with extra care when there was the news of a newborn baby boy... Because its a 'boy'.... After I joined my MBBS course and after I became even more matured, whenever I heard such a news, I used to say, "Oh.. Its a boy... Congratulations, your family might be even more happier..." That means I used to congratulate them minus my happiness...
This continued till around 2 years back when I realized something... Congratulating solely on the birth of a baby, no matter whether it's a boy or a girl, is entirely an another issue, but when we congratulate someone with special reference to the birth of a baby 'boy', we actually indirectly display our preference to have a son... We indirectly encourage others to enhance the wrong notion, "A son is of more use than a daughter." We indirectly say that boys are better than girls... Even worse, without being in our mind, we unknowingly advocate female foeticide!!!
Even our new generation has not been able to stop this discrimination against women.. Everyday there are lots of news related to female abuse and all.. A number of awareness programmes are going on to save the girl child and some of them are doing well.. Ok these programmes will take their own course.. But until and unless we try something at our personal level and unless we change our mindsets, the effects won't last long... Until a day comes when all mother and father in laws stop blaming their daughter in laws after repeatedly giving birth to girls and until all parents can become happy even after parenting 2 girls, these will just continue...
So, starting few months back, I have personally initiated this small step... No doubt, whenever someone conveys me a good news, it would be inhuman on my part if somehow I make them feel bad... So on getting such a news when the family members become too 'overwhelmed' on the birth of a 'boy', most of the times I just smile and say, "I would have liked even more if it was a baby girl... Anyway congratulations !!!"
"Actually sir, my wife is admitted here. She had to undergo caesarean section for delivery..... One unit of blood was provided from here on loan basis and thus I've come to replace the blood loan"
"How is your wife now?"
"She is doing well Sir..."
"What about the baby?"
"Its a 'boy' Sir..!!!"
The way he presented the news, I could well presume his happiness... Anyway the joy of becoming a parent can't be expressed in words... But the amount of importance he put on the word 'boy' just clicked me... So instead of congratulating him, I asked him,
"Okay, what was his birth weight?"
"It was 2.6 kg sir..."
"That's great... Exclusively breastfeed the baby till his 6th completed months and he will be more than fine..."
You know, when I was a teenager, I used to feel good when I received the news of a newborn baby boy amongst our relatives... It was the effect of my surroundings I suppose... Then as I grew somewhat elder, I used to congratulate the parents with extra care when there was the news of a newborn baby boy... Because its a 'boy'.... After I joined my MBBS course and after I became even more matured, whenever I heard such a news, I used to say, "Oh.. Its a boy... Congratulations, your family might be even more happier..." That means I used to congratulate them minus my happiness...
This continued till around 2 years back when I realized something... Congratulating solely on the birth of a baby, no matter whether it's a boy or a girl, is entirely an another issue, but when we congratulate someone with special reference to the birth of a baby 'boy', we actually indirectly display our preference to have a son... We indirectly encourage others to enhance the wrong notion, "A son is of more use than a daughter." We indirectly say that boys are better than girls... Even worse, without being in our mind, we unknowingly advocate female foeticide!!!
Even our new generation has not been able to stop this discrimination against women.. Everyday there are lots of news related to female abuse and all.. A number of awareness programmes are going on to save the girl child and some of them are doing well.. Ok these programmes will take their own course.. But until and unless we try something at our personal level and unless we change our mindsets, the effects won't last long... Until a day comes when all mother and father in laws stop blaming their daughter in laws after repeatedly giving birth to girls and until all parents can become happy even after parenting 2 girls, these will just continue...
So, starting few months back, I have personally initiated this small step... No doubt, whenever someone conveys me a good news, it would be inhuman on my part if somehow I make them feel bad... So on getting such a news when the family members become too 'overwhelmed' on the birth of a 'boy', most of the times I just smile and say, "I would have liked even more if it was a baby girl... Anyway congratulations !!!"
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