Apne Parivaar Ko Apne Dum Pe Jeena Sikhao!

Time doesn't really wait for anyone. We are all slave to atleast one thing and that is time.It was a few days back I delivered an HR Summit in Ahmedabad. It was my father's start-up that had to deliver this conference and my father blindly gave me the responsibility. Ofcourse it wouldn't have been possible without his support and help. When I say that, I say that literally. Nothing, I say again, nothing would have been possible without his support and help. I wouldn't be writing this today, had it not been him. When I was born, all the family members at the hospital realized about the gender I was blessed with - a female sex. My father's family was a very orthodox family. When I was born, dad had to go for a company training - which was a big opportunity for him. Hence, he couldn't see me for the first 12 days of my birth. What happened in those 12 days changed everything for me and my father. My grandmother, a female herself, thought my birth was a bad omen. My mother once told me how she came to her after my birth and told her that no worse looking child than me had been born in the entire family. Yes, these were my very own grandmother's words. However, my mother knew how she had to pass the time with my grandparents till my father would return. It was on the 12th day of my birth that my grandmother organized a 'function'. A function in Gujarat called 'Dudhpiti'. For those who do not know about it, 'Dudhpiti' is a ritual of submerging female child in milk till they die. It is a supposedly a 'pious' way of killing a female child. Fortunately, that was the day when my father was going to return. My grandmother had no clue about his return date since there weren't any telecommunication facilities in those days. While on his way back from bus stop, he was told about everything that was going to happen. He was told how his own mother had made arrangements to kill his daughter. As soon as he realized this, he rushed to his house and embraced me and my mother. He asked my mother to pack her bags at that very moment and within an hour he left his house with both of us. We settled in Baroda city in Gujarat. Since then, there hasn't been any looking back. Despite am a girl, he ensured I get everything to make myself capable to live my life on my own. Despite repeated attempts, he didn't give into his family's demand of having another child. He focused on making me capable to live my life with or without him. Hence this blog post is for my father who has made me what I am today. This blog is written for HDFC life in association with Indiblogger. Do check out their new video showing how a father teaches his daughter to be self-reliant.