Random Thoughts by Kavita Shivdasani uploaded 24/8/2014

Shikhandi was born Shikhandini. However her father had been promised a son by Shiva. So unable to accept that the child was a girl she was re-named Shikhandi, dressed as a boy and ingrained with all the qualities befitting a mighty prince. As I re-read the tale I recalled an entry I had made in my journal last year.

The discussion was on foeticide and tests like a sonography that helped to determine the child’s gender. The children were in the age range of 6 - 8 years. The point being “how do you know whether the fetus was a girl or boy?”

The conversation meandered thus

Child 1: “boys wear shorts.”

Child 2: “I wear shorts too and I am a girl”

The suggestions ranged from long/short hair, voice, games they played and so on and so forth but nothing held up especially when I decided to intervene and bung a really large spanner in the works – “remember the baby is in the mom’s womb and cannot be heard, does not wear clothes, play games …”

Some gentle nudging was required to steer the thought processes towards the desired direction. “How do boys urinate?” I asked.

Girl Child 3: “Oooh from that pipe like thing.”

Girl Child 4: “it looks like a tap.”

Girl Child 5: “yes I have seen bhaiya pull down his zip and do susu…”

Enlightenment dawned for the girls with brothers and boy cousins. The girl children were definitely one step ahead of the boys since although the boys realized that the girls did not have the “pipe like thing” or “tap” I am not sure if the boys figured out how the girls relieved themselves.

I decided not to pursue the matter and called it a day since it was time to go home.

Long ago when Kartik Maheshwari and the Punjabi boys were about 8 or 9 years old a deep discussion raged in class on death and the soul talk. This was the outcome of my narration of The Bhagvad Gita using the Amar Chitra Katha version by good old Uncle Pai.

Child 1: When you die you go to God.

Child 2: How is that possible?

Child 1: your body flies to God.

Child 3: No, No your body is burnt but your soul goes to God.

Mystified looks were directed at me. While I tried to formulate an appropriate explanation of the soul Child 4 piped up, “your soul is everything about you. No one can see it or know it except God and you”.