ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Mrinal Pande was born in 1946, at Tikamgarh, Madhya Pradesh. She was the editor of the popular women’s magazine Vama from 1984-87 and is currently the executive editor of the Hindi edition of Daily Hindusthan. She has studied English and Sanskrit literature, ancient Indian history, archaeology, classical music and visual arts. Her first story was published in the Hindi weekly Dharmayug at the age of 21. She writes both in Hindi and English and has authored many short stories, novels and drama. Her major works include:

1. The Subject is Woman (1991),

2. That Which Ram Hath Ordained (1993),

3. My Own Witness (2001),

4. Devi: Tales of the Goddess (2000) and

5. Stepping Out (2003).

Girls was first published in 1983 in Dharmayug, and the English translation in the same year in Manushi- a journal about women and society, New Delhi.

SUMMARY OF THE STORY

The story is narrated by an eight year old girl, Lali.  Lali, the central character is the second daughter of a middle class family in an Indian society. The story deals with the way girls are treated in Indian society. The story begins with the protagonist, Lali, a little girl, who leaves home to go to her mother’s parental house. For Lali her mother is a very irritable woman. For her mother everything is a problem. She has three daughters and going through her fourth pregnancy and she hopes that she will give birth to a boy this time so that she will be rid of the nuisance of going through another pregnancy.

Lali, and her family go to Nani's (maternal grandmother's) house for the last months of pregnancy. When they reach the station, Ma (Lali’s mother) has to deal with many things. She has to take care of the three children as well as the luggage. The family purchases samosas at one of the stations but the girl couldn’t eat it because she saw a woman making her child pee through the window. Lali tries to scare her younger sister by crushing a piece of potato into the shape of an insect. Lali’s elder sister who loves her very much, scolds her and calls her a nuisance.

When they reach to the final station , they find Maama (Maternal uncle) is waiting there to receive them. When she enters Naani’s house, she is told to bend down and touch Naani’s feet. When she tries to do it, someone rectifies her saying “Not like that... bend properly. You are born a girl and you will have to bend for the rest of your life”. Girl child is always a nuisance for her Ma, She keeps on complaining about her girl children. The family talks of delivering a boy this time. For Nani it is matter of safeguarding her honor. She folds her hands and prays “Oh goddess, protect my honor. At least this time let her take a son back from her parent’s home”. For Ma giving birth to a boy is all about relieving herself from the burden of delivery forever.

The story shows the inferiority of being a woman. Lali’s mother calls her a witch when she comes to know that she has eaves dropped the conversation of Ma and Maami. Ma gets angry with her when she insists Hari’s mother on saying that girls are nice. Mother remarks “she was born only to plague my life”. 

The next day, on the occasion of Chaitya Shukla Ashtami, day of the Hindu calendar when young girls are worshiped as the living incarnations of Devi, a tikka of red powder is put on the girls’ foreheads. The aarati ceremony is done by waving the sacred flame around their faces, and Prasad (food given to the devotees after the worship) is distributed to all the participating women. Lali refuses to put tikka on her forehead.  Ma gets angry with her and shouts at her. When the elders try to force her to obey, the girl retorts, “When you people don’t love girls, why do you pretend to worship them? ..... I don’t want this halwa-puri, tikka or money. I don’t want to be a goddess”.

ANALYSIS

The story tells us about the unjustified idolatry of the male child in an Indian society. Indian families always prefer male children as they are supposed to be the bread winners and caretakers of the family. Women feel honored when they give birth to a male child. A girl child is considered as a burden on family. Despite all the modernization and progress, Indian society, continues to victimize girl children and they are looked down as the inferior ‘other’. The story also presents the general mindset of people who take it as a compulsion to give birth to a boy to stop bearing children anymore. Girls in Indian families are told to be submissive. They are not respected or even acknowledged as boys are. The story is told from a little girl’s perspective and it effectively brings out the actual feelings of a girl child when she is discriminated in her own family. For Ma, her children are always creating problems. The little girl’s cry and anguish at the end of the story gives voice of all the girls in Indian society. It shows the pain of being discriminated. In a society where girls are treated as a burden and a problem for their parents, they are worshiped as goddess for one day. Viewing the girl as Devi for one day shows the hypocritical nature of the rituals in our society. It is contrasted to the subjugation of girls happening every moment. Rituals in itself have become a formality. The whole story is a wake up cry of the narrator and the author, on behalf of all the girls in India, to realize the value of girls and the respect and care they need from their own home.

THEMES:

1. Male child preference

2. Woman as inferior/ Discrimination with girl child

3. Oppression of the women by the woman

4. Status of women: Devi or burden

5. Discrimination within the family