05/02/2018
A sister of mine taught her 6-year-old kid the difference between good touch and bad touch. Inspired from a show hosted by Amir khan, she taught her daughter to scream and come to her parents when someone touches her lips, breasts, hips and anywhere between her legs. She was very specific and drew diagrams on a board to help her daughter better understand. Her mother-in-law entered the room while she was explaining and became furious. She scolded my sister for ruining her child's happy memories and making her feel dirty with these sort of information. Since my sister was rather scared of her in-laws, she did not argue and kept teaching her daughter in secret. Meanwhile this word spread among her nonod, debor, bhashur, bhabi, mama-shoshur, mami-shoshur and even the 3B neghbours on the floor. Almost everyone shamed her for being a terrible mother. 'Ajkaal ki ki TV te dekhe eshob adhunik meye gula, ki ki shikhaitese baccha der!' said the mother-in-law to her sister over the phone.
A month later when the whole family was getting ready for a dawat and my sister was wearing her heels before heading out, my niece said quite bluntly, ' Mamoni amar hujur ajke amar pith er pichone haat dise, jama te haat dhukaise agey. Ami chikkar disi ar hujur amake boka dise.' My sister stopped in her tracks and looked at her daughter; standing beside the door, so small and adorable. She hugged her daughter and starting crying.
The hujur was fired obviously and a case was filed against him (my sister will see this through). The whole family apologised to my sister and appreciated her wise upbringing. The best part of this story is what her mother-in-law said after hearing all this, "Ma aekhon amader shomoi nai ar..amra ashole amader shomoi er moton chinta kore tomake eta bolsilam. Tokhon toh aeto kharap manush chilona. Kintu amra jotoi oshshikar kori, amader dadu-monira toh ai shomoi er baccha. Tader ai shomoi er shikkha dite hobe.. Joto kharap ee laguk, shomoi tai aekhon emon"
লেখাঃ মারিয়াম মাহজাবিন।
