Dear Indians,

A few days ago when the tribal women of Andaman were made to strip and dance for money, on camera, there was a mild uproar all over. Maybe not all over, but definitely on the news channels, facebook and twitter. Just yesterday a 20-something woman was beaten up mercilessly by Punjab police, for selling liquor without license. My guess is that, she wouldn’t have been beaten up in public had she given him a bribe, in cash or kind. Again, an onlooker recorded this instead of helping her.

A few days ago a 19-year-old was gang raped in Odisha and today she has very little chance of recovering despite treatment. The above mentioned women are unnamed. Also unnamed are the hundreds of female fetus that are aborted even before they begin to take human shape!

Even if you are not a girl, you very well know being a girl is difficult. We need to fight for survival right from the time we are conceived. Once born, we bear, ignore and fight your stare, your touch and your abuses. As if that wasn’t enough, we bear menstrual cycles, child birth, and managing house and work <if you allow me to work>, keep you all happy and then, maybe breath a little.

Despite the onset of women’s liberation and many Indian women breaking grounds to outdo men in their fields of expertise, I remain submissive. Whatever my accomplishments are at work, I humbly cater to all your needs. I make sure my parents are always supported, my siblings always have a friend, my in laws are always taken care of, all of husband’s are needs taken to, and no one else around me is ever unhappy. To top it, I excel in all academics, I earn well and I give birth to more of you. I love you unconditionally as a mother, sister, friend, wife and daughter. My basic instinct is to keep you before me.

• Why do you still think I am a burden and shouldn’t be born?
• Why do you mutilate my body and mind from the time I am born?
• Why do I have to compete extra hard against men, to accomplish something, only I should, solely ‘coz of my merit?
• Why do the hijras never visit my parents’ house to demand money, on my birth?
• Why do some men think they can use me sexually whenever they want, and some women support this thought?
• Why am I not allowed to excel in fields I easily can?

…. there are so many more why(s) in my mind, but the first one is, why did you kill me in my mother’s womb? Why did you not let me be born? Why did you not give me a chance to live?