I was inside a ladies shop, getting my undergarments with the help of my mother.
Next to me there was this really cute girl who was being so shy that she would hardly meet my eyes. Now, My mother LOVES to chat people up. This habit of hers, though distressing only increases my admiration for her capacity to love, her amazing potential to concern herself with welfare of those she is not remotely responsible for and her compelling need to make everyone happy. She is the most loving and selfless lady I have ever seen. And those who know me would know me for not singing praises for anyone just because they gave me birth or grew up with me. It's a purely neutral observation and I am both afflicted and affected by these sudden connections.
So this shy girl , thanks to the initiatives taken by my mother began to speak up. She was getting married in two months! She was blushing a shade of deep red and was hesitant to buy the lingerie her mother thought would be suitable for the 'biggest day' of her life. As soon as she expressed her shame, the women all around her 'verbally' pounced on her like vultures. Some of the things they had to say included :
''Beta! (my daughter). all this shame will go away. Just wait and watch.''
''Honey, you know boys love this. You will have to wear something really fancy to please him. there's no way out.''
''Don't get this . Get This. And you need to look proper in all the right places!''
''Boys are fond of this. This is how you win the attention of your husband''
And the women were thoroughly enjoying themselves while making these lewd remarks which to my chagrin, made ME go apple red.
As if it was not enough repelling, another gem of information that I was suspecting, but hoping not to be true came to my knowledge, It was an arranged marriage and the girl had not yet gotten to know the boy.
( The way majority of marriages take place in Pakistan)
So basically she was going to bed with a part-stranger and this society that finds honor killing a fitting punishment for falling (and fleeing) in love, the women for whom immodesty is the show of skin and a sly glance thrown in the direction of a stranger by their daughters, the people who consider every girl hanging out with a boy she is not related to, to possess an objectionable character, the men for whom the most prized achievement is taming their women (be it sister, wife or daughter) were CELEBRATING the union of two strangers designed on the very same 'lewd' patterns they pretend to despise.
Only after validating it through papers that in most cases, declare a life time sentence.
Ah, the irony..
Next to me there was this really cute girl who was being so shy that she would hardly meet my eyes. Now, My mother LOVES to chat people up. This habit of hers, though distressing only increases my admiration for her capacity to love, her amazing potential to concern herself with welfare of those she is not remotely responsible for and her compelling need to make everyone happy. She is the most loving and selfless lady I have ever seen. And those who know me would know me for not singing praises for anyone just because they gave me birth or grew up with me. It's a purely neutral observation and I am both afflicted and affected by these sudden connections.
So this shy girl , thanks to the initiatives taken by my mother began to speak up. She was getting married in two months! She was blushing a shade of deep red and was hesitant to buy the lingerie her mother thought would be suitable for the 'biggest day' of her life. As soon as she expressed her shame, the women all around her 'verbally' pounced on her like vultures. Some of the things they had to say included :
''Beta! (my daughter). all this shame will go away. Just wait and watch.''
''Honey, you know boys love this. You will have to wear something really fancy to please him. there's no way out.''
''Don't get this . Get This. And you need to look proper in all the right places!''
''Boys are fond of this. This is how you win the attention of your husband''
And the women were thoroughly enjoying themselves while making these lewd remarks which to my chagrin, made ME go apple red.
As if it was not enough repelling, another gem of information that I was suspecting, but hoping not to be true came to my knowledge, It was an arranged marriage and the girl had not yet gotten to know the boy.
( The way majority of marriages take place in Pakistan)
So basically she was going to bed with a part-stranger and this society that finds honor killing a fitting punishment for falling (and fleeing) in love, the women for whom immodesty is the show of skin and a sly glance thrown in the direction of a stranger by their daughters, the people who consider every girl hanging out with a boy she is not related to, to possess an objectionable character, the men for whom the most prized achievement is taming their women (be it sister, wife or daughter) were CELEBRATING the union of two strangers designed on the very same 'lewd' patterns they pretend to despise.
Only after validating it through papers that in most cases, declare a life time sentence.
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