Indian girls are challenging the rest of the world to keep pace
What do girls want? Not girls whose families have access to newspapers like this, but average Indians. Most of the 1.4 billion. From high mountains to the coasts, from desert dunes to the riverine islands, from jungles to the dusty fertile smoky plains, and in the slums of metropolises and gali-koochas of the kasbas.
On a small island in a giant river, and a thousand and five hundred kilometres from there, in a dense jungle on a tiny hill, when I asked this very question, “What do you want?", the responses were identical. “We want to dance," and then they asked me to play Jhoome Jo Pathaan on my phone and let loose with the pulsating rhythm. Wherever there is opportunity, I ask this question of groups of girls and boys—those who are in class 9 or older.
These boys and girls want many similar things. But across the country, there is greater commonality in what girls want. Common enough also are the shackles on their desires, which don’t exist for boys.
It is usually clearly expressed: “Will our families and community let us do all this?" Girls want education: Never have I come across a girl who did not want to pursue the next higher level of education. Many boys just want to get out and do something else. But not girls.
They want to go to a higher secondary school and then college. The distance to a college or higher secondary school is always a big concern for them. Distances of 5km to 10km are common.
A cycle helps, but not always. The route may be too unsafe, or parents may just not like the idea of long-distance cycle rides. Out-of-pocket expenses, even when education itself is free, can become an obstacle.
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