Unchaahi: against Female Foeticide in India

Thursday, March 20, 2008

Yet Another Video ...

Courtesy of Pablo, I am reacquainted with a video that I remember watching over a year ago. It is about a mother who is being forced by her husband to abort her girl child but she keeps her child and raises her child by herself. It is in Punjabi but even if you don't understand the language, the video itself speaks louder. Here it is:



Chorus:
Na maari na
Na maari ni ma
Eh na kehar guzaari ma

Translation:
Don't kill
Don't kill, mother
Don't commit this atrocity

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posted by Roop Rai at 11:09 AM

4 Comments:

  • Roop, This is a beautiful video. I didn't have the volume on, as I don't understand Punjabi anyway. But the video spoke for itself. Wonderful video. And I hope the message penetrates our folks. Regards, Pallavi

    By Anonymous Anonymous, At March 21, 2008 at 11:50 AM  

  • Good video,

    sad but giving the message clear. Wish singer was female, it wud have explained the thoughts better..


    V

    By Blogger Shadows of life, At March 21, 2008 at 12:12 PM  

  • Hi Ladies

    I am glad you liked it!! Maybe i should do translation of the entire song, but as you said, Pallavi, video does speak for itself.
    V, if there are no females left, who'll sing? hehe :D

    By Blogger Roop Rai, At March 21, 2008 at 12:29 PM  

  • I don't think a female singing the song would have explained the thoughts better. This is a problem for men and women to address because it affects us all. I think the voice of the child comes through from Sarbjit. The poetic voice carries through him. The imagination triumphs in this song.

    The more people that can create awareness at the grassroots like this the better. That the Punjabi music industry is at least beginning to address this issue is a good sign. Music is central in the consciousness of Punjabi culture and has always been the art form that expresses the fears and anxieties and consciousness of the Punjabi people most intimately and spontaneously. But Punjab only comprises between 2% and 3% of the population of India. The other 97% of India has to begin to address this issue too. Because Punjab has a prominence in Indian culture beyond its actual size it tends to have a prominence in this whole debate too, culturally and in terms of example and activism. But Punjab alone, just 2% of all Indians, does not skewer the gender ratio of the entire nation. It's an affliction of the whole nation. We need songs and debate in every language and from folk singers and actors and cultural figures of all background.

    There needs to be a co-ordinated, centrally facilitated campaign of activism and awareness in every language and culture. It can't be just the elite English speaking class, but the artists, singers, writers, poets, activists, journalists, academics and conscientious religious leaders who can speak to the masses and articulate in their language and demotic the urgency for things to change.

    One billion dollars to spend on concrete steps to facilitate that --- this would begin to make a difference, mark a statement of intent.

    Because what will be the cost to India's economy when half of its population is crippled and the gender ratio so skewed? All those girls unable to work and contribute to society, all those listless, dissafected men, all that wasted opportunity. If the state is unmoved by the plea of emotion and poets, it can be moved by stark figures and economics. If that is the language that the state understands, speak to them in it.

    ~Pablo~






    ~Pablo~

    By Anonymous Anonymous, At March 21, 2008 at 12:50 PM  

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