Where Are They Safe?

Her mother was sitting with her, telling the ten-year-old to be careful of her surroundings. She told her, as she does now and then, not to talk to strangers. She warned her that every person is not good. Some of them are bad, very bad, and she has to protect herself from them. She repeated those words for years.

The little girl was now 17 years old, she asked her parents to let her go to her best friend's birthday party. They declined, for it was late-night party in a club. She became sad and went to her room. Her mother seated beside her and shared their worries. Her parents trusted her, but they did not trust the 'society'. Newspapers were full of grave and dreadful incidents happening. Her mother tried to reason that going out can be dangerous, for she cannot know the intentions of 'men'.

Frustrated with this, the girl replied, "then maybe you should keep 'men and boys' in their houses as it is because of them that the girls are not safe. Instead of asking the girls to be confined in the four walls of their houses, men should not be allowed to go out and cause trouble. Moreover, the girls cannot be sure whether they will be safe in their own house or not."

Tears formed around her eyes. Her mother had no reply to that and sat silently beside her daughter trying to console her.