Brave girls

My orthodox Haryanvi grandmother would have killed herself, on hearing about Bhuri Kalbi8217;s daughter surviving a premature birth...

My orthodox Haryanvi grandmother would have killed herself, on hearing about Bhuri Kalbi8217;s daughter surviving a premature birth and slipping through the toilet bowl of a train. She wouldn8217;t have been pleased either with three-year-old Laxmi surviving a surgery that separated two of her extra limbs. 8220;It8217;s only the chhoras boys whom death and disease visit and not chhoris girls,8221; was her lament.

She8217;d have caught Alexander Jacob by the neck, the director of the Kerala Police Academy, for boasting, 8220;Out of the 1600 women recruits, we have 400 post-graduates including 47 doctorate holders, and the remaining 1200 are graduates.8221; But she8217;d have consoled my PSO, Robin Ignatius, for his sob story: 8220;The girls in our state don8217;t let us get ahead of them, neither in quality nor in number. They are 1080 for every 1000 of us.8221;

Once, on board a flight to Delhi, minutes before take-off, the air hostess manoeuvred hard to close the door, when it swung off the latches. The only thing required was some extra muscle and a hard push. After instructing her, the engineer went out to see if she could close the door by herself. She could not; but was undeterred in her resolve. Although we remained fastened to our seats, lending a helping hand might not have been appropriate: she had to learn to do the job. When she finally closed the door, the passengers applauded. But the perspiring girl seemed to resent it.

After about an hour8217;s flying, there was turbulence. The passenger at the window of my row became anxious. He asked, 8220;Shouldn8217;t he have stabilised the plane by now?8221;

8220;It is not a he, but a she!8221; I quietly whispered. Then the chap kept praying with his seat upright. After touchdown, I made a mild dig at him, 8220;Was it not a very smooth landing?8221;

8220;That8217;s alright. But could she have shown any grit if, God forbid, the plane were hijacked?8221;

8220;Have you forgotten Neerja Bhanot, the Pan-Am flight purser, who laid down her life in 1986 while protecting three children, and was posthumously awarded the Ashok Chakra?8221; I reminded him. Shame was writ large on his face. While disembarking, I couldn8217;t help peeping into the cockpit when the pilot happened to turn her face towards me and smiled as if to say, 8220;Hum kisi se kum nahin! Safe journey back home, sir!8221;