#memory
International Day of the Girl Child.
11 October is the International Day of the Girl Child.
The biggest blessing in our the life is our two daughters, Nileena and Nithya Joy .
Sasikala is an only daughter, and one of the decisions we made early in the married life is that we wouldn’t send off our children to boarding schools. The daughters grew up before our eyes and the years they spent with us were the most beautiful in our lives. Both grew up to become professional engineers and managers working in multi national companies. Nileena works in Chennai with Comcast Corporation. Nithya is in Bangalore with IKEA after working in Mumbai.
While most were cursing the Covid pandemic, we were happy that all three children were once again with us for more than two years.
Now Nileena and Nithya come home every month and spend a few days with us, even as they work from home.
Their brother Unni is happy to take them out to Ernakulam on weekends. We too are happy to join them once in a while.
We are happy that we have allowed them to make their own choices. However others are not quite able to understand the minds of our daughters. Often we have to face the embarassing question why we are not getting our daughters married. We are simply waiting for them to make their own choices and not to force anything, even marriage, on them.
A majority of the girl children in the world are not even remotely lucky as ours. My heart goes out to them on this day. I hope to live to the day when the sufferings of the girl child end, and girls are recognised as the fruits of the earth and the children of God.
– Joy Kallivayalil.
