She’s a good girl

“Heads and Tails*?”, said a bemused father.

Iman stammered, “It’s a programme hosted by Maneka Gandhi, I wa-waa-wanted to ask about something…may be they won’t even open my letter.”

“Oh! That’s  fine I’ll post it”, said the proud father of a girl who had scored a lot of marks in her Class 10 and as far as he knew, she was going to become a doctor just like her parents.

Unfortunately for him, his daughter was not too keen on the idea but being a ‘good girl’ she decided not to object. You see … she had one 'small problem'. The problem would be small for you and me but it gave her sleepless nights.

“Huh! Princess Diana died in a car crash along with her boyfriend”, bellowed Iman father’s, he didn’t like the princess, “no morals”, he thought as he handed the paper to his daughter. Iman avoided looking at the gory picture of the accident.

Her father understood and he laughed, “You know you can’t avoid blood and gore if you want to become a doctor. You have to cut up frogs in your Biology class next year.”

Iman felt a pang of hatred towards her father as the fear of cutting up anything that oozed blood again crept over her spine. She rushed to her bathroom. After a few minutes she came out, her hair dripping wet, she realised there would be more such days in her life.

The sight of blood was Iman’s ‘small problem’, which according to her mother would be solved after she had ‘gutted’ her first frog. But she didn’t trust her mother’s easy solution and she dreaded her first dissection class,which was scheduled the following month. For days she raked her brains for a solution and finally she hit upon the idea, “ I will write a letter to Heads& Tails...” 

So, that was the letter Iman had given to her father to post. 

As soon as she had left for school,her mother rushed forward.

“Open it”, she said.

“Don’t you think…”,mumbled her father. “Okay,Iman is half-expecting that they won’t read it so it’s fine.”

Thus, the curious parents read the letter,it was addressed to Maneka Gandhi who hosted the show.

Dear Manekaji,

Can you do something about dissection of animals in Class 12 Biology class. I think we are tormenting animals and also tormenting teenagers with such violence. I am in Class 11 and my parents want me to become a doctor but I am scared of cutting up a living being for the sake of knowledge. I don’t know whether I will ever become a doctor but surely I can’t kill anything that has life, I feel cursed. I know you love animals, I hope you can stop this dissection business in schools which turns young people into murderers.

                                                                                                                                  Regards,

                                                                                                                              Anonymous

   

 The content and the straight-forward tone of the letter stunned both of them. Finally Iman’s mother said, “We can’t tell her that we know, but poor child she is suffering so much.”

“ Hmmm… so our daughter will not become a doctor like us, but I am sure she is destined for greater things in life. Look at her thoughts…such noble thoughts. We should be proud of her and we must let her do what she wants, I don’t want my daughter to become a psychological wreck”, sighed Iman’s father.

The next morning in school…

“What happened? Did it work?”, asked Sutapa, Iman’s confidante.

“Hahaha…Mom and Dad told me to go for statistics if I hate dissection. They tried to show that they knew nothing about the letter but you should have seen their faces. I had written the letter carefully choosing words that would carry the desired effect.Anyway,they are good people, who love me but I couldn’t let them make the mistake of ruining my life. It would have destroyed them in turn.”

Sutapa twirled a pen between her fingers, “Hmm…anyway it was a gamble, just like tossing a coin…Heads or Tails, and there was the possibility of them not opening your letter? ”

Iman leaned towards her friend, her eyes were burning with confidence, she almost whispered “Sutapa, I am a good girl  and you must know that good things happen to good girls.”

  * A weekly programme on exploitation of animals, televised in the mid-90’s on national television.Maneka Gandhi became known as a animal rights activist during this time.

                                                        She is a good girl by Sleeper