I had employed a young , pretty girl as a helper . Her name was Shalu . Due to the violent nature of her husband and brother in law she had shifted with her daughters aged four and five years to her parents house .

One day Shalu remarked that her younger daughter was running fever for more than seven days . ” Have you shown her to a doctor ? Has he asked for a blood test which has to be done on the third day of continuous high fever ? ” , I enquired worriedly . Happily eating paneer , daal and chapati , without showing any anxiety she replied the doctor being consulted was very expensive .  The next day Shalu sought leave to purchase some local medicine for her ailing child seeming to be very effective .

Her negligent attitude landed the tiny tot for a surgery in a hospital . Appalled by the non – existence in any degree of motherly concern for her sick baby I reprimanded her . ” Did you take your infants permission for giving birth to her ? Was any planning done for the child’s expenses ? You don’t even know how to cook food , what about right meals for the infant ? Are you aware of a mother’s responsibility at all ? All you know is how to look fashionable and eat well by yourself ! ”

This resulted in my meditating on the necessity of counselling the younger generation , particularly in poor clusters on the essentials of marriage and desirability of compulsory precautions to be taken before raising a family .

Going a step further , if retired elderly people having time to spare would share the onus of spreading such awareness using counselling as a tool radiant future would await new – borns and supplement their healthier growth and development !