Dear Yashwant, This is apropos the story ‘Goodbye Delhi‘ on your site. I felt moved by Mr Dharmendra’s story, also impressed by his writing skills. I consider him a straight-from-the-heart writer, and believe that his decision is a loss for the organisation he had been working with. Human resource must be nurtured and trained for any institution’s growth and Dharmendra’s seniors should learn from his experiences.
However, there is one thing in ‘Goodbye Delhi‘ which betrays a regressive element in the writer’s thoughts: Dharmendra feels that he will require Rs 20 lakh in the next 20 years when his daughter reaches a marriageable age. This sounds straight out of a low-level Hindi movie where the daughter-is-an-expensive-liability psyche is often played on, to trap tear-jerking audience. Why can he not give good education/counselling to his daughter and make her so independent that she can take care of herself in life. And not be a ‘liability’ on his parents. At some level, Dharmendra is playing in the hands of those who see daughter’s marriage a ‘big’ social responsibility and work up the boy-over-girl belief in our country. Why can’t his daughter take up the cue from Dharmendra’s elder brother and become a civil servant? Only if he hadn’t projected his fatherhood in such poor light, I would have loved to meet him before he leaves for Unnao. Never mind. He should himself be willing to learn in life. I have no other issue with him.
Probably, he didn’t mean to project what I have accused him of; probably he merely wanted to highlight his slow professional growth in the light of his ‘responsibilities’. But he did choose a bad example. I pray that he gets over his bitter experiences in Delhi and look forward to a healthy, prosperous lifestyle in Unnao.
pankaj s molekhi
