“Where are you, still?”,
“Mom, I’ll be at home within 30 minutes”,
“OK, come back before your father comes home.”
And she couldn’t come even after 1 hour, because she was stuck up in a meeting. This time, her dad called him, and she was frightened. How would she answer him? She was already running late by about an hour. And by the time she reaches home, it would be about 2 hours late than the time she promised.
“Where are you? It’s been 8.30 PM”,
“I was really stuck up papa, will be definitely back by 9.00 PM”,
And her dad hung up the phone without uttering a single word.
She was scared, tensed and unsure of how she would face her dad. She had been out of home for about 4 hours now as she had went to an event along with her male friend. She had promised her mom that she would come back by 7.30 PM.
Before sending her, her mom had reminded her several times, “You need to come back by 7.30 anyhow. I talked to your dad and he has allowed a relaxation of only 30 minutes post 7 pm. You know his concern about you, so please don’t disappoint him.”
“Yeah mom, I know this. And I too don’t want to breach the relaxation. As soon as the event gets over, I’ll be back at home.”
And for another uncountable times, she wasn’t back home on time. It wasn’t as if she deliberately breached the relaxation, but just that her meeting continued a little longer than expected.
So finally, she was heading home now, nervous, scared and frightened. She didn’t know if her father would be angry.
“What questions would he ask? How would I reply?”, she kept thinking while driving her vehicle.
“But no, the reason is genuine, he’ll understand. He loves me more than anybody else and is concerned only about me. So yeah he’ll understand my genuineness.”
With a whole world of thoughts in her mind, tension in her head and scared eyes, she entered her home. Her dad was sitting in the drawing room and was watching some news on TV as she greeted him.
“Papa, sorry late ho gayi, actually event thoda lamba chala”,
Her father didn’t react. He ignored as if he didn’t listen anything. That frightened her even more.
“Really sorry, papa, aage se aisa nahi hoga”,
“Go to your room, change your clothes and have your dinner”, he said only this to her.
Later that night, she woke up at about 12 pm to bring water bottle from the kitchen, when she saw the lights of her mom dad’s room ON. They were conversing about something.
“You shouldn’t put so much restrictions on her. She could be genuine, event could have been delayed genuinely”,
“I have nothing to suspect about her genuineness. I know she is right in her saying. But you know what, I am worried about her surroundings and the world we are living in.”
His father continued,
“I am worried about her. She was with a male friend of her about whom we really don’t know much. We don’t know his intentions, about his family, the event in which they went, the ambience of that café, and whether that boy was genuine enough or not.”
“See, we know our daughter is matured enough and smart enough to deal with this problems, but you never know who all could trap her.”
I know, many of the girls don’t like their parents to put some restrictions on them regarding time or place etc., but mom-dad do it out of their concern for you, not because they are suspecting you.
Our parents always cover us by an extra layer of protection, that is very hard to break. We may be good friends with somebody, but our parents don’t trust them till they meet them in personally or know them well.
And even if they know them, they find it hard to trust them so excessively that they can allow their sweet daughter to be with him at so late in the night.
Yeah, I too think that daughters shouldn’t be restricted so much that they can’t even be outside home after 8 PM. Sometimes time isn’t so in your control that you can be at a desired place at a desired time always. Relaxation must be given to the restrictions if the children (and not only daughter!) has given some reasons that seem genuine.
Another thing, that I highly disagree with Indian parents is their mentality that these restrictions are there for a girl only till she gets married. After she is married, it is her husband’s discretion to set the restrictions for the girl. Really? She would be even more restricted once she gets married. Let her enjoy her life before marriage – so that she can cherish that moments.
I wouldn’t say that girls should be allowed to do whatever they want. I also wouldn’t say that mom and dad should put some huge restrictions.
But there should be something that can be beneficial on both sides. A girl should be allowed to enjoy but with some advice (and not order), from her mom and dad. Since mom and dad are the best evaluators of somebody, if their instinct asks the girl to remain distant from a boy, it shouldn’t be neglected.
At the same time, the girls should understand that their parents aren’t becoming a barrier. Their concern towards her is becoming a barrier – WHICH IS REMOVABLE BY MUTUAL CONVERSATION AND TRUST.