Today I came across this mind-boggling news wherein a boy in Mumbai has sued his parents (who incidentally happen to be lawyers) for giving birth to him without his consent. This instantly reminded me of a poem by Harivansh Rai Bachhan, one which he wrote in reply to an angst ridden query by his then young son Amitabh, Why did you give birth to me?
The legendary poet in his inimitable style penned the lines which when translated mean that he didn’t have an answer to this question since his father had not asked him before bringing him in this world, nor had his grandfather asked his father.
But he advised his son to make a new beginning and seek permission from his sons before giving birth to them. The lines bring a smile to ones face at the ludicrous nature of the query and a befitting reply to the same.
How irrational it is to expect parents to seek permission from their unborn children? But this case does exactly that. Howsoever absurd it might appear, but this was to happen.
If a person is being subjected to physical, mental and emotional turbulence-that are necessary concomitants of human life, then the person should have a right to challenge the decision of subjecting him to such complications,
especially since the decision was taken unilaterally, without consulting him. Just because we went through the business of this exotic thing called ‘life’ unquestioningly,
does that give us a right to put another through the same grind of life and its related trials and tribulations? Just because the society has been working in a set manner for long, does that mean that the established practices can never be challenged and we have to continue with the same in an unmindful manner?
