Isn’t it mine to Take

मैं नहीं जानती थी, कि मैं कमज़ोर और कमसिन  हूँ

तो झट जाकर दूध खींच लायी

मुझसे दोगुने क़द के बालक से

वो रोता, मैं दूध पीती

वो बोतल जो मुझे नायाब लगी

बस झट जाकर खींच लायी

जैसे हनुमान सूरज निगल गया था

क्योंकि मैं नहीं जानती थी

कि मैं कमज़ोर और कमसिन थी

This painting is of my daughter when she was three and she snatched the bottle from a 5 year old boy because it appeared new to her. She hadn't seen a milk bottle before because I used to give her milk via glass and spoon and sippers, a non-standard approach, but I never had to boil bottle nipples because of this. It is amazing to me that we think women are the weaker sex, but if you look at any toddler playground, girl children are sometimes as rowdy if not more as the boy child. It is we and society that ask girls to behave in a certain way, preventing them from using their muscles— which follow a 'use it or lose it' principle— and hence, they never fully develop. This happens because girls are not allowed to be as wild and explorative in their physical play as boys are permitted to be.