I have to say we are the only medical college in Bangladesh that has a two day weekend. When the fifth year days near up, the second day of the weekend gets consumed by lectures and wards. But for now, the two day weekend is bliss in its own way. Nobody visits the hospital during this time unless you need to get some blood tests done or fix an appointment with a doctor.
So I was waiting in an air conditioning room for the blood drawl process. A very pretty lady caught my eyes. Bengali girls are very pretty in their own ways, the same I cannot say for men. She was carrying this over sized baby in her arms. I am assuming that she is 19-20 years old, judging by the shape of the pelvis. Not that I can actually judge by the looks of the pelvis, I am just stating that women’s age can be determined by the size of the pelvis. This is my forensic medicine knowledge that is talking.
Now, let me take you back to this woman. She seems really young for her age. Her husband, I am assuming to be in his 30′s, this I am purely guessing by the amount of crease that he had on his forehead. And so this made me wonder, people marry according to age and age is a huge factor. The guy has to be elder, about 5-10 years elder than the girl. You rarely see this pattern of women who marry men of the same age. How many people do you know who have married someone who is of the same age?
The other point that I seemed to notice in that women was that she was exhausted, assuming by the deep dark circles around her eyes. I kept wondering, anemia? Or a new pregnancy? Well most people rely on a technique called lactational amenorrhea. When the baby starts sucking the mother’s milk, the sucking action inhibits some hormones called FSH and LH that usually cause ovulation and hence the mother is less likely to get pregnant. I kept wondering, did this technique fail and henceforth, she is here for her regular antenatal check up?
Beneath those dark circles, I see a silent pain. I usually can tell when one has a pain, by the look of the body language, attitude towards one another etc, usually I stay silent for the other person to open up to me. But yes, I saw a trapped girl, this is what I say when I see young girls, who get married at a very young age.
In the olden times, I meant the last few decades ago, people taught their daughters that, the sole reason why you should live in this world is to please your husband, look after the house and to look after the husband’s parents. They imprint these psychological stories in the girls mind and henceforth she does not know what life is actually about.
Even in the 21st century, you see girls getting married at a young age, giving birth, and settling life to low expectations. When will this end? When can we see girls moving above marriages and husbands? When?
