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Punjab village gears up for ‘festival of daughters’
Sarbjit Dhaliwal
Tribune News Service

Festivities on Feb 2 Lobana village, near Nabha, will host the festival on Feb 2 All married daughters of the village have been invited Four generation of daughters are expected to gather at the village on that day The older ones will be in the 80 plus age group while the younger ones will be in their 20s

Chandigarh, January 27
A visit to her native Lobana village this time will be a novel experience for 85-year-old Parsin Kaur. Married about 65 years ago at Bharthala village, about 30 km from the native village, Parsin has been invited by the natives to take part in the “mela dheean da” (festival of daughters) on February 2 at the village. She will not be alone to enjoy such an experience. So many others like her will be there to enjoy the festivities.

At a short distance from Nabha, Lobana is a non-descript village of Punjab. At present, it is humming with an unusual activity. The village is being prepared to play host to about their 800 married daughters. All married daughters of the village have been invited to attend the festival. With 895 women for 1,000 men, Punjab figures among states where gender ratio is highly skewed and cases of female foeticide are common. “Women have been on the receiving end in society. They have been facing rough times. The festival is being organised to give them the respect they deserve for being a crucial part of society,” said Gurmeet Singh, an organisers.

Being a big village, Lobana has three panchayats. All three panchayats have unanimously decided to hold such a festival. All educated girls of the village have been given the responsibility to organise it. However, all logistical support such as distribution of invitation cards in about 400 villages, where daughters are married and living at present, is being provided by the village youngsters.

Interestingly, the festival does not belong to any particular community. All married daughters - they may belong to poor sections of society such as Dalits or other marginalised communities - have been invited to participate. No politician has been invited. No help from the government has been sought. Village girls have collected Rs 50,000 from the village inhabitants.

“There will be marriage-like atmosphere in the village on that day. Lunch will be hosted for them at a common place. There will be a cultural programme. Besides Gidha, there will be a play with a message not to abort female foetus but respect the women, who are creators of the society.

Besides, there will be brief lectures on the issues related to women”, said Charanjit Kaur, in charge of the festivities.

The idea was floated at village gram sabha meeting four months ago. A door-to-door survey was conducted to gather the names of the women and to prepare lists for sending invitations.