அன்பு வாழ்கென் றமைதியில் ஆடுவோம்,
ஆசைக் காதலைக் கைகொட்டி வாழ்த்துவோம்;
துன்பம் தீர்வது பெண்மை யினாலடா!
சூரப் பிள்ளைகள் தாயென்று போற்றுவோம்!

[Let us dance in serenity in praise of Love,
And applaud in praise of loving Eros;
Woman annihilates man's woes!
Let us acclaim her the mother of heroic children.]

-Mahakavi Bharathi in praise of women

I felt a stabbing pain when I read
this article about parents giving away female children to Cradle Baby centres. As a girl, it affects me that baby girls are given away primarily because of the economic burden that has come to be associated with them; it annoys me that an event like marriage that happens 24-25 years after a baby is born determines its fate in childhood; it annoys me that people are so resigned to the eventuality of dowry even a quarter century from now; Above all, it absolutely pains me to see healthy parents consigning a newborn to a life of loneliness, misery and the pyschological feeling of not being wanted! If parents can do this to a child, what sort of faith would anyone have in love??!
Ironic how it goes against all the virtues of love, affection, motherhood that Bharathiyar celebrates in his poem in praise of womanhood! :(