The ‘P’ Principle

How this letter is enmeshed in the lives of women, writes Reshma Parvez.

Ever wondered about the association of the letter ‘P’ with our Pretty Princesses. Well, the ‘P’ is that indispensable letter which permeates our lives right from birth till we land on the Pyre.

The other day, my cousin broke the good news that she was Pregnant. I hugged and kissed and congratulated her only to wonder, “Another journey begins!” Literally! The journey of Puking, Prenatal sickness and the Physical Preparations of the body to accommodate the new life, not to mention the final Pain to deliver. The repercussions of this will be borne lifelong with a weak bladder and unwarranted urgencies to Pee. All this seems quite natural, but there’s a pleasant rise in the number of these PYTs who seem to be Polarised in their approach to this Prospect of Procre - ation. There are some who are quite happy being their Papa’s Princess forever while others who’ve already been swept off their feet by their charming Princes and are waiting to have their own Progenies.

There’s another group that secretly does not wish to have babies but are shy of declaring so. Why? Because they are supposed to Please this whole line of relatives Poking their noses into the lives of these newlyweds and constantly Posing the Preposterous question – “Any good news?”

From Pre-KG to Puberty, through Perfumes and Powders, and the Monday fast dedicated to the divine Phallus for a Perfect life Partner, and finally till the marriage Proposal arrives, the Path is sprinkled with Ps. And how could we forget the infamous Pads, a cyclic pattern needed for enhancing the other feminine parts as well. Did I mention about the famous selfie Pouts and Poses, an innovation of the present generation girls? Well, they too spell with a ‘P’.

The English ‘P’ has an equal companion in the Hindi ‘P’ sound for us – Putris (daughters). The Pareshaani (trouble) starts with the competition to survive given by the Putr (son) to the subjugation to various Parampara (traditions) both told and untold. We struggle to strike a balance between Padhai (education), Path (choosing our careers), Padd (designations) and Parivaar (family) as after all, we are Paraya dhan bound to walk out of our Pitaa’s (father’s) house with the Pati (husband).

The ‘P’ might tug along a girl’s life forever but the most important ‘P’ for every young girl still remains the one that spells ‘Papa’; the word is Precious, Pure and assures Protection on this Prithvi and she happily goes through this roller-coaster life with Passion and Patience in each role.