गीता -Sangeeta was मधुबाला– Madhubala before she got married. There is this tradition of changing the girl’s name by would be in-laws according to the alphabet the priest suggests at the time of marriage.
In one of the conversations, ललिता -Lalita (Bhuri kaki’s youngest daughter in law who was प्रेमलता– Premalata before her marriage) mentioned that it is considered to be auspicious to have names according to the alphabet suggested by the priest. While the parents of a girl may do that at the time of the birth, the in-laws make sure they do it again at the time of marriage so that there is enough compatibility between the couple. She also mentioned how marriage transforms a girl; she becomes part of another family, which will eventually be her family and her identity. So, changing the name is a kind of reinforcement of those changes.
Coming back to Sangeeta, she is thirty, thirty-two years old. Again, it is based on the information in the bank account. She has no idea what her name means whether Sangeeta or Madhubala. She heads the Dinanath Self Help Group (SHG) in Kharveda along with Kachri. She has studied till class 5 in her primary years. Confident and fun loving, Sangeeta loves to talk. Mother of three – eldest Heena, her daughter got married few days before I first met her. The other two are Akshit and Dharmesh, school going boys, eleven or twelve years old. Her husband, mother-in-law and father-in-law all work in Ahmedabad at the construction sites. They visit her during the festivals and the harvesting season. It is in the city that Sangeeta watched her first movie” मैंने प्यार किया” – Maine pyar kiya. She is a great admirer of Salman Khan especially because of his बॉडी– baady ( body). The other day I was wondering how Sangeeta would react to the news of her favourite hero going to jail and then managed to get out of it as well; how will she react to the various charges on her idol; whether she will be able to maintain righteousness while reacting to this context. Next time I visit Kharveda, I would love to speak to her about it. Or maybe I should call her one of these days.
For that matter, what, how, when, which version of a news reaches these far-flung villages and how it is understood is worth thinking about. I clearly remember daughter of Kachri from Semalia asking me about the December 16th, 2012 Nirbhaya rape case and how most of them feel Delhi to be an unsafe rather a bad place to be in because girls get raped over there. Yes, Delhi is unsafe but then this is not the only thing to know.