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men to be tempted with money before they agreed to marry? Why does the governmentallow this horrid system to go on?” she enquired. She then learnt that legislation had beenpassed banning the giving or receiving of dowry but the practice still continued in secret.She found out that there were many women’s organisations that were fighting against thedowry system and attempting to awaken the minds of people. Once, she chanced upon anadvertisement in the newspapers appealing for donations for a women’s organisationwhich was doing good social work. Aditi was moved and she immediately took out fromher piggy-bank the fifteen rupees that she had saved, went to the post-office, filled out amoney order from and mailed the money to the Secretary of the organisation. She feltgood ‘inside’ after that. It is true, isn’t it, that it is only when we have real concern forsomething, a genuine feeling about something that we act? Can you think of instances inyour life when you have acted upon feeling very strongly about something?Next, Aditi started finding out whatever information she could get about girls andwomen, both from newspapers and magazines and from uncles and aunts she talked to.She discovered that far more boys than girls were going to school, particularly in villages.Many people still considered a boy an asset and a girl a liability to the family. Girls did agreat deal of work, from even five years of age, with the mother in the fields gatheringfire-wood, sweeping floors, drawing water from the wells, caring for baby brother orsister and so on. That is why they could not go to school, and even if they did for a fewmonths, they dropped out because there was work at home. Their mothers had to work onthe farms too along with the father. That is the lot of our poor, especially the poor farmerswho comprise the vast majority of our population. Aditi’s question was: “Hasn’t everygirl a right to education and how can we give it to her?”Once she attended a women’s meeting with her aunt who was also interested in suchthings and found them discussing the status of women in society and how, inspite of thefact that Indian women had progressed very well in various professions and one of themhad even risen to be the Prime Minister of the country, generally, women had less voicethan men in all decisions about the home, the education of children, their future and soon, or even in society. Women workers in factories and cities were paid less wages thanmen for the same work. Several cases of injustice were brought to light at that meeting.So involved was Aditi that her mother had to remind her that she was still a pupil atschool and so had to wait a few years, till she had completed her education in theUniversity before taking active part in social work. “Use this time to prepare yourself,”she said. “Find out as much as you can and be ready to play your pan, when the timecomes,” she advised.Do you feel strongly about any of the things happening in our country or in the world?Have you the correct facts? Try to get the correct information about social injustice,about poverty and illiteracy, about ill health and minds alive with questions concerningthem.17. On MoneyMohan’s father was in the Merchant Navy. His task was to sail across the oceans forabout twenty days in a month or sometimes for two or three months at a stretch, carryingmerchandise for companies that were trading with other countries. Mr. Singh liked his