From Farrukh Dhondy’s
Grannies, Groins and Growing Up
A Further Education
I
Mamawaji said, "Now you’ve done with school
Stay home and learn to cook and clean and sew.”
Those were the last things mum wanted to know
As they would lead to marriage to some fool
By arrangement and meetings of the clans
To compare their prospects and horoscopes
And mum wanted a different life — her hopes
Were all to do with academic plans.
But granddad was adamant. "Girls don’t go
To college — they become child-bearing wives.”
Then ma would argue using famous lives
Of well-known Parsi women. Even so,
My grandpa’s word was, in that household, law
Which they,......