3. Explanation of Part I, Paragraph 3-4

Explanation:

 

Santosh was not born in a very underprivileged family who could not afford their children's education. In Haryana, most villages had landowners who based their life on farming, selling the products etc. and were affluent. Children from the villages usually go to the cities to pursue education, as they usually meet the standards providing a different exposure. But Santosh's parents did not send her to the city even if they could afford her education in New Delhi, which is the nearest city and is only 3 hours away. This could be owing to the fact that they did not feel it was safe for a girl to stay in a residential school outside her home.

 

Santosh, therefore, went to a local village school near her home in the initial stages of her life. But she was not any normal girl who would settle for what was only offered to her. Although she had to accept her parent's choice, she quietly waited for the right moment to change the situation. She realised that complaining about something not happening in life and accepting it as fate will not take a person to greater heights. Instead, one must grab the right opportunity at the right time. She waited for an opportunity to act and convince her parents. This moment came when she turned sixteen. This was the age when most girls in the village were married off. Santosh knew that it meant a great deal to her parents. Although she was least interested in getting married, she threatened that she would never marry if she was not sent to the city to receive the proper kind of education.

 

 

Santosh knew very well to transform a stressful situation into an opportunity. Any person, given the situation, would focus on convincing the parents not to get them married off. But that would only strengthen the parent's decision regarding the marriage. Santosh giving them an option to either send her to the city or forget about getting her married made the parents think. She did not want to get married at a young age without receiving proper education, as this would make her dependant on her husband for all financial and emotional needs. She understood that education is really important for young girls to be happy and independent. When her parents refused to pay for her studies in the city, she made up a bold decision to work part-time to pay school fees. This determination made her parents recede and agree to pay.

 

Words with difficult meaning: