This is a beautiful book based in rural Punjab. The protagonist Mitwa narrates the story in first person. Her mother named her Mitwa, meaning friend. She is the youngest with two older brothers. Her parents are farmers and work in the field—watering, sowing and harvesting.
Mitwa feels her father loves her brothers more than he loves her. She has finished school but has no freedom to go anywhere. When her father buys a tractor, her brothers learn to drive it but she is not allowed to. Then one day when her father has a heart attack she takes him to the hospital on the tractor and saves his life.
This lovely picture book deals with the ‘adult’ subject of discrimination. Kamla Bhasin dwells subtly on discrimination against girl child and brings in the issue of female infanticide.
The line illustrations in black and white are good.
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