While searching for meaning, why rob life of fun?
Taru Bahl TAARIKA was a playful and unselfconscious child till she attained puberty. Overnight, she became guarded. Her father had to push her outdoors. His colleagues cribbed about their teenaged children giving them nightmares and here was a child who was happier being at home. Taarika never spoke out of turn, always respected elders and rarely made demands. Was this behaviour a way of seeking approval or was it a result of conditioning which expected conformity or was it to protect herself from rejection? These were questions she sought answers to many years down the line. Her mother worried that her quiet little girl was much more mature than her age. The manner in which she devoured books had curbed the lighthearted playfulness which most children her age had. Further, the twists and turns of her life compounded this seriousness. Her husband was a senior bureaucrat and a man of few words. Her in-laws were academicians, who were more comfortable while pontificating on world events
