My Daughter's Barbie Doll Poem by Bharati Nayak

In a mother's eye her own child is the most beautiful child in the world.To me my daughter is no less than a barbie doll.When she was small, I used to doll her up beautifully and loved to look at her
dressed up in beautiful dresses.

She is my second child and so most of her toys were her elder brother's used ones.The gifts she gets on her birthday or on other occasions were usurped by her elder brother.

Once going through a market place, she exclaimed and looked greedily at the rows of barbie dolls adoring the front of the gift shop.She refused to leave the place and scrutinized each and every barbie doll of that shop.As i was in a hurry, I promised to buy her a beautiful barbie doll of her choice on her next birthday.

The dolls were in a variety of fashionable dresses.One who wore a hat, One dressed up as a nurse, one with a vanity bag and a mini skirt.Each one seemed to be a trend setter in fashion world.She spotted a beautiful doll wearing a pink top with a bow and a green mini skirt, holding a vanity bag.
With much persuasion my daughter left the place.When her birthday approached I took my daughter to the same shop to purchase her the chosen barbie doll.Oh, the doll was gone.It was already sold.

She tried to choose from other stuff but no one came up to her choice.She refused to buy any doll on that occasion.

Before her next birthday, I wished that i must buy a barbie for her.But at that time her father had gone on tour to out of station.Over phone she had requested her father to bring her a barbie doll as a birthday gift from Madras

Her father scanned through some nearby market places and looked for dolls.He chose a very cute dancing doll for his lovely daughter.The doll was wearing dazzling woolen skirt and a green blouse
.When the key was set she danced to the music 'Chal chhaiyan, chhaiyan..'He was delighted to get such
a beautiful doll for his daughter.When he returned from Madras, my daughter eagerly took out the box
and unwrapped it.Oh, it was not a barbie doll, though a very beautiful doll.

So her wish to own a barbie remained unfulfilled.Moreover, the dancing doll interested my son much more than my daughter.He examined the mechanism that made the doll dance and sing.He unscrewed the machine which was attached to the hip portion of the doll and tried to unravel the secrets of her dancing and music ability.As a result the doll stopped dancing and singing.After repeated experiments on her, the doll was broken.

For her next birthday, I was determined to purchase a barbie doll for my daughter.So with money in my purse, I went to market and bought a doll for her.I returned home with much pleasure and thought, my daughter would be surprised and give me thanks for the gift.When I took out the doll and showed her I could hardly see any pleasure on her face.Oh, it was not an actual barbie doll.It was a 'Betty doll', the Indian version of of barbie.As the doll was purchased from a distant shop I left the idea of exchanging it.

Then I thought I must purchase a barbie doll for my daughter and gift her on any day, not necessarily on a birthday.

Once going through a market I spotted the same doll, which was once chosen by my daughter.I enquired about the price.Oh, I had not got enough money in my purse at that time to purchase it. I was unhappy that I could not buy a mere barbie for my daughter though I have bought her many other gifts.

So while going with my daughter on one occasion I insisted that she must buy a barbie from a gift shop.I had enough money in my bag.But my daughter looked at me and smiled, 'No Mama, I don't need a barbie now.I have grown out of barbie age.Please purchase me a Sherlock Homes or a Harry Potter book'