(Those boys who play with girls should cut their nose with knife)
So, this is how boys and girls are kept separated from each other since their childhood.
In Sindhi, we had this:
Chhokari-yan main chhokro
goonh jo tokro
(A boy among girls is like dustbin)
Normally, girls are kept separated from boys from a tender age ( 7 year girl in rural Punjab as per book Punjab ki aurat).
Did you observe this segregation around you? When you were asked not to mingle with girls / boys and what was the methods adapted by your elders (how they communicated).
laRkiyoN ke saath khelne waale laRkoN ko yaa un mardoN ko jo zanaan KhaanoN meN paRe rahte haiN unko hamaare 'ilaaqe meN “mehraa” kahte haiN. mehroN ko aksar log nazar andaaz karte haiN aur unheN social isolation kaa shikaar honaa paRtaa hai.
hamaare gaaoN meN to aisaa nahiiN thaa…ham log bachpane meN saath hii khelaa karte the.
btw, meraa gaaoN ‘Paris of villages’ kahaa jaataa thaa
In my late teens looking at a girl walking on a street was like looking at a box of your favourite mithai moving in front of you but you cannot do anything about it
In our Muhalla we were used to play with girls but when we were in 8th grade, some old men and women start saying you guys have grown up now so you should stop playing together. When we were in 9th Grade then suddenly Girls were ordered not to play with us. I’ve remembered at that day all girls first and last time took permission from their parents and we all sit together and give so much abuses to all old men.