Mahinder Kaur, 70, travelled all the way from Hisar district of Haryana to meet her old friends at the Mela Dhiyaan Da -- a festival of the daughters, by the daughters and for the daughters - at the government high school Benra on Sunday.
More than 2,500 women, including dhiyans (daughters of the village), took part in the festival, organised to help the daughters of the village meet their old friends, years after they got married to different places.
"I met my childhood friends after decades, and shared how we used to play together," said Bant Kaur, recounting: "Time has changed fast. Most of my childhood friends have now become grandmothers. The event took us back to the childhood."
Like Bant Kaur, about 1,000 women of the village who have moved to other places after their marriage expressed their happiness over meeting their friends, and relived their good old days.
Besides bringing old friends to a platform, the event was also organised to appeal the people to change their mindset towards girls, at a time when incidents of female foeticide are on the rise in the country, especially in Punjab and its neighbouring Haryana.
The state (Punjab) is suffering with skewed sex ratio due to killing of girls in the womb, said Mandeep Kaur, one of the organisers.
The participants thanked young organisers Mandeep Kaur, Omjeet Kaur and others, who toiled to make the event successful.
{{/usCountry}}The participants thanked young organisers Mandeep Kaur, Omjeet Kaur and others, who toiled to make the event successful.
{{/usCountry}}They were a group of 20 girls who collected addresses and phone numbers of the daughters of the village who have been married outside the village, she added.
The event featured a brilliant combination of 'boliyan', folk songs of over four generations.