It was woman’s day last month &
what better topic will be apt than women themselves... But the balancing act is
tricky. If I write a man’s point of view on woman, I’d be inviting trouble;
might even be outcast as a male chauvinist. If I just go ahead & praise
woman, my male friends would find me odd & may suspect me having some
sinister intentions. Staying silent is safe…
…but how long can you stay silent
on the ones for whom battles were fought, kingdoms were squandered, lives were
sacrificed, epics were written, melodies were sung. You would be amazed by the
amount of instances when woman was the epicentre of most happenings. I wouldn’t
be all wrong if I concluded that women shaped the course of our history.
That bewitching beauty, those deep
dark eyes, the flowing mane, the full lips, the curves, mounds & valleys –
only a woman can attract the enormous list of adjectives defining physicality.
The mother’s love, wife’s faith,
sister’s concern, the daughter’s care are all essentially feminine in nature.
She holidays in outer space, she
heads giant financial institutions, she was instrumental in keeping the cola
giant alive, she has a whole state calling her “amma”, she’s the queen to her
British subjects, she wins medals at the global meets, she creates one of the
most popular fantasies ever, getting rich overnight, she has the whole industry
dancing to her tunes, her screen presence leaves few men gasping for breath..
Why is such a beautiful, unique
and powerful creation not getting its due?
Probably the un-fairer sex (if
that is the antonym) feels threatened by the emergence of a parallel power.
Traditionally in the Indian “culture”, the families have largely been
patriarchal. Women are usually the ones who take care of the household &
bring up children (which by itself a full time job – only thankless &
unpaid for). Over centuries this practice has become a kind of an unsaid
mandate. Now, the question is whether the woman is still willing to succumb to
this, or does she have it in her to break out of the shackles and prove her
worth…
Being the weaker sex or worse –
being the object of sex is how the society has perceived woman as – fueled
greatly by the media showcasing cases of assault, rape and domestic abuse. The
options to choose in such an environment is a) lead a subdued life full of fear
that you will be the next victim b) take on the matter full face, equip
yourself on self-defense, drag the assaulter to justice, stand for your right
and see that it is delivered.
Somebody said “behind every
successful man there is a woman”. A cleverer fellow said “behind every
unsuccessful man, there are two women.” Both the statements glorify woman-power:
to make or break the situation.
They say that an elephant needs
to be chained only initially. It grows up believing that the chains still
exist. Now even when the full grown elephant is not chained, it behaves as if
there is an imaginary chain keeping it tied.
Similarly women.
Yes, you have grown up listening
to “moral responsibilities” of women, being the “family” types, always ready
for sacrifices, caged within the four walls of the house, subjected to domestic
violence, eve-teasing, “favours” to get work done, shackled to the old world
philosophy, restricted from the so-called manly attributes…
Do not wait for the prince
charming of your dreams to come & alleviate you off all your miseries. You
are not living a fairy tale. This is a battlefield & the only way to
survive is to fight… fight for your rights, fight for your life, fight for your
freedom, fight for the respect, and fight for liberation. Fight such that it
becomes a way of life. Nobody will offer all these on a platter to you. Men are
happy the way you are… if you are not, you better wake up & start acting;
for the more you rest in such a state, the more will be the inertia building
up.
You are only limited by your
thoughts. Now you decide what thoughts do you want to nurture for yourself.
