It's the fire in my eyes,the flash in my teeth;
The swing in my waist and the joy in my feet....I am a woman...a phenomenal woman....!!!!
No, I am not talking about Michelle Obama....This may come across as a neatly phrased,imminently powerful and subtly strong lines describing the so called "woman of Substance".These may actually look the best on cards meant to be gifted to these "important women of our lives" on Women's Day ,to, may be, elude them,may be, convince them or may be to just give them that twitter of hope that they are treated on par with men....I see women languishing on my televison sets every now and then.Some are weeping in their "maykaas" perpetually while some are making elaborate preparations to head off to their "sasuraals" where they can languish more... some are already there in "sasuraals",all decked up with extensive jewellery but heading off to prisons and dungeons ..everywhere.Thats the whole issue.The area around some women is so glossy and glamorous that one feels they are the new queens and empressess of the new world.With some women,you really don know what's the story.Women have learnt to live in different spectra..some vye for power,some for money ,some for existence...same as men...but one lil thing separates them-the constant struggle to fight for dignity.This fight might be as simple as Rihanna's fight against Chris Brown's violence on her,or her subsequent subjugation to it, or my maid's determination to learn to read and write so that she saves her money in the money,away from the prowling eyes of her wayward,drunkard husband.Women trust other women more than they trust their husbands.All my maids have an agony in common.They get beaten up,ritually every other day.
Travel down to the suburban areas areas of Tamil Nadu someday.An interesting,infact hilarious sight awaits you...At nights you see huge,macho men,clad in dhotis tied high,exposing their long chaddis ,beating up their wives...wait untill the dawn the next morning.the situation now gets reversed.It's now victory time for the same women to bash up their useless husbands.The women in south are strong, better educated than their counterpart in other parts of the country,and they talk,they can go on talking and they talk sense 70% of the time...They want to be independent and they want a life of dignity.They have the urge to live a life of expressions and freedom and they try hard for that,even if they need to break ties with their husband.They speak about their rights with such intensity and passion that you get intimidated.Tamilndadu has the highest percentage of women employment. You see women labourers,domestic women workers,even fisherwomen,nurses,women making tea ,frying eggs on bus stand stalls,selling "mallipoos n kankambharams(gajras),roses,kadalai(peanuts),buttermilk" ....in trains,buses,on the roadside.The state has employed a huge number of traditional water harvesting methods that requires a lot of human labour.A bus ride in the suburban part of the city will treat you to the most glorious sight of the bucolic fete..Women with knee lenght sarees,bent down,rapidly picking up weeds and collecting them on straw baskets that they mke during the nights,while their husband hunt for the little fishes that might have strayed in the slushy streams..
I remember once when we lived in the city,we wanted to go to the beach one day and as we waited or a rickshaw,we prepared ourselves for the expected haggling and nonsensical bargainning with the very 'dangerous,foul-mouthed rickshawkara"..to our bewilderment,the one that stopped infront of us,had two ladies on the driver's seat,we got in immediately.We didnt mind paying them a little extra .We almost emoted the theory of relativity..How cool and bold of them..We were happy with the sight actually and there we journeyed,,along the roads of adyar and besant nagar upto the beach,two pretty ladies in the front earning their way out in this profession reseverved initally only for men,while five prettier ladies sqeezed ,sat and talked all the way behind..Women Empowerment,women Emanicipation....? Ya....as they say,the under all glimmer and shine,lies the truth,the forbidden reality...
We had gone to Spencer Plaza yesterday after a long time.I love outings,especially the short ones,the eveining ones which refresh you and that if you have Rishabh and Ridhima with you,you could go mad,with Ridhima actually being dumb and sweet most of the times and Rish with his N95 ,showing us random pics or we clicking our puzu pics with it ....As we were discussing the mystic,vocal sounds that one of my friend produces when she's asleep,on the Egmore station,we heard a quick thundering sound,n then it came again,,and again,with every time,da fierceness increased..it was not the the engine breaking down,it was a man,decently dressed beating up a gal sitting on the bench.He was on the phone a short while ago and god knows wat discovery or realisation had advanced upon him that he was violently thrashing up the gal,who looked much younger than him.....People on the station stared at the tenacity of the situation.some ridiculed,some shared pathetic glances at each other, some just walked away........and some just stood on thinking...........I was hurt,I was angry but I didnt know how to react.I was scared too....and I felt enslaved.......The term "weaker sex" wasn't coined by a chunk of high society women who wanted to overwhelm the males by playing the 'less privileged'.As the train left the station, I looked at the gal,she had her face buried in her hands.She was shaking and there was nobody to hold her,shame on me too!!!
A journalist is killed in the the capital and the chief minister feels she invited her fate cos she was "too adventurous"..Someday wen I go to office,with my face wrapped in a dupatta,people call me "taliban"...There was sum "talibanization" in Mangalore pubs happening sumtime back and Ms Renuka Chowdhury was displaying her theatre skills all over again,in an improvised,appealing manner on all leading news channels.And there's yet another "Moderate Taliban" according to president Obama,which isnt all that extremist with just 5 % of them being high handed muslims(This amazing statistic was the result of Joe Biden's exhaustive research on the same topic....).Too many talibans to talk about,yes only talk about.We all are veterans at talking..that's it...It all seems preposterous now,even to debate upon.
Violence against women has always been an unpleasant reality.It happens all over the globe.The victims,surpsingly range from the most common of households,to the lower strata,and also the high earning,champagne-drinking league...Many a reigning beauty queen's face has been scarred by the ugly punches of infamously famous yet popular men....I won't preach soultions to this vice,simply cos I know women would actually not come out with it in the open.As long as they remain landlocked in their plateau of so called moral subjugations,compromises and "protecteion of honour", no God would ever help them to throw away that Adam's rib in them and help them grow their own,individually and independently.This whole racket of "women liberation" fails for me when a women's dignity is questioned and silenced with the raise of one "powerful" hand.A woman is no parabola that can only either block a man's retreat into her or succumb to his advances.They aren't mere products who get flogged when religions and faith enter their testing zones.They are just age old victims of opression who,unfortunately live in close association, sometimes forcefully,sometimes out of their own consent,with their opressors fighting silent fraternizing battles with them for dignified living,apologizing for their strengths .Pain for most of them is not an undeserved punishment,it's just natural heritage...That's a soul wrenching tragedy of this whole impediment...For all you silent men out there supposed to be listening.........never let the hand that holds you,ever go down............Women might come across as feeble,weak creatures but remeber a teabag goes strong wen dipped in hot water....Given the right place,right situation ,right time,and right set of men,women might rule the world sumday with dignity and indentity and make it better,probably much better than what lies today!!!!
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