First and foremost.... yesterday was apparently Women's day!! Good luck with that. With the continued expression of 'Every dog has its day' - today's the day of 'the woman'.
Another day for fitness clubs to launch promotional campaigns....retired women to attend martial arts camp...hospitals to hold forum on women's health issues, beauty parlours to waiver prices.... all for today - Phew. What a relief?! I'm sure that all of them are glad that Women's Day happens just once a year...
Well, what's women's day to a lay-'woman' like me?!
6.30 AM - Waking up to find the newspaper under a heap of pink & purple flyers, and when I eventually find what I was looking for under all that trash.... there's more right on its front page. Aaarrgh....Chuck it!
6.45 AM - Then I walk upstairs with it...just because I love colored paper + their high resale value at the paper shop and there goes the radio - with songs saluting the various roles a woman plays in our lives...Ah aah - the same old incarnations of goddesses, daughter, sister, mother, wife, teacher, nurse, ex-president, kaam-waali bai, sheila, munni, etc...
7.00 AM - Fight ensues with mom - because i just switched off the intolerable music which was her time-manager to go to work.
7.05 AM - Dad intervenes. Om Shanti....
7.30 AM - At the breakfast table - there's peace till Dad turns on the TV. The scores of news channels loaded with 'responsible journalism' take it upon themselves to rewind us a bit on the growing atrocities in our cities against women - loaded with blood splashed graphics and countless facts & figures. It makes sense alright, probably a temporary impact - till I taste the yummy peanut chutney!!!
8.30 AM - The tornadoes have left home for work - and I begin cleaning up the mess - assisted by the servant aunty. A soft-spoken women who works despite a reluctant body just to make ends meet. Well..I noticed that this time the bruises are on her arm. Its just not her....millions out there. Whether its Women's day or not - domestic violence has no holiday. Probably the beverages corporation can shed some light on this issue....
9.30 AM - No more of TV or Radio for me. Onto check mail... Surprising!! Google has no doodle.
10.00 AM - Through the usual stuff - Ads of online dating sites on YouTube are lesser today noticeably. Flipkart's back with their ads for reduced price range in womenswear till something else struck my fancy...
----- takes a pledge on Women's Day
On the occasion of International Women's Day, superstar --- pledges that henceforth his leading actress' name would appear before his on film credit rolls.
I appreciate him in doing that much atleast. After all "change doesn't have to be big, the point is to start, with whatever is around you! " But sadly, I think its just another 'Jo tumhara hai, wo mera hai' publicity stunt.
So these are the loads of ---- that are the guest of our lives on this 'official annual festival'. Festival for whom I wonder?! I'm sure marketing gurus are already upbeat in conducting surveys and forecasting as what could happen on the next Women's day.
Having been thro' half a day of torture was enough to get me thinking. What's all this hullabalu got to do with being a woman?! The common strands among all the above business gimmicks are beauty, fitness, sex (actually, its the cheap titillation associated with it) and helplessness. Surprisingly - they are what we've made womanhood synonymous with.
"Its too late to do something about it!", pessimists say. "We can't change the way people think about us." But I've something in mind (yes....finally I'm getting to it!) Its not a discount, nor a karate class and not even sympathy. Its just a perspective... and DAMN!! It can't be bought, marketed but can be ignored or embraced as you wish.
It is as simple as this - change your vantage point. We all like pretty things, don't we?! - girls, women,even older women who are good-looking. My radar is constantly on the look-out for such heavenly creations... I've personally quoted 'A thing of beauty is a joy forever' a million times when my eyes feast upon them..... Then just imagine what guys are put thro' in such situations....Its animal instinct after all!
Contrastingly there are prejudices against women who are not appealing - in the way they look, the clothes they wear. Like for example - I've been stopped a couple of times from speaking with the sleazy prof. for a class issue by the guys - (No... not in any chivalrous awakening on their side!!) - but to let the prettier ladies pass by and get the work done instead. I don't pity the guys but the women around them....who let this happen! Their mom's, sisters, girlfriends and even classmates like us - we laughed it off then - probably happy that the problem was resolved.
We market ourselves as showpieces (bimbos to be exact!!) on the advice of men for the so-called general good!! Is that all that is to us?! Personally... I've been traumatized by such situations, demoralized by my own self for having been a silent spectator. Are women just to woo men...? is the question. If NO ('Not only', 'Maybe', 'I don't know', 'Can't help it' etc..included) is the answer, then why the hell do we let this happen?!
Change too is in our hands! Seems very far fetched & impossible but my perspective states -Try and look beyond beauty that's just skin-deep. Make men in our lives cultivate this attitude from scratch. Try....Just TRY not to judge women by their looks. It is difficult because image is a powerful thing. But it really is the key to a lot of deadlocks in the society.
Desh Ubal Raha Hai!! These initial hiccups - violence & disparity against women is a strong reaction by our age-old male-dominated society to the women turning from 'Ghar Ka Maal' to 'Gali Ka Maal'. They are a jealous lot after all (like most of us...)
There's no better time to infuse this perspective into our day-to-day lives and the millions of situations that cripple the essence of 'being feminine.'
So...on that note I leave you with this video on a similar prejudice at another level. We are experts in judging a third-party situation, so have a look at this!!
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