Kaushiki

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“Who told you to wear this pink saree tonight? Don’t you have any other sarees which can match your complexion? For God’s sake, this was my boss’s party and you ruined it by appearing like a clown in front of all my colleagues.”

“But it was a gift from my baba and he…”

“Stop all these bullshit now. The truth is you want to show yourself as someone who can carry every colour no matter what. Isn’t it? Trying to act smart and beautiful which you aren’t!”

Since the day Arijit got married to Kaushiki, he wasn’t really fond of her. It was an arranged marriage and Kaushiki was the daughter of Arijit’s father’s childhood friend. She was born and brought up in Malda, a small town in West Bengal. She was the only daughter of Amitesh Babu, who belonged to a zamindar’s family. Kaushiki completed her graduation from a local college in Malda and soon after she got married to Arijit. A bubbly and a chirpy girl that she was before her marriage were lost somewhere in the ruthlessness of the tough city, Kolkata. And what was her mistake? Well, she was dark and not so attractive!

Arijit’s past relationships were not successful and he had to give in to his ailing father’s last wish of getting married to his friend’s daughter. Arijit couldn’t say no and no matter how unwilling he was, he kept the last wish of his father. The marriage was a lavish one but as destiny had it, Arijit’s father died a month after their marriage. The first night of Kaushiki and Arijit was not romantic at all. Kaushiki had almost slept waiting for her husband at around 3 AM. Arijit arrived at around 4 in the morning and he forced himself on Kaushiki, shaking her up of her sleep. It was a ritual for Arijit but Kaushiki was terrified that night.Arijit was the handsome hunk in his college group and all his past girlfriends were hot. His definition of hot was a fair skinned girl though. The colour of Kaushiki’s skin was the primary reason behind his disgust for her. It’s been a year since they are married and it was for the first time that Kaushiki had gone out for a party with her husband. Arijit wasn’t ready to take her but his boss and colleagues were adamant to meet their ‘bhabhi’. Arijit had no choice!

“Just because you are here with me tonight I couldn’t even enjoy the party properly. I mean, look at you! You can’t even speak proper English and I had to remain glued to you at the party to speak on behalf of you. I am soon going to get a promotion and will become the Senior Marketing Manager of my company. No matter how much I hate to believe this but the truth is you are my wife now. At least learn to behave. The whole day you tire yourself by doing all the household chores and then you sit with your novels, that too the Bengali ones. At least take up a course or something and get groomed.”

Arijit had spoken all these at one breath while driving through the empty roads of Kolkata while coming back home from the party. It was around 1 AM and Kaushiki was blankly staring outside, not answering anything to her husband. Since the day she got married, she tried everything to woo her husband. He took care of him as a wife does but she still can’t remember a day when Arijit had spoken to her nicely or even looked at her with admiration.

“Have you always been this meek? I mean, didn’t you have friends before marriage? I know you didn’t have a boyfriend and it’s out of your league. But at least you should have known how to behave in front of people. Have you seen my colleagues’ wives at the party? They are so smart and they carry themselves so nicely. Learn something!”

The street lights outside were on and some part of the roads were beautifully lit up with LED light panels for Diwali. Arijit and Kaushiki were coming back from Arijit’s boss’s pre-Diwali party. She knew her husband was pissed with her, as always, but she chose not to reply back, as always.

“Won’t you answer? You don’t even have a mouth or what?”

“Stop!”

“What? Have you gone mad?”

“I said, Stop the car!”

Arijit stopped the car hurriedly, staring at his wife with disbelief. It was around 1.30 AM and his wife was asking him to stop the car on an empty street of Kolkata. As soon as the car came to a halt, Kaushiki opened the door and blurted out,

“Open the dickey please!”

Arijit pulled up the button below his seat to open the boot space of his car. Kaushiki was already out of the car by then and Arijit came out to ask her about what was going on. Kaushiki quickly took out the iron rod which was kept on the dickey and ran towards the other side of the road. This time Arijit could see two men doing something near the bush on the other side of the road but he was still not able to decipher what they were up to. He ran behind Kaushiki who seemed to be someone else to him at that point in time.

“What are you guys doing with this girl here at this hour?”

There was a teenage girl lying on the road, crying out loud to let her go and there were two men who were trying to molest her but wasn’t able to move properly as they were drunk.

“Who the hell are you, girl? You wish to join us? C’mon babe! We will have one for each of us then.”

Before Arijit could believe what he was seeing in front of his eyes he heard a loud thunder. One of the men were lying on the road by then as Kaushiki had already hit him with the rod on his back. She did the same with the other man and kept beating those two repeatedly while shouting at Arijit,

“Call the police, will you?”

Arijit, still shocked, dialled 100. Kaushiki, after beating the two drunkards for good 5-6 minutes and ensuring that they both were not in a state to revolt, finally relaxed. By then, they both could hear the sound of police jeeps arriving at the spot. Arijit, still without any clue, grabbed Kaushiki’s hand and asked her to move back. The police officers came running, saw the two men lying in front of them, bleeding from the head and moaning in pain. Kaushiki hugged the girl, who was still crying profusely and handed her over to the female constable.

“Sir, did you beat these two men?” One of the policemen enquired about the situation to Arijit.

“No. I did” There was a feeling of calm on Kaushiki’s face as she answered.

The policeman looked quite surprised and shocked. He thanked Kaushiki and asked both of them to leave and assured Kaushiki that the girl will reach her place safe and the criminals will get the punishment which they deserve.

Arijit was quiet while driving back home. At one point he looked at his wife. Kaushiki was staring outside the window, her head held high.

“I was born on the eve of Diwali. I was dark and my grandma didn’t quite like me from the very first look of mine. She cursed my mother. But my dad took me on his arm and named me Kaushiki, the divine power. He told everyone that night that he was blessed by Maa Kali with a daughter who will one day put every man to shame. It’s my birthday today and Diwali is soon approaching. And today, finally, I think I made my baba proud.”

A few drops of tears rolled down Arijit’s cheeks.

My Perfect Fit

                                                                Image Courtesy: http://bit.ly/1JjKZDb

"Hey, Simran! Do you think this blue bra would go well with this white kurti?"

I had to wear something white that day to college. And surprisingly, all my white brassieres were out in the laundry bag, smelly and dirty! There was no way I could pick one from that stack and wear it to college. So, the only saviour for me that day was this light blue one!

"Anu! Relax! Will you? I have seen girls wearing hot pink and red bra with transparent white shirts. And you are wearing just a light blue one. Nobody will know anything. And look outside. It's a bright sunny day. You won't even have to worry about rains. Just go!"

I smiled back at her and left reluctantly for college. The function got over in time and I stepped out of my building just to get one of the biggest shocks of my life! It was raining cats and dogs outside. I was standing at the edge of the stairs and suddenly got a little pushed by a group of my juniors who were much excited to get drenched in the unexpected rain. Before I could realise, I was dripping wet! My white kurta was transparent and my light blue bra was absolutely prominent. I started walking, hiding my chest with my sling bag. Few tears rolled down from my cheeks which nobody really noticed.

I felt naked. I felt stripped. There were a group of boys playing football in the rainwater. There were girls sitting and chatting, few of them even teased me with some filthy comments. The stretch from my department building till the main gate was of around 1 km. but it seemed never-ending to me that day. I was walking, but my legs weren't really moving. I was blank.

"Hey, Anu! Wait! I will go with you."

I turned around. It was Supreet. One of my closest friends at college. She came running to me. Hugged me and took the sling bag from my hand and hung it around my neck. I was awestruck. My chest was bare. People were staring at me. I looked at her. She smiled back, pulled my cheeks and said,

"You look sexy babe! This blue bra is such a #perfectfit for you. Where did you get it from? And my dear, when you are looking so amazing, why not show it off to those jealous girls who are staring at you?" and she winked!

She held my hand. I felt confident, smiled at myself and held my head high. We walked back, hand in hand, till the gate, took a cab and came back to our hostel.

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Nirbaak - Coz Silence Speaks Louder than Words!

Nirbaak- A Man, A Tree, A bitch, A Corpse…

Firstly, Nirbaak is not at all a movie for everyone. Even the ones who regularly write reviews and critical appreciations for movies may not like it. I saw people going out of the theatre while the movie was still on. May be they were in search for a mushy love story, with an item song or two! Whatever may be the reason, Nirbaak is NOT meant for all! Let me tell you all that this is not a critical review of the movie. This is just my personal thoughts about it!

Being a silent person myself, I was always of the view that silence speaks more than words. And this is what Nirbaak speaks of. It speaks of love, without actually being loud about it. It conversed in silence, without a word, and still communicated so much across the audience. The movie portrays myriad faces of love. The surreal, narcissist love of a man who falls for himself every time he looks at himself at the mirror, the tree which falls for the woman who sits under it on a bench, the selfless love of a dog for her master, and the weird, necrophillic love of a man for a corpse!

At the very beginning it is shown that the film is a tribute to Salvadore Dali. Along with it, the depiction of the whole movie through hand shadows at the commencement is unusually beautiful. The four stories are inter-weaved in a brilliant manner. I have never been a fan of Anjan Dutta. Be it for his music or acting. But trust me, I don’t think anybody could have portrayed his character better than him in the movie. The unrealistic love of Ritwick Chakraborty for the corpse of Sushmita Sen may make no sense, but it proves how strong an actor Ritwick actually is. Again, the introduction of Sushmita Sen in the Bengali movie industry couldn’t have been better than this. There is no denying of the fact about how beautiful she is but according to me, she did quite a good job with her acting as well. Jishhu Sengupta has always been a strong actor. And surprisingly, the dog did a great job too! I fell in love with Bingi!

Many people will not understand the concept of surrealistic cinema. May be this is the reason why Nirbaak is getting mixed reviews from every corner. When we see the tree having orgasm by seeing Sushmita sleeping on the bench under it, with her Dupatta flowing off her breasts and her locks brushing her face sensually, when we see Anjan Dutta kissing himself through the mirror and masturbating at night after having a lonely date with himself on his birthday, when we see Bingi, the dog, becoming suicidal after seeing her master getting drifted away from her, when we see Ritwick imagining going on a honeymoon with the corpse of Sushmita, the only thing which comes to our mind is that, can it be true? Do we ever think that our pet can really love us so much and might get hurt when we are not able to give him/her that much of time due to our other responsibilities? Do we ever try to know that the tree in that park which gives us shade every time we sit under it can fall in love with us? Isn’t it true that the way we can love ourselves, and the way we can be occupied with ourselves, we can never expect it from anyone else? Do we ever think that the guard of that morgue who spends most of his time with the corpse can actually fall in love with the dead body of a girl who was once a beautiful woman? No, we don’t! Because we are just too much preoccupied with the loudness of our lives! We seldom get time to think and search for words in the little moments of silence. We are too busy being busy and Nirbaak lets us break that loudness for a few minutes to be able to delve into that silence!

At a point the inner silence of the movie is so intriguing that we start questioning the reality. The discord of silence with reality is what Nirbaak is all about. Watch it not just for the sake of it. Watch it not because you have loved the previous Srijit Mukherjee flicks. Do not watch if you are expecting Anupam Roy songs. Watch it for it is not those so-called love stories intertwined with each other with a single ending. Watch it with an open mind and do not be judgemental about it before hitting the theatres. To sum it up, Nirbaak is another masterpiece by Srijit. It is a movie by which Srijit will be remembered to the generations to come.

Sita's Curse : A quick review !

Image Courtesy: bit.ly/1lpzxry

After a very long time I read something really engaging and interesting about the life of an Indian woman, someone with whom we all can relate at some point of time. The book called Sita’s Curse-The Language of Desire by Sreemoyee Piu Kundu revolves around the life of Meera Patel, who struggles between her desires which she cannot possibly share with anyone. Sreemoyee, known to be an erotica writer, smartly delves into the psyche of a woman’s mind through the character of Meera and how she goes through different phases of her life knowing and compromising with oneself.

When I was scrolling through a few book names to be ordered from Flipkart, I wasn’t at all ready about buying Sita’s Curse. I hadn’t heard about it before but when I read the short synopsis of the book on the website, I couldn’t stop clicking on the “Buy Now” button on the right side. Don’t know why but I wanted to give the book a try. I have read women-related books before. I have always been a bit interested in feministic paperbacks and am quite fond of Shashi Deshpande’s work since my college days. And I found that kind of charm and engaging quality in Sita’s Curse as well.

The story is an erotic sexual saga of a middle-class housewife Meera Patel. A wife, who is not satisfied with her husband physically as well as emotionally, a daughter-in-law who is constantly on the knife head for simply not being able to conceive a child, a sister who had lost her twin brother at the time when she probably needed him the most, and a daughter who could never tell her parents what she really wanted from life. Living in a jam-packed housing society in Mumbai, Meera gets metamorphosed from a 17 year old newly married girl to a woman who achieves her freedom by giving in to her physical longings. The climax of the book is slotted on the 26^th of July, 2005 in Mumbai, the day when the city experienced evil in its truest sense and when the lives of many innocent people faced a tragic end.

Sreemoyee did an amazing job in showcasing the inner self of Meera, or for that matter, the inner self of any middle-class young wife in India. Very often you get hold of a book which makes you think and also you probably get uncomfortable reading it. Sita’s Curse is one of them, with multiple love-making scenes described minutely, the book also made me hover upon the meanings between the lines. Meera is a sad, helpless, confused, protagonist and many of you might not want to relate her character with anyone in real. But the way Sreemoyee portrayed her sadness whenever Meera missed her brother, her helplessness whenever she had to get the thrashings from her husband and her in-laws, her confusion when she wanted to cross the laxman rekha but was clinging to her marriage, everything seems so real. I don’t think anyone else could have portrayed her the way Sreemoyee did. Perhaps the fact that Sreemoyee is a woman herself made her much more aware of the intensities and contemplations of Meera Patel.

The book is not only about Meera and her struggles but it also revolves around certain issues which are still considered to be a taboo in the Indian society. A woman should never talk about her desires openly, if she initiates sex she is not a good women, if she seeks for a partner of her choice she is going against the rules, and so on. No matter how many times we say that women are equal to men, the fact remains that we are still subjugated by the hypocrite Indian society and Sreemoyee finely described it in her book although by hiding it in the interior of her lines.

The wife who never got anything from her husband Mohan and who suddenly attained what she wants from Yosuf, a guy she met on a sex website. Her desires, both physical and emotional, made her want something more from life. In Sreemoyee’s words, “When I was living in Mumbai, I had passed a dingy chawl in Byculla while travelling to office. I would see this beautiful angelic woman every day. She had the most melancholic grey-green eyes and sometime she would be looking at the clouds and sometimes feeding chillies to a little parrot. Our glances would intercept and it became a strange unspoken dialogue between two women who didn’t know each other. This continued till the floods hit Mumbai. After resuming work, I never saw her while passing that same chawl. Thus, “Meera Patel” is my tribute to her.”

This book can be a tribute to anyone, any woman who is not able to speak up her mind in front of the society. Erotic genre is what came after Kama Sutra but when your friends might tell you that reading such stuff isn’t good for a girl or a boy like you, I feel that this is something which everyone should read. One must read it to know how engaging a book can really be. However, if you are not liberal minded, you might not like the genre of the book. However, it’s now time to embrace this form of literature which will only make us enjoy such stories with beautiful inner meanings in a much better manner.

Celebrate yourselves for being a woman!

“What? Who told you to show yourself as someone so brave when you are not? Can’t you remember one simple thing that you are a girl and you cannot be as strong as a boy? If he and his friends were teasing you and following you till office, who told you to just stop and slap him? Do you know how unpredictably they can react now? They might throw acid on your face, they might kidnap you and rape you and then throw you in a jungle, they might just have a revolver and shoot you next time they see you? Don’t try to show bravery here dear. This is your real life and not any women’s emancipation documentary or a Bollywood movie. You should know that you are nothing in front of a group of guys!”

This was my mom who was quite angry on me and I am sure you now know why, and whatever she told me was out of extreme fury! She left my room in a dash and slammed the door of my room hard while leaving. I knew well that she will not talk to me for some days now and will also remain worried whenever I leave the house. She might even tell me to take a leave from office for a few days and to stay at home in order to avoid those men.

Like my mom, there are many other women who constantly live in fear. They think of themselves as the weaker sex, as the ones who can be easily crushed by men. But if we only start thinking about ourselves as the weaker sex, as the ones who can be easily subdued, then how will a man respect us anyway? If we, the women, believe that we cannot do a lot of things which men can, how can we say that we are strong? Giving speeches on a Women’s Day function or debating with a male friend about how strong and brave we are doesn’t make us brave in its true sense. Somewhere, we just try to portray ourselves as strong in front of the society without even having that faith that we really are.

I knew that my mom would stop me from going to office the next day. But still I got up early, took a bath and got ready for office. I came down to have my breakfast and my mom was quite shocked. Somewhere she also had thought that I too will be afraid of going to office and hence she expected me to sleep for some late hours. However, I didn’t bother her surprising glance and sat down to have my breakfast. I knew she would say something and soon after she said, “You are not going to office today. Just go back to your room and call your Boss and tell him that you are ill.”

That’s it! I had to speak up. I didn’t tell her anything the night before but if I couldn’t say anything now, it would get tough for me in the long run. I stood up and said, “Mom, are you proud to be a woman?” She was quite amazed at my sudden query. She fumbled and replied, “Yyyyes... but why you asking me this”. I continued, “Are you sure about it?” Mom replied, “Have you gone mad? I am in no mood of answering to these stupid questions of yours.” I didn’t pay much attention to her and said, “If you cannot be sure about how proud you are of being a woman, then the way you are behaving since last night is quite predictable. See mom, I saw you discussing with your friend the other day on phone about how proud you are of me that I am an independent woman now. How happy you are about the fact that me, your daughter, is earning on her own and is much better settled than a lot of men you know. But tell me something, did you really mean saying it? No mom, you didn’t, because if you would have meant it, you would never have behaved the way you did last night and today as well. We are not lesser or inferior than any men mom. You need to know that. If you think that the next time you talk to the same friend of yours and tell her that I have left going to office for something so silly, how will she feel? Will not she think of you as someone who changes her mind every now and then? I am going to office today and I will go to office every single day.”

I saw that my mom had tears on her eyes. This was the first time I spoke to her this harshly and I felt bad but I was really angry. I took my handbag and rushed to office.

I just have one question for all. How are we the “weaker sex”? We can bear a child on our body for 9 long months. We can see ourselves getting fat every single day when we get pregnant. We see our 28 inches waist becoming 48 inches but still we manage to smile thinking about the little bundle of joy that is going to come in our lives after a few days. We can leave our parents, our friends, our home, our bedroom, our bed, our pillows, and every single thing when we get married and move with our husbands. We can do so much and what men can really do? There is nothing which women cannot do now. We are pilots, we are scientists, we are actors, we are managers, we are entrepreneurs, we are mothers, and we can take up any single role.

We need to believe in ourselves and only then we can get appreciated by men. We should make them aware that being a woman is not easy at all. So, all you women out there, celebrate yourselves, celebrate the way you are, take pride in yourselves and always remember, “Bekhauff aazaad hai jeena mujhe... bekhauff aazaad hai rehna mujhe...” (Courtesy: Satyamev Jayate)

Fights add spice to life! Phew!

“I just don’t want to talk to you any more. Just buzz off!”: I messaged him on Whatsapp.

My phone beeped a few seconds later: “Me too! It’s getting disgusting. I can’t take all these any more. Bye” I got this reply from him.

Image Courtesy: elitedai.ly/1m5Di4B

How could he write this? How dare he? What does he think of himself? I mumbled it grumpily, switched off my phone and threw it aside. I took my pillow and went to sleep!

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And it was another fight of ours this month. I guess the fourth or the fifth one. Or, the sixth one I guess. Actually I had lost count with so many fights of us happening every single week. Fights are quite common with us. Since the time we are together, we have done PhD in fighting if you may say so. Still, somehow, we are together! Even I think about it at times. Our fights get quite serious at times. So serious, that either of us even plan to take a break and not to see each other in the days to come. But again things change! Something happens which keeps us together. Don’t know what it is. Probably it is the string which keeps us as one. Probably we are meant to be together. But you know what, these fights literally kill me from inside at times. He was true! It gets disgusting. But again, we didn't have any solution!

When I talk to my friends about this, they laugh it off! For them, fights add spice to a relationship. It makes a bond stronger and grows love! Bullshit! They don’t know how much it hurts. How much it pains. And moreover, how much bad it makes one think about the other. Whenever we fight and I curse him on my mind, it makes me feel good! But again when things get right, I feel guilty of thinking such things about him all of a sudden! Is it good to feel that bad, that harsh, and that ruthless about the one whom we say we love? Yes it’s fine that we feel these when we fight but still. Doesn't loving someone means loving them even when he/she is not with us?

But who cares! We fight and we curse. We cry and we talk shit about each other. We swear not to call him/her again ever in life. We promise ourselves of not to see each other’s faces again. But how many times do we actually follow this? Never! Then why these fights? Who says that fights add spice and for God’s sake, why would a fight add spice? I mean, this is absolute non sense. The people who say this are the ones who probably are not in a serious relationship. Or the ones who might not know what is the true worth of a relationship. We choose our partners ourselves; nobody forces us to be together. Then why that same person annoys us so much that we end up fighting it out and saying hurtful things to each other? Why don’t we simply remember that each one of us is unique? We look different, we were born in different circumstances, our skin colour differs, our thoughts differ, and we are absolutely different from each other. Then why can’t we simply accept the other one? Why is it so hard for us to see each other’s weaknesses? Why?

----------------------------------

I woke up next morning at around 8.30! I searched for my phone beside my pillow, under the pillow, with my eyes still closed. I didn’t find it! I then remembered that I had thrown it last night somewhere on the bed but where, I didn’t know yet! I sat down on my bed and found out the phone below the blanket. I wanted to see the time but suddenly I realised that it was switched off. I switched it on, the phone beeped thrice. He had sent me 3 messages. All of them with a ‘sorry’ in the end. I smiled! I felt good, refreshed. I called him up and then started getting ready for office.

So, our sixth fight was over! Maybe next week we will fight again. May be we won’t! But I still wonder that how did these fights add spice to this relationship? How can it add spice anyway? What exactly is this 'spice' all about? We had ended the fight and our relationship was back to normal. Then where’s the spice? Where was that something ‘new’ in this relationship? It was nowhere! The only thing we have is another add-on to the list of our fights and somewhere in our hearts guilt of thinking bad about each other for that very moment when our fight was at its peak!

May be that's how things work! May be that's how it should be! May be that's the way we are! Phew! 

Women as ‘Shakti’ or ‘Sati’: hypocrisy of the Indian society!

Remember last year, on 16^th of December, an innocent soul got raped in the streets of Delhi but nobody cared? So much of protests, strikes and disputes erupted like volcanoes in every single corner of the world. But do you think that fire is still inside us? Or did it just fade away with time?

             Image Courtesy: bit.ly/1eMe4ot

India gained independence 65 years back but the question still remains that are women really independent and safe in our motherland? Almost every single day, upon tuning on our television or peeking through the daily newspaper in the morning, a rape case in any of the cities of India is inevitable. Women, who are often defined as the most beautiful and wonderful creation of the Almighty, is not safe anymore in our country. People say and also believe that India is an independent and democratic country, where we have the right to equality, really? Well, for me, India could never actually gain independence and one of the biggest proofs for this is the sickening situation of women in our country in this 21^st century. Rapes, molestations, harassments are some of the words which can now be used as adjectives for the women in India. Almost every day a girl is being raped and murdered, or raped and left wounded in any of the streets and we as Indians can actually do nothing about it but see the news and brood over the fate of Indian women. Even if we want to do something for these deprived souls, what can we do? We will seldom get any support from our so-called people loving political parties and to be very frank we do not have the courage to go against the law.

Since ages, women are facing atrocious condition in our country. Draupadi went through the cheer-haran, and in this 21^st century as well, this treatment is being carried out by several men with much fluency and confidence, just that the term is being changed from “cheer-haran” to rape and molestation! India has always been a Mans’ nation and men are believed to be the ones who actually run each and everything in our country. Is that so? Is this phrase really makes sense? Well, for me, it’s a big no! Whatever women can do, with her excellence and strong emotional poise, men can never even think about doing anything like that. From Sarojini Naidu to Indira Gandhi, Pratibha Patil to Sonia Gandhi, there are many other female leaders who have very efficiently managed our country and tried to make it a better place to live in. There is no denying of the fact that men as well did a lot for this nation but this comparison comes only when we hear that men are superior to women. If we really think that our country is independent, we should first try and believe in the semblance of both the genders. We should try and carry forward the system of right to equality and should do everything to bring similitude between a man and a woman. First of all, we all should stop thinking that India is a male-dominated country and then only women will gain the required respect and equality as men in this nation.

We have our own historical facts and myths where we have seen women going through many ridiculous and hard times. The Sati Pratha, child marriages, and the Purdah system, all of these show the stand of a woman in India. They were always been deprived of a healthy and equal livelihood with their male counterparts, and even if some of these rituals are not carried out in India anymore, still there are now many other horrifying acts to humiliate women and make them believe that they are the weaker sex. Killing of brides for dowry, female foeticides, rapes, and what not! In India, you will find it all! Women are so unwanted that they are being killed in the womb only. Disgusting, isn’t it? But we as the onlookers can never actually make a stand against any such things. With time, we have seen advancements in technology and we have high standards of living but the situation of women has never really advanced or changed. We still face subjugation, alienation, deprivation, insecurity and defeat in almost every single sphere.

According to Hinduism, women are considered to be the “ardhangani” of men, which shows the equality between men and women. She has also been regarded as the “Shakti” or the power, but today this is not true anymore. If women are the power than how come they are constantly been suppressed by men? We, as women, have a limitless tendency to tolerate and this is often misused by men. However, they will never really know when our tolerating power will reach its zenith and we will just burst out! This hypocrisy of the Indian society to carry us forward as the mannequins and also, on the other hand, distancing us from the main crowd should stop soon or else the end of this nation is very much near. It is high time that the Indian society understand the value of a woman. Without a woman, a nation would not yet have born, without a woman, there would be no definition of love and beauty, without a woman, people wouldn’t have known what sacrifice actually means, without a woman, we will soon reach to the closing stage of life. We, the women, should know our own values and importance and thus, to make others realise our worth, we will have to stand for our own esteem, for our own respect. We will have to educate the women of our country and make them realise their significance. A nation can never flourish without the assistance of a woman and this is the time when we should stand out for our own selves and show the men that we are not the “weaker sex” but we are their equals and perhaps the superiors, and also the true “Shakti” of this whole world.