Few days ago a noted writer and a poetess Amrita Pritam passed away. I didnot get a chance to read any of her books, but a movie named "Pinjar". I was reading about her work and few of her poems and they gave words to my thoughts in this blog. Its sad yet true that gender-discrimination still exists.
My acquaintances dismiss me sometimes as another modern feminist from the third world! There those last 6 words said it all. I deny and call myself to be aware of the facts around me and I just happen to openly disregard the social and gender norms cast on women of India.
The song "Man ke Manjeere" by Shubha Mudgal....is of a woman who is rejoicing at her new found freedom. Its a liberation from the so called norms of the society....The words "Saathi hoon apni main and Mujhko aane laga hai, khud pe hi aaitwaar."
Permanent link of the story : The story of the music video was inspired greatly by the life of a young Muslim woman named Shameem Pathan. Shameem is from the area of Juhapura and is a proud role model for women. The only daughter among seven sons, Shameem was born into a well-to-do-family. She fell in love, and much against the wishes of the family, married the man of her choice. That she had made the wrong choice soon became apparent. Her husband expected her family to support them and refused to work. When her son was three and a half years old, Shameem finally decided to fend for herself. She went through a series of businesses, milk vending, kite-making and doing any job available to make ends meet. Finally, she learned how to drive, an unheard of occupation for a woman in her society. She now drives her own matador van in Ahmedabad, ferrying passengers. Shameem encourages other women to transform their false notions of their own limitations and to reach for their dreams.
These are heroes of the society and most of the times they are ignored as lower section of the society. It takes rare courage to stand up for what you believe in, inspite of having all the odds against you.
While attending primary school I was told to be proud to be a woman. As a school-girl I didnot pay much attention to the underlying philosophy of it. We were told to be strong yet sensitive, considerate of others yet confident of yourself, firm with your principles yet adaptive to different situations. We were taught prose and poems which underlined this in various instances of life.
Swissssh.....as time goes by, we see opposite instances of the values that are taught in school in various forms. One is made to realize that violence comes in various packets......emotional, mental and social. Many times things are made trivial in the name of equality. How many times has one given in to a certain situation because of being a 'woman'! Why are there rules associated with being a woman? Where do they stem from? Its not bitter resentment for the male but the failure to fathom "why we need to follow them?" They say to maintain equilibrium (duh!!), they say to maintain harmony and escape from mid-life crisis.....But what about crisis one has to face throughout one's life? Many girls are made to believe that what happens with them is not injustice but the way a society functions. If someone with exceptional courage stands upto it...they are praised to do the act, but are not accepted as they would have been otherwise.
I still seek these answers...where did these folk go wrong? Is it there upbringing or do they just lose their values in the course of their journey and it boils down to animal instinct of "survival of the fittest."
