International Women’s day – India’s Daughters!

On this International Women’s day, I join our Prime Minister in saluting the indomitable courage and achievements of women.

At the same time, my heart is filled with mixed feelings. Happiness and sadness. Happy that women have achieved so much despite the discrimination that they face in their lives – as a child, girl and adult. Sad, because the mind set of males in our society is still stuck up in a time warp. Considering women to be equals is not acceptable to the males even in this age of information, technology and ‘internet’. The great Indian male psyche is filled with unexplainable inadequacies. Women are looked at as objects and commercial commodities in the same society where they are venerated as Goddess – Kali, Kamakki, Parvathi, Sarasvathi, Lakshmi or Hethe.

On this day, my mind also goes to that brave heart commonly called Nirbhaya – the fearless one, whose life and ‘light’ was so brutally extinguished by the lust of a group of depraved and demented men in December 2012 in our Capital. I have lived in Delhi for more than twenty years and the place where the horrific rape took place is familiar to me. And, I saw the documentary that has been made on her.

Seeing the short film, filled my eyes with tears for her brave parents, especially the mother who can’t understand why the ‘Ujala – light’ has been permanently taken away and wonders why girls are held guilty for going out and not boys. The father has no issues in disclosing Nirbhaya’s real name – in fact her photo is available on the net. When he says, ‘I had to set the funeral pyre with my hands that held her so dearly’, the agony is beyond words. Their only demand is early justice.

What happened to Nirbhaya is happening to many girls and women in our society due to the sick minds of many. May be, the degree of brutality differs. But the outcome is the same -rape.

Because, the boys are brought up as superior to girls.It is prevalent even in forward looking communities like Badagas where a lot of attention is given to educating girls. Is the education given more for early/better marriage prospects than to empower women, one wonders.

We claim that the mindset of society has to change but forget that we are part of the very same ‘sick’ society. If we want a change, let us be part of that change. You and I can make a difference.

Let us join the women’s day celebrations by showing our respect to all ‘Indian Daughters’ and by declaring that HER life and honour are as  important as HIS.