PROUD TO BE A WOMAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hello everyone....I'm back for a brief repartee amidst my schedule of exams.....after all, we all need a break don't we?!!

It's International Women's Day on March 8th and before I move on, Happy Women's Day to all the women I know and to the ones I don't know........Let's celebrate our existence and command our worth on a day that's dedicated to us!!!!!!!!!!!!

So we're back to that time of the year again when publications ramble on and on about how eons have passed and women have not evolved. We still continue to be the weaker sex and how we are so easily exploited.........Some small movements and changes are highlighted but unfortunately, the emphasis is always on how we are still inferior to men......

How unfair......how grossly unfair.....We all know that over the years, we surely have uplifted our status and have been steadily climbing up the social ladder. Things have changed for the better and a lot of ancient, almost savage practices have now been rendered redundant. Women have always been hailed as the better half of men. They have shared space on this earth ever since man has been here. Yet, they have always had a raw deal. People talk of equality and elimination of gender bias but let's face it....in our predominantly orthodox social set up, somewhere at the corner of our mind, the bias still exists. Women have never had it easy. In all forms of social extremism, the targets have always been women....be it the purdah system, sati or infanticide. Women can do almost everything that men can and yet, time and again, they need to prove themselves because people just need an excuse to bring about comparisons and underplay the role and achievements of women.

Maybe its time then, that we stopped trying to prove anything to anybody. Maybe we should just live life on our own terms, mind our own business.......maybe we should stop screaming ourselves hoarse that we are equal to men and let them see and sense it for themselves! Having said that, I must add that over the past few years, women have been in the forefront in all fields....from Politics (our very own queen bee Smt. Sonia Gandhi) to social work (Maneka Gandhi), from Science (Kalpana Chawla) to Commerce (Indra Nooyi), from Art (Dr.Sarayu Doshi) to Literature (the recent Pulitzer prize-winner Kiran Desai) to Films (Deepa Mehta....director of the Oscar-nominated Water) to every other field.......and these are just great exponents that I have chosen from a list of women that if completely laid, would never end!!!! These women, by being the very best in their respective departments, have given inimitable respect to our clan and shown that women have what it takes to be 'UP THERE'! (Disclaimer: I have intentionally named ONLY Indian women, not because I am prejudiced but because I reside in India and my literary works are largely in the Indian context, so it only makes sense to name Indians as instances)

In concurrence with the age-old saying, "When the going gets tough, the tough get going", women have always shown that they can very well maintain their calm in trying times and emerge victorious in the gravest of circumstances. It has been often cited how immaculately ambitious women balance home and work.

No mistakes here.......I am not trying to hail 'womankind' as superior to the men folk (though nothing would please me more!!). I am not saying that men are poor old good-for-nothings who simply trudge to work, briefcase in hand, only to return home for dinner. Definitely not! Much as I stand for feminism, I totally respect men for continuing to be the 'breadwinners' since time immemorial. But the fact remains that it takes women a lot more effort to get their due in what is largely a 'Man's world'!!!!!

As a matter of fact, I would say that women are partly responsible for the vulnerable position they'd put themselves in. In olden times, they'd be content with staying shut within the four walls of their home, cooking for the family, being a good wife, a dutiful daughter-in-law and a loving mother. She neither got the opportunities to venture out and build a career, nor did she create them. Over time, it became the norm for women to be sub-servient to their husbands and spend the rest of their life in the shadow of their glory. But no more! Today, we have grown immensely and can proudly claim to be capable of holding our own wherever we go. Women today, are independent and self-sufficent, capable of taking their own decisions, making their own choices and basically, living their own life!!!!

No more are we second to men..........the world can have its own opinion and people can say all they want. But then, no one can make you feel inferior without your permission. If we believe in ourself and strive to reach the top, then nothing anybody says makes any difference......Because after all, when you're at the top, that's all that matters....once you get there, nobody cares whether you're a man or a woman....its the journey that's the true test...........And when we have done it in the past, there's no reason why we can't do it again!!!!

So, this woman's day let's vow to celebrate our existence ......Besides, like I mentioned earlier in this post........its time to stop trying to prove anything to others.........When they can't challenge, they'll tolerate and once they tolerate, eventually they'll have to accept!!!!! So let's save ourselves the trouble of establishing our identity because we've already done that.......more than we were required to!!!!!

Once again.....Happy Women's Day to all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Cheers from Slo....till next time, Tally-ho!!!!!!!!