Check out 16 Return-To-Work Programs In India For Ambitious Women Like You!
The girl child is still marginalized, no matter how much things change, so much of sexism and misogyny remains the same!
Before she was born, you said, “No, we don’t want you!
You’re the expensive choice we can’t pursue”.
Then, the mother’s cries melted the stone,
And you let her be born!
Lakshmi was here in the family,
Worshipped but unwelcome as always!
Exceptionally bright as Lakshmi was,
She outshone everyone in her class.
“Who cares!” you said, “someday she will be just a wife”
You never saw through her strife.
You mocked her, teased her on the street.
Whilst castrated manhood watched her feet.
That day, she was walking her way from school,
She saw your venomous tongue drool.
You faked a smile and robbed the other one,
And stabbed her feelings for sheer fun.
Your lecherous eyes raped her each morning,
She left for college and while returning!
Then one day, a groom was sought for,
Lakshmi, the educated bride to be married off.
The boy, his family and his first cousin
Came to check the bride out and her kin.
How much dowry could they afford?
And what beauty was to be sold?
So she came to her other home.
“She is dark; she looks glum; she is no match
For the MBA son she is a poor catch”!
The unpaid maid servant to the family,
Meant to stay an outsider only!
The father came to see the daughter,
Complaints! “No dowry, no furniture!
But you had vowed to offer
Our son deserved a lot better”.
Two years pass by,
Your tantrums are still high.
Today she bore a daughter!
Another Lakshmi, lovelier.
She lay in the cot, uncelebrated
The girl child is still hated.
And Lakshmi cries, “All you people there,
My daughter is not meant to be me ever!
She will avenge the tears you shed today.
Everything will come back to you one day!
I name my daughter Kaali, the ferocious
She will rise above all you vicious!
One day the dark of her skin
Will surely freeze your chin
And you will judge her never
My revenge she will deliver”!
Image source: rural woman with daughter by Shutterstock.
A research scholar in literature. Loves books, music, movies, cats, writing, sketching cartoons and meditating. Independent in spirit and opinion and a true dreamer. read more...
Women's Web is an open platform that publishes a diversity of views, individual posts do not necessarily represent the platform's views and opinions at all times.
Stay updated with our Weekly Newsletter or Daily Summary - or both!
Neena was the sole caregiver of Amma and though one would think that Amma was dependent on her, Neena felt otherwise.
Neena inhaled the aroma that emanated from the pan and took a deep breath. The aroma of cumin interspersed with butter transported her back to the modest kitchen in her native village. She could picture her father standing in the kitchen wearing his white crisp kurta as he made delectable concoctions for his only daughter.
Neena grew up in a home where both her parents worked together in tandem to keep the house up and running. She had a blissful childhood in her modest two-room house. The house was small but every nook and cranny gave her memories of a lifetime. Neena’s young heart imagined that her life would follow the same cheerful course. But how wrong she was!
When she was sixteen, the catastrophic clutches of destiny snatched away her parents. They passed away in a road accident and Neena was devastated. Relatives thronged her now gloomy house and soon it was decided that she should be married off.
Women today don’t want to be in a partnership that complicates their lives further. They need an equal partner with whom they can figure out life as a team, playing by each other’s strengths.
We all are familiar with that one annoying aunty who is more interested in our marital status than in the dessert counter at a wedding. But these aunties have somehow become obsolete now. Now they are replaced by men we have in our lives. Friends, family, and even work colleagues. It’s the men who are worried about why we are not saying yes to one among their clans. What is wrong with us? Aren’t we scared of dying alone? Like them?
A recent interaction with a guy friend of mine turned sour when he lectured me about how I would regret not getting married at the right time. He lectured that every event in our lives needs to be completed within a certain timeframe set by society else we are doomed. I wasn’t angry. I was just disappointed to realize that annoying aunties are rapidly doubling in our society. And they don’t just appear at weddings or family functions anymore. They are everywhere. They are the real pandemic.
Let’s examine this a little closer.
Please enter your email address