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“The defiance is actually the last push to a glass ceiling… Her mother and mother’s mother have been pushing too long.”
Here is the third winner of our January 2017 Muse of the Month contest, Pooja Sharma Rao.
The cue for this month was from the movie Queen, in which Kangana’s reel granny tells her that instead staying back in the hotel and watching TV and feeling bad for herself, she should go out and meet people, go sight-seeing…who knows she might find someone interesting too!
The baggage is heavier than any airline carries free of extra cost from the curious handmade potli to the now trendy strollers all carry centuries of Patriarchal mind-sets stashed away in side pockets hidden like lingerie and sanitary supplies
Pushed so deep inside that they are only taken out in the secrecy of bedrooms and bathrooms Alone, to be cried over like dreams of first love and stashed back with guilt of being the bad woman who desires
The instructions, too many Do’s and don’ts so that the status quo Passes on unhurt from generation to generation Heavy like that elusive ‘honour’ that she carries in a hidden piece of flesh and like a permanent scar on her being
The journey begins with birth but her routes and maps pre-decided like a pre-paid loyalty to ideal Indian womanhood good girls have no souls and own no compasses their maps are set only to matrimony, motherhood
Good Indian girls do not utter prohibited words Fantasy, ecstasy is overwritten by celibacy and virginity The line that was drawn to keep Sita safe is still strong in its invisibility
“Would he accompany me? If I was the one exiled? ” Questioning is also a luxury denied to her by destiny
and then with a single step the threshold is smashed the extra-baggage thrown out their maps and their compasses Abandoned As she decides to follow The call of her wanderer soul and breathe without the manual for the good Indian woman
The defiance is actually the last push to a glass ceiling Her mother and mother’s mother have been pushing too long.
Pooja Sharma Rao wins a Rs 250 Amazon voucher, as well as a chance to be picked one among the top winners at the end of 2017. Congratulations!
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Image source: shutterstock
Pooja Priyamvada is a columnist, professional translator and an online content and Social Media consultant.
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