Check out 16 Return-To-Work Programs In India For Ambitious Women Like You!
People are like plants, the more you use tender loving care and give them their space, the more they grow. Here is a story which tells us the same.
I remember reading a beautiful book by Frances Hodgson Burnett called ‘The Secret Garden‘. It is about how a little-orphaned girl’s personality blooms as she nurtures a neglected garden. Which makes me think, doesn’t the mind expand as it watches things grow?
I am not a gardener. I prefer to spend my time reading, writing or listening to music, but I love going to my mother’s balcony. Now my mother, at 84, still finds time to fuss about nurturing her balcony garden. Anything she touches blooms. Talk about having a green thumb!
I often wondered why plants did not bloom so easily when I planted them. It was only recently that I realized that it all has to do with where you put your attention.
My attention is on my books and music while my mother’s is on her plants. What you give your love and attention to, grows. The plants bloom because they sense that they are needed in that space. They sense that there is someone who plants and grinds manure, and watches over them. They are given the best they can get and they respond by being the best they can be.
Well, though I may not toil and labour over them and give them too much attention, I have an entry into the space of their warmth just because I love them and accept them there.
So when I go there with my morning cup of tea and sit in the darkness of dawn to embrace a new day, they spread out warm tendrils embracing me.
And as the garden has taught me to accept, I have begun accepting things I found difficult to only a few months back – like my mother’s ageing. The hands that nurtured the plants are too tired to dig and toil now. So when she feels agitated and does unreasonable things like moving pots from one balcony to another on a sudden whim. I try to convince her to let go and just enjoy the blooms but then as her fingers yearn to garden again, I give in and just humour her.
This is the time for everything and the time to nurture the person, who has nurtured many a garden and all her five children, happens to be now.
Sometimes giving in and humouring a person who is in a vulnerable place is a sign of the greatest strength.
Published here earlier.
Image source: pixabay
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!
People say that women are the greatest enemies of women. I vehemently disagree. It is the patriarchal mindset that makes women believe in the wrong ideology.
The entire world celebrates International Women’s Day on March 8, 2024. It should be a joyful day, but unfortunately, not all women are entitled to this privilege, as violence against women is at its peak. The experience of oppression pushes many women to choose freedom. As far as patriotism is concerned, feminism is not a cup of tea in this society.
What happens when a woman decides to stand up for herself? Does this world easily accept the decisions of women in this society? What inspires them to be free of the clutches of the oppression that women have faced for ages? Most of the time, women do not get the chance to decide for themselves. Their lives are always at the mercy of someone, which can be their parents, siblings, husband, or children.
In some cases, women do not feel the need to make any decisions. They are taught to obey the patriarchal system, which makes them believe that they are right. In my family, I was never taught to make decisions on my own. It was always my parents who bought dresses and all that I needed.
14 years after her last feature film Dhobi Ghat, storyteller extraordinaire comes up with her new film, Laapataa Ladies, a must watch.
*Some spoilers alert*
Every religion around the world dictates terms to women. The onus is always on women to be ‘modest’ and cover their faces and bodies so men can’t be “tempted”, rather than on men to keep their eyes where they belong and behave like civilized beings. So much so that even rape has been excused on the grounds of women eating chowmein or ‘men will be men’. I think the best Hindi movie retort to this unwanted advice on ‘akeli ladki khuli tijori ki tarah hoti hai’ (an alone woman is like an open jewellery box) came from Geet in Jab We Met – Kya aap gyan dene ke paise lete hain kyonki chillar nahin hain mere paas.
The premise of Laapataa Ladies is beautifully simple – two brides clad in the ghunghat that covers their identity get mixed up on a train. Within this Russian Doll, you get a comedy of errors, a story of getting lost, a commentary on patriarchy’s attitude towards women, a mystery, and a tale of finding oneself, all in one. Done with a mostly light touch that has you laughing and nodding along.
Please enter your email address