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They cannot fight the system. So they find validation in joining the system. Upholding traditions which subjugate women. It's their own way of sweet revenge.
They cannot fight the system. So they find validation in joining the system. Upholding traditions which subjugate women. It’s their own way of sweet revenge.
Patriarchy is alive and kicking thanks to women who go out of their way to uphold it. Just this morning I saw a news report about a single woman being harassed by another woman in Mumbai. Doesn’t it happen all the time?
Both inside and outside the house women take lead in taunting, putting down and controlling other women. They do this in the name of upholding traditions. Traditions which are outdated and deeply patriarchal. Unwed women are advised, judged and mocked. Childless women are humiliated.
As the news reported, a middle-aged woman had made life miserable for another woman who is a single working professional. What made the middle-aged woman behave in the way she did? Is it jealousy? Or a deep regret about missed opportunities? Is it the thought that she may never achieve the success which the professional woman has achieved? Or is it about being trapped in an unhappy marriage and feeling envious of the single woman’s freedom?
It is obvious that women do have an insatiable need to put other women down. They do this because many times that is the only way for them to get ahead. These are women who can never raise their voice against men. They use all their might on other women. Such women are everywhere. Product of a deeply orthodox upbringing where they are made to feel ashamed of being a woman. They cannot fight the system. So they find validation in joining the system. Upholding traditions which subjugate women. It’s their own way of sweet revenge. They seek guilty pleasure in tormenting other women. By seeing other women suffer, they justify the thought that suffering is the price to be paid for being born as a woman.
Our entertainment media is full of stories where women take the lead in making others lives miserable. The daily soaps that are religiously viewed by the Indian ladies, revolve around similar female characters who master the art of derogatory communication. People relate to such stories. They are the kind of stories playing out around them on a day to day basis.
And the sad part is that such women suffer silently. Taunts by others are seen as part and parcel of life. Women often ignore such people and move on.
But the good part is that someone has started calling them out. The brave single woman has gone out and lodged a complaint against her harasser. Hopefully, this is a new start. The MeToo movement has put men on the back foot. Complaints like these should put women irritants in the spot too. Someone has made a start. Others should diligently follow.
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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.
Being a writer, Nivedita Louis recognises the struggles of a first-time woman writer and helps many articulate their voice with development, content edits as a publisher.
“I usually write during night”, says author Nivedita Louis during our conversation. Chuckling she continues,” It’s easier then to focus solely on writing. Nivedita Louis is a writer, with varied interests and one of the founders of Her Stories, a feminist publishing house, based in Chennai.
In a candid conversation she shared her journey from small-town Tamil Nadu to becoming a history buff, an award-winning author and now a publisher.
Nivedita was born and raised in a small town in Tamil Nadu. It was for schooling that she first arrived in Chennai. Then known as Madras, she recalls being awed by the city. Her love-story with the city, its people and thus began which continues till date. She credits her perseverance and passion to make a difference to her days as a vocational student among the elite sections of Madras.
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