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By living life mostly on her terms, my mother taught me to do the same. I inherited her intensity, her self assurance, stubbornness and assertion, and I learnt later that she was insanely proud of me.
As I almost turn 50 and surround myself with feminists today, I look at my mother, the disciplinarian, with soft eyes and realise, she was somewhat of a feminist herself and a smart one at that.
Born in the 40s, she understandably wasn’t empowered enough to take Brahminical patriarchy head-on, so she did what she could, bending the diktats here and there, protecting her daughters, trying to lessen the load patriarchy placed on us. She changed the rules quietly, subtly to make her and our lives easier.
Back in the day, when we were growing up, isolation during menstruation was slowly disappearing however, older relatives like grandmothers still believed it must be followed. By the time I came of age, she had garnered enough courage to find a way out of it for me, while still not antagonising the elders.
She learnt to tweak the kitchen rules, smartly substituting quicker-to-make options. She never asked what anyone wanted to eat. She decided the menu and served it to us. She was a wonderful cook but she’d find quick fixes to meals and would happily serve up leftovers too. My wily mom decided dosas for a family of four was unnecessary labour and switched to idlis. She’d go so far as calling them “little wisps of cotton”, selling them to us astutely, winning our grudging agreement.
As she grew older, she switched to readymade products easily and coaxed both her daughters to do the same. She didn’t believe in working relentlessly in the kitchen and never tired of telling us, not to either. Her mulagai podi was one for the ages, but she found the ones in the store were just as good, and so when someone in the family asked her to make some, she’d tell them she’d stopped. She wasn’t a puritan and didn’t believe in the so called authentic handed down through generations, recipes. She’d advise me to cook up one pot dishes for parties I would host so my load would lessen.
She napped when she felt like and hated her sleep being disturbed. Very early on, she passed the responsibility of the morning tea to my dad, not subscribing to the silly notion of waking with the birds. Or bathing before sunrise and cooking. She made her own schedule and the family usually stuck to it.
She started buying jewellery for herself as she grew older possibly realising how much she had sacrificed in her youthful years. In her last decade, she led her life exactly as she wanted, whether it was reading late into the night, or adjusting the family’s dinner time according to the time of her favourite show.
She held up her own in any argument, and I can’t remember a time when she let gender get in the way of her making a point. By living life mostly on her terms, my mother taught me to do the same. I inherited her intensity, her self assurance, stubbornness and assertion and needless to say, we clashed often. After the difficult and tumultuous teenage and early adult years, we however found a way to connect. I learnt later, that she was insanely proud of me – my personality and character. That which I had inherited from her. And that which she stoked in me, knowingly and unknowingly.
It took me a deep understanding of feminism to know that it is multi layered, that the feminist of the 1950s or the 80s is still as much a feminist as that of 2023. We would not be here today, with our freedom to hold a job or even write this piece if it were not for the feminists of the past who sacrificed a part of themselves so their daughters could breathe a little easier, walk a little further.
I am a banker, author, poet and an intersectional feminist. Speaking up on social issues, mentoring and coaching and cooking up a storm for friends and a certain strapping 21 year old boy are what read more...
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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.
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.
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