"When does our path we walk on lock around our feet ?
When does the road become a river with only one destination?
Death waits for us all in Samarra.."
The dream began thus with these words and slowly merged on to a narrative of womanhood.So what do these words have to do with womanhood.These are just words from the latest "Sherlock Holmes" serial.The favorite. What does it have to do with me,I mean Womanhood!!.In my recent past,I was killed but yet here am to narrate a story.The story of ....whatever you like to call.
A NARRATIVE:
What does it take to be a woman in life? I have seen men worshipping women, prostrating before women, doing all favour for her...but only until the sensual hours of dusk for a 'testosterone' pact agreed.I also have seen men who are respected fathers/uncles/cousins/friends/husbands/sons etc.Well,they are good people you see..only that to cover the little stem of misogyny attitude with a brief smile and impose their moral duty of protection under esteemed social norms.Sarcastic!! No, am serious.A rebel girl, a carefree woman, an achievable woman whatsoever you would like to call are only to be gossiped behind her back as "an arrogant devil".Well such is the nature of the earth I would say.
FICTION OR FACTUAL??
So now tell me,What does it take to be a woman in life? Courage,love,passion,power,money.. what? All it takes is only "dignity" to be respected as an equal human being .Gender apart.The faith and norms of humanity have been designed as such that "Naari shakti" is deserved and should be delegated from men.Where does this word "delegated to " come from.Are human beings treated in a dignified way in hell/heaven (hypothetical though) based on gender? I don't think so.I have been there and it's a calm and sensible place where you get liberated from your so called bosom attraction.A thought beyond gender!! But I am an over curious girl and hence want to decodify this gender mystique.So I came back.(only to regret later)
Ah!! Didn't I say a narrative.Yes and here I begin.
MID 1820's:
My name is Mithunabhalya.A different experience in this world and as a girl I didn't understand why I was made to sit on a pyre.The grand old man who struggled in bed(!) yesterday had died today and now in the name of God I too am being made to sit on the pyre.As slowly the vaporising dust of my body settles I liberate from Mithunabhalya.Now am free.But I am mystified over why the body was burned.This place of solitude is entirely different from the experience I had a couple of hours ago.Deepened by the peculiar thought of going back to a bosom when I approached the "Karma queue",I was happy that I got a token to take birth after 80 years in the same place.
SOMEWHERE IN 1920's:
Now my name is Vishali Vaidyanathan.Ok,this birth of mine could impress you.As I leave this materialistic world I feel a sense of agony for the persons who have had birth as the same gender as that of mine.This time I had a husband and a family who gave me a pleasing time within home.Pleasing.. yes.I was escorted wherever I went by any of my male family member.I thought privileged and overwhelmed only to regret later learning that such escorts were not for my security but for the family prestige to prevent me from getting corrupted.Fantastic norm.Any how I was feeling later had I not to enjoy such escort after my husband's demise.Its been 8 years since his death and now as I , called by name Vishali Vaidyanathan, liberates from the body which lost all its sheen in name of "Widow's life style and "orthodox" culture.My head was tonsured and my body was draped in a white cloth.Fantastic woman life.
IN THE LIBERATION ERA OF 2000
Yet again.My overflowing curiosity made me come back.But this time conditions improved!!.You know what. Machines became human companions.This time I was sheltered under the highly respected family of Mr.Das Bhatia.Wow..The life is ,as this is how it is to be.Fashion, foreign and 'femdom'(google it).Or so do I thought until I was killed along with my boyfriend Shresta.Oh..Did I not say..We are from a higher clan and no such marriages where a 'girl chooses a boy' was allowed.Yea..it's the dignity of the family and it really mattered..only at the expense of two lives..Poor Shresta.
NEW MILLENNIUM 2016:
And yes its me again and it's quite early for a rebirth.This time in the name of *****.And yes I chose to be extra careful.No love,no marriage and let me live on my own terms.Luckily my father is a good man and so are the male members sorrounding me.This time I hope,I could end the note "Being born and grown as an educated woman is the best part among my many births" but not until I was slit right under my throat.Damn it.Its not inside the home now ,its the railway station and its the stalker guy.Where do they come from.?A lone girl walking on the road at night is not a sign to alert your hormone level .Neither does her way of dressing or common human expression of smile is a sign of your estranged "ok ok" thought.Learn to be a human only then you'll know what it takes to be a woman in this world.Time to go.Enough of rebirth.Now a liberated soul.So it's the inevitable.Death waits for us all in Samarra.
WHAT IT TAKES??
And as I conclude, its not just the words of the writer that's being posted but rather a thought and a pained thought of learning to 'look beyond gender'.So as I take leave of my narrative, Shri who considers himself as a feminist will take over from here.It is to be noted that though acclaiming to be a feminist, it's a man and he always will be a man with that hidden domination.The fictional story ends here.
So that post popped up in my head from nowhere as I was in the middle of mediation and I explained it to my mother and more did I realise that it's not just the attitude of a single man in a home to be changed but the entire society with women themselves included within should change.Think Beyond Gender...
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