Her Fight Is On

Women and their status has always been a topic of my interest. Stories are numerous about women and the roles played by them in society. Are these stories misread for a purpose? What was really the aim behind the suppression of women? Were women created to be inferior? Is that why they have become 'reservation' today? Women have come a long way but political representation will not improve their social status. That needs a change in mindset.

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Man invented marriage

For order and stability

Divisions based on labour

That scripted roles not status.

Rank crept into the equation

As war and greed evolved

Protection of mother and child

Turned father into a keeper.

A modern Indian woman

Her progress constantly curbed

By ancient notions countless

Of purity and of pollution.

Models flaunted in plenty

Of moral traditional roles

Raised to a pedestal

To control as they preach.

Haunted by Sati she

Imbibed blind devotion

Her man was supreme

And his word divine

Abuse and humiliation

Just part of the game

Tied by the sacred knot

Her destiny was sealed.

Savitri with great tenacity

Confronted Lord Yama

Stree sakthi celebrated? Oh, NO!

Celebrated was a bond

That demanded conformity

Imprinted in pliable minds

In his fame and his success

To remain docile and minor

in his fame and his success.

Roles change with time

And woman no longer in chains

Liberty and opportunity

Hers to rightly proclaim.

Equipped and motivated

Shoulder squared she stands

With patience and endurance

Two weapons to help her win.

Sati-Savitri’s of the ancient!

Salute this modern Indian woman!

She triumphs as a single woman

In marriage now quite equal

In widowhood no longer cursed

Her progress once curbed

By ancient notions countless

Of purity and of pollution.

© Nalini Hebbar/openmind/2009 - all rights reserved
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