I was at a weird place this passed week.
A land where 5 year old boys are sent outdoors with twenty
year old women as their
bodyguards.
A land where the bride sits in the corner of a room 4 days
before her wedding, and feels trapped in her own house during her last few days
there.
In a land where girls of all ages, married or unmarried
crack dirty jokes few days before the wedding while wearing a veil, It’s a land
of hypocrisy where the newly wed girl is constantly asked and teased and
prodded about her wedding night by every other woman.
A land where the boys can roam around all over town trying
to fool everybody including themselves that they’re “cool”, but a girl wearing
sunglasses at noon is “trying to attract attention’’.
A girl is yelled at for stepping outside alone to get water,
it’s an unofficial rule that girls can’t be seen at the corner store by
themselves.
But hey no one stops the 10 year old criminals in the making
from eve teasing. Free to hoot and
whistle at the burkha clad women passing by.
It’s a land where cell phones are infamous. A land where
privacy is not a right but a luxury..seldom given.
I was there for 3 days and it was a suffocating experience
for me, with every passing year it seems to get worse and worse! And what’s
even worse is that this is the norm in rural India. No one seems to care. Even
the women have accepted these blatant double standards, not just accepted they
expect it! They cherish it, they appreciate it! Seriously?
But then it hit me…why just blame rural India…these double
standards are prevalent all over the world.
Why is it that a baby is born to parents…but the father
usually enjoys the fun part and the mother is called for if the baby cries or
screams or needs a diaper change. Worse part? The child gets the father’s name,
no questions asked!
Why are women always expected to be natural born chefs, why
is it that even if the wife works as much as the husband..she is expected to
come back home and cook as well! Why is it that even in this day and age men
are still earning more than women for the same job. Example: Our Bollywood.
Why don’t parents stop their sons from dating whereas the
daughters can’t even openly talk with the opposite sex. Why is it okay for
husbands to make rules and regulations for their wives and live the life of a
bachelor? Why is it okay for them to do certain things and not okay for their
wives to do the same? Why is it okay for them to have female friends but not
okay for their wives to have male friends?!
And what saddens me the most in all of this is… majority of
women have accepted these man made laws of living…those who question it are
judged and called names, which makes many of us pretend to accept them when in
reality we do not. Lets stop pretending…verbalize your thoughts and be heard.
To new beginnings and an unprejudiced future. Cheers.
