Mundane Musings

A very happy Women's Day folks! Marriage and parenthood made me truly understand the importance of celebrating my womanhood; I  was proud to be a woman and all that it represented. It gratified me to see strong, empowered women paving the way to make this day count and to make our gender count. Most often Women's Day celebrates an empowered, successful woman and that can sometimes detract from everything else a non-successful, ordinary woman represents. Mostly the focus is on the two extremes - celebrating a successful, strong woman or empowering an embittered/abused/poverty-stricken woman, whereas there are millions of women who simply keep the wheels of the house moving smoothly and are taken for granted because it doesn't count for anything. The ordinary extraordinary hands that bind the family together. Pic: The Oz Safari I'm happy that Hindi movies have slowly begun to portray such women and their stories in a realistic, mature manner. In fact, 2017 had to...

Every year on International Women’s Day , I am faced with a dilemma – to celebrate the day or to not. It was easy when the decision was not on me as when I was working in a company. The celebrations carried on whether I liked or not. People wished me on the day and I only had to thank them politely or else in the case of loved ones, retort that we women don’t need a special day to celebrate. No thanks. We shall celebrate our womanhood on all days. Just like people feel it necessary to point out unnecessary celebrations for Valentine’s or Mother’s day or New Year’s – calling it a Western influence. Some influences we come to understand are definitely worth it. How immature I have sounded then. With age comes maturity and knowledge, and now I know not to belittle the day with a callous and uninformed mind set, when in reality a day like this should exist. It is a joke that we celebrate and feel special about ourselves every day, when actually there is evidence of the contin...