Sunday 13 July 2014

Male Dominated...

It was an uncomfortable train journey. I got Side Middle seat and I wondered what it is until I saw it. Claustrophobic! I felt as if too many people are jammed into the constraints of a compartment.

Babies were crying... Mommies of young children were screaming... Friends were chatting... Co-travelers were chit-chatting with each other about the weather... the work... and yes! How claustrophobic they felt.

And there I was with my laptop on my lap’s top.... watching a brilliant Parineethi Chopra and handsome Arjun Kapoor in Ishaqzaade. It is 1.5years since its release and I was blessed to watch it only then.

Parineethi reminded me of Rani Mukherje and Vidya Balan... Her ease and girl-next-door looks coupled with an unconventional plot with a clichéd ending though helped me kill the time.

But, the keen observer in me did made me notice the people around me...

A strange combination of bunch of five women and a guy... they seemed to be colleagues to me... The loudness of the women made the man blush at times. Yes! He was literally blushing. What else can he offer when the women battalion discussed about wedding gowns and honeymoon in Maldives. What can he say when one of the women, whom I understood from their conversations is engaged, is worried about travelling to USA because she is unsure about getting a job there. She expressed her fear of leaving her country and people and going to a new place with a man whom she knew only for a few months.

Her mobile rings and she excuses herself... there was a childlike happiness and as I guessed the call was from her fiancé....

The women chattered easily... They ate lays and chocolates... Drank coke and coffee... I came to know that they were travelling to attend their colleague’s wedding.

Seeing their loudness I missed a company for myself... I wished there was someone real beside me and not a mere Parineethi Chopra and Arjun Kapoor.

Then I befriended a lady who was travelling to be with her daughter and son-in-law. She sounded excited and proud at the same time. Her English was impeccable. A bold and independent woman, I concluded.

Finally, I had my dinner and wrapped myself with blankets...

I was not feeling sleepy at all...

So I lay there planning my long weekend... Wondering how women make the choice of leaving everything behind and follow a strange man, husband... Because they are trained to do so, an inner-voice said. But I couldn’t buy that idea... It is the heights of male domination... A tradition that was followed since times unknown and even today! It was disgusting...

These days both men and women study... have almost similar qualifications... they draw almost same salary... they both work in the same way... they both have their own family, dreams and careers... Yet the woman is made to leave everything behind...

I didn’t have any concluding thought for it... Neither did I get any solution... I just felt disgusting... Why people can’t change, I asked myself... Isn’t a woman a human too, I negotiated... I fumed from within... Until I drifted off to sleep...


6 comments:

  1. Misogyny is rampant in this world. Be free, live your life the way you choose to.

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  2. Nowadays, things have changed. Even boys don't stay with their families anymore. For work and job, they too leave their home behind :-/

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    1. Its not about staying with families or not Amrit...
      Its about the concept where the girl is always asked to leave everything and follow her husband...

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  3. i wonder...we stay here because my wife has a stable job that pays well...i could go anywhere...she did move with me early in life...because i made quite a bit of money back then...it was a choice we both made though through conversation...so i think we have to look deeper than what can be observed...there is usually a story there...

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    Replies
    1. I totally agree Brian...
      But, the point that I have tried to convey is about the concept where the girl is still expected to leave her job and comfort zones, and follow her husband at the time of marriage.

      After marriage, it becomes a mutual decision and some rare people like you let your wife grow career-wise.

      But, majority of women in India is asked to leave everything behind and follow her husband...
      I really dont know how this works in other countries though!

      Delete