Shakti is mythological representation of woman. Shakti also
means strength. Women have always been strong, resilient, nurturers,
influencers, change agents so on and so forth.
My mother (she would be 84 if she was alive) who was financially
completely dependent on my father (and before him, her father) was a strong
woman. She knew her roles and
responsibilities well but she also ensured the rest of us took ours
seriously. She was fun but she couldn’t
be fooled around with. She was epitome
of kindness but also a force to reckon with. My father, who appeared
patriarchal went to her for opinion and advise regularly. If you looked at them, you would never have guessed that. My point is, women have always been the significant half in their homes
and in a way in this world too.
What we (women) want today though is to make this
significance more obvious, to gain more freedom, voice and in some cases to be
wearing pants. The way we dress, talk,
carry ourselves and assert our rights (rightly so) have changed and changed
significantly. Feminism is the new
buzzword. This metamorphosis is
exhilarating and beautiful for us – we look at ourselves in the mirror swelling
with pride, the glorious butterflies that we turned into.
For a man though, this is too much too soon. Alpha women are all too ambitious bordering on aggression; they have
their money, jobs, travel and social life (that doesn’t always include her
man). If I were a man, I will suck at
coping with this change and its pace. I
see my man and many men around me not just coping with it, but encouraging and
facilitating this change. And you need
that man, to love you, cheer you and celebrate your success. As someone
beautifully put it, “Feminism is not biological; it is an ideology”. If it took
a Katherine to fight gender and race issues, it also needed a Harrison to give
her a hand (watch Hidden Figures).
While we haven’t conquered larger issues - sexual
harassment, archaic patriarchal norms, female foeticide and such, today let’s
focus on men who value and respect women. Today let’s celebrate womanhood and
men who make this journey of evolution beautiful.
Here’s to you guys who adopt
our madness with gusto!
