I imagine what Savitri bai and Fatima Shaikh would be thinking watching this future they sacrificed their lives over, watching young women fight over inconsequential things, and fritter away the precious opportunity of an education. https://www.womensweb.in/2022/05/high-school-girls-in-bangalore-street-fight-over-a-boy-may22wk3sr/
Tag: Feminism
The Free Will of a Woman.
Mahadevi Akka was a fool,Who thought she could flyWhen she took off her clothesIn a declaration of her freedom.She wandered the streetsIn her birthday suitSinging praises of Chenna Mallikarjuna,Her divine Loverbecause the local boysJust didn't measure up.The joke's on her though.The local boys offended by her naked body,Covered her in clothesAnd stuck her into a [...]
Men Are Boys
"Like a compass needle that always points north, a man’s accusing finger always finds a woman. Always." –A Thousand Splendid Suns, Khaled Hosseini. A 34-year-old male actor recently died by suicide and everywhere I see, grownass men and women are addressing him as that 'poor boy'. The 'boy' was highly educated, by some reports even [...]
G I Jane, Gunjan Saxena And Other Feminist Musings.
The Ridley Scott directed G I Jane (1997) is one of my guilty pleasures. Watching the elfin Demi Moore transform into a buff, tough-as-nails Navy Seal, cigars, buzz cut, moonlit one-armed push ups and all was thrilling for the 24-year-old me, nearly a quarter century ago. With no one else to share my nascent feminist [...]
One Day
All of a sudden, what happened, they asked?They didn't remember the things they had said,Red lipstick makes you look like a Grant Road prostitute.Your hair is the only beautiful thing about you.Why don't you colour your hair? You'll look so good.White makes you look darker than you already are.Where's the bindi? What are you, a [...]
Write an essay on: My Pet Peeve
Seminal, Adjectivesem·i·nal | \ ˈse-mə-nᵊl \Definition of seminal1: of, relating to, or consisting of seed or semenseminal discharge2: containing or contributing the seeds of later development : CREATIVE, ORIGINALEg. A seminal book The egg that made me was in my mother's ovaries when she was a 7 month old foetus in my grandmother's womb. Yes. [...]
A Prayer for/to Everywoman
I will fight great battles for me. And stain my hair with the blood of my oppressors. I will not wait for a hero to protect my modesty. For I am not a modest woman. I am loud and I take up space. I do not know shame nor guilt nor secrecy. I will walk [...]
Run Me Down
I look wistfully at the cute pair of neon running shorts with its matching tank top that I picked up from a big fitness brand store. An expensive waste, when I am fully aware, having have been told over and over, that if you want to run you can even do it in a salwar [...]
On why I don’t have a #MeToo story
Trigger warnings: Sexual Abuse I wish I had someone famous to Pin my #MeToo story on. It would change the way we looked at the world. Industries would coin new laws, HR would introduce sensitivity Training, Parliament would pass a bill. But my secrets involve the Ordinary everyday. Fathers who thought you and Your five [...]
Sew many times.
It is quiet this morning. The crows have been awake for an hour. Long enough for them calm down after the frenzied effort to awaken the world. I need to finish the piping on my daughter's skirt. A new found love with my sewing machine.Or a newly remembered one. My daughter wanders in sleepy-eyed, sits [...]
You are a nothing 