Times of Women!! It's High time India!

Times of India, after stepping in the new millennium when two decades have flashed by.. and while this occurred, I have some vivid memories in my mind when we had various speakers predicting the providence post year 2000. Bejan Daruwala had clearly stated that women in India will occupy spaces of prime importance and will take the lead, hence India will be the new Superpower!

Every bit of it stands true, as today I got to witness the most respectable and trustworthy media house of India, Times of India celebrating women in every aspect of their Literature Festival, which is spread over two days at India Habitat Centre.  30th November 2019 and 1st December 2019 they have got on board, the most eminent speakers, authors of various genres, Bollywood celebrities, novelists, columnists, politicians, etc expressing their views spread over about 75 sessions.

Literature, as we know of, primarily revolves around nature and feminism, be it prose or poetry. So was this festival... Vinita Dawra Nangia the Director of the show and the talks revolving around women, women who like men have stayed in forests as “rishis” also... Aranyaka, a fable book, written by Amruta Patil and Devdutt Pattanaik tell us more about the concept which was practiced by Vedic rishikas – Katyayani the Large, Maitreyi the Fig and Gargi the weaver. 

Sister B K Shivani, conducted a discourse speaking about our soul journey, which seeks nothing but eternal bliss, and the way to bliss is to bless even those who do us wrong, then the actual divine guidance takes over the negative controlling powers, that’s the way to happiness, our ultimate goal!!

In between the power sessions, I witnessed the unveiling of a new award series, which is purely dedicated to women writers/ authors. The initiative has been taken by JK Paper and Times of India. Therefore, the awards are named as AutHER Awards.

Beauty and the Bad Man (beast) of Bollywood; Mahima Chaudhary and Gulshan Grover spoke about their challenges giving out the message that in life it is never too late to start any journey. All we need is grit and determination and his life journey is jotted in the journal “Bad Man – The biography of Gushan Grover”. The book was released this year itself in July 2019.

Amidst the empowering talks and inspiring discourses came in a dialogue by Mahima Chaudhary which was there in one of her films, “Aurat ko pair ki jooti mat samajhna sahib, jis din padegi to be bhav ki padegi”.. this was meant for those large pockets of society where deep down such beliefs are engrained that a woman is still an object and can be controlled as per the desire of the stronger opposite sex. The reality bites are quite a paradox when we move a little away from the well-read and informed urban frames of society... while the literature still praises the beauty of a woman wherein billions of verses have been written about her.. “yeh duniya ik dulhan ke mathe ki bindiya”; the same lady is then abused, burnt alive and raped.. in our so-called Superpower India. Yeh hai mera India? 

Can we say sexuality must be now the new religion? Just like Hindu and Muslim? Men and women should stay away from each other in ‘zanana’ and ‘mardana’   territorial divisions, cause in a country where a well-educated doctor is brutally killed after sexual abuse. 

The literature fest is once in a year event, but daily women have to walk out of their houses for work, shopping or picking up their children from school.  One side we are talking about sexual liberation and on the other side, we have strong gender biases. 

As per the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) of India, crimes against women have increased by 7.5 percent since 2010 (the new educated India) During the year 2012, there were 24,923 cases registered, which went up to 33,707 in 2013. Most of the rape victims were aged between 18 and 30 years. Every six hours a girl is raped in India. Madhya Pradesh was at the top with women numbering 4,882 in 2017. As per NCRB data] In 2017, 28,947 women were reported raped in the country. In this case, Uttar Pradesh was second and third in the country with 4,816 and Maharashtra 4,189 rape incidents. Madhya Pradesh tops the country in the case of rape with minor girls. 2,479 such cases were reported in the state, while Maharashtra 2, 310 and Uttar Pradesh were second and third with 2,115 such incidents. Cases of rape were reported with 16,863 minor girls across the country. Some cases of rape were a blot on humanity and grave crimes. These were the Nirbhaya gang rape of 2012, the 22-year-old photo-journalists gang rape in 2013, the 71-year-old nun's gang rape in West Bengal's Ranaghat in 2015, the murder of a Dalit girl in 2016 and the Kathua rape case of rape in 2018,  Now Hyderabad doc!

Are we living in a bipolar society, where every day the role and expectation from a woman changes as per the convenience of the people around us.. Our parents bring us up in one order and then the fashion changes as per the whims fancies and desires of few.. from a bindi to any relatable object? 

Do we need to incorporate a new subject gender sensitization in our syllabus.. this has to range from rural till the urban Indian stretch! Cause we are a country of Diversity and when the rural men see strong working females, they make a different mental image..

The need has arrived to incorporate gender knowledge and humanities in the school curriculum or a territorial bifurcation of both genders with a clearly defined contractual agreement where the cerebral and central nervous system takes the lead over the Heart or circulatory system!!

Hence, from the calculation of EQs and IQs, let us have a human quotient index calculator with a gender sensible and sensitive society. if they don't pass the test, they need to be trained in the school of humanities.

I believe that's a simple VERDICT for a liveable and safe society!

It's high time India, Times of India, which India? 

What's your place Bharat Mata? Should you learn from Sita and Mahalakshmi to have your own defined territory!

What's the take of men for 'Bharat Mata' beyond the soldiers we have installed on the boundaries..