Every woman has a story to tell. Most women strive to balance their personal and professional lives and attain their dreams. This week, on International Women’s Day we will bring you stories of Indian women who got out and achieved those dreams.
For most urban Indian women reading constitutes of chic literature, or chic lit as it is popularly called, by foreign authors, though we cannot relate to them. But when we picked up Sreemoyee Piu Kundu’s, Faraway Music we felt an instant connect, it’s a story you can relate to. This women’s day we caught up with her and talked about femininity:
Do you think that with the onslaught of consumerism, Women’s Day has lost its sole objective? Elaborate.
Women’s Day for me should be about celebrations every day. It’s about taking note of the woman in all of us women, of patting ourselves on the back and also being pampered and indulged. Whether we do that on March 8 or whether we do that each day of our lives is to me irrelevant. So, in that sense Women’s Day being a commercial celebration also hardly matters. I can be every woman, everyday.
Feminism back then meant acting like a male but it is evolving into balancing a woman’s beauty and brains. Do you believe you are a feminist at heart?
Every woman is a feminist according to me or should be and by that I don’t mean someone who shouts slogans on women’s rights or indulges in male bashing, but a woman who is self assured and has courage and absolutely loves her womanly side.
Rapes, gender discrimination, dowry deaths, eve teasing etc, everywhere women are being subjected to unfair treatment. Have you ever faced unjustified treatment as a woman?
Well, I was groped quite badly as a teenager inside a train compartment once and it definitely left me scared and silenced in a certain manner and at a certain level I guess. But injustice does not always mean an extreme situation. In relationships between the sexes when there is a lack of respect, in work places when one faces a gender discrimination or even in one’s own family when it’s felt that the ‘beti’ can’t do something – these are all tacit examples of the divide between men and women.
What do you think the biggest feminism issue worldwide?
The biggest feminist issue to me is the physical branding of women. If a woman wears a short skirt she’s forward and an ‘easy target’ for male lust. If a married woman in a joint family wants to work, she’s not a dutiful bahu…if a mother of say two children wants to start a business of her own, she’s too ambitious and hence she may end up neglecting her family, a woman can’t enter a kitchen/temple when she is menstruating and if a woman asks a man out in a office canteen, she’s horny – why must our roles be up for scrutiny in public spaces? Why must who we are be categorized and labeled? Always?
One issue you believe must be highlighted this women’s day?
The safety of women in public spaces – that is an issue I think needs to be highlighted. We need more women inspectors, rape rehabilitation and counselling centres, more support groups and governmental protection for women battling domestic violence/victims of rape/molestation.
Which is an ideal song for this occasion?
I’m Every Woman – Whitney Houston
One law India desperately needs to be introduced in favour of women?
I think our laws pertaining to rape are archaic and need to be reviewed and changed if found outdated. With the high incidence of crimes against women, especially in metro cities, this is the crying need of the hour.
Any message for today’s women?
Go out there and claim who you were meant to be – FREE, FEARLESS, FIESTY. Happy your day. Our day. Everyday! Happy Women’s Day
