Happy Wo(MAN)'s day!!

A few days ago, I had many of my friends especially my guy friends wishing me “Happy Women’s Day”…I had nothing else to say except politely thank them. I wish there’s also a Men’s day so that we can appreciate men for all the great works they’ve done for our species. Somehow I feel sorry that amidst all this hue and cry of women empowerment and rights of women and such serious feminist stuffs, somewhere along the way, we have generalized all men to be chauvinists. We have painted them all with the same colour which is really really unfair.

Last week when I was at Delhi, infamously called as the Rape capital, I was all geared up with a pepper spray in hand, flaunting it to the taxi driver as I was travelling alone. He must have read my mind or something coz he had that stupid looking smirk on his face and I ended up feeling stupid. After reaching my destination, he handed my luggage, smiled politely and asked “Madam, aur kuch?? I could not help but smile at his innocence. Am I really becoming so self-possessed and judgmental? Or it may be just that we are just too preoccupied with fending ourselves that we risk losing our courteous manners.

On a positive note, I must admit that life is so much easier being a woman. Quite often there’s always a chivalric gentlemen who offers his seat while I am hustling in a crowded bus, the queue is definitely quicker for women be it in banks, post office or any other public services, I can hold hands with my best friend whenever I want without disapproving stares, it just take a couple of hours to get a hundred likes when I upload a picture, and many times a flirty smile is all it takes to get a work done. And so often many of the guys tease me saying “Why do you need a PhD? There is some nice guy out there earning a PhD for you. You just have to find him”!! As easy as that!! In short, there’s so much to celebrate about being a woman.

As for me, no matter how much tall claims they make, I just cant understand the need to have a separate day to celebrate being a woman. We talk about equality on one hand and again we feel special when we have such separate days for us. We protest for equality and yet we have this unfair reservation policies which segregates us into different categories!! What an irony!! How about empowering our girls to be independent and teaching them how to give and earn respect? Let us teach our girls to say NO at the right time not at the expense of losing her modesty and grace. After all, women are in no competition against men. If equality is what we are striving for, then so be it…..we are only humans and let us stay humane.