Feministaah

Independence Day is always a time of introspection and hope. So what does freedom mean to the Indian woman? There are vast contradictions in the way the lives of women have progressed as well as regressed over the seventy one years since Independence. The lives of women in India were always stacked with obstacles—this must be the only country where widows were expected to commit sati, or were treated with shocking cruelty. Their heads shaved off, forced to wear dull clothes and eat food without salt or spice.  In spite of reform movements and leaders encouraging remarriage, widows are still being banished to Vrindavan to live in utter penury and dependence on charity.    Dowry has been prevalent in other societies too, but in India killing brides who bring inadequate dowry took on epidemic proportions.  Women are still dying from burns ostensibly caused by stove bursts, but the number seems to have reduced, or the crimes are not reported. The fr...

Not being a TV watcher, I had not seen any promos of this new serial, called  Nazar (Evil Eye) . I hadn’t seen the hoardings splashed over the city either. Fellow journalist Alaka Sahani’s post on Facebook, brought this to my notice. “ Eerily long pleated hair. Check. Pointy long nails. Check. Upturned feet (ulta paon). Check. Indian television is all set to welcome a  daayan/ chudail /witch… Slow clap for Indian television please for churning out super regressive content and making witches out of women. This show, especially, seems to have the potential of triggering superstition in a society where women in rural areas are still lynched and murdered on the suspicion that they are 'witches'.” It is indeed a worrying thought. There is a whole lot of Indian folklore about   daayans   and  chudails , and most of it triggers emotional responses among the superstitious, because they are supposed to be either women disappointed in love, who tak...