Saturday 15 November 2008


Being a Woman
Long long ago during my adolescence I read this Hindi poem and just copied it. Then I was horrified to know that I am also a girl and today also I am frightened because I am a mother of two girls. At that moment I could not understand this poem in totality but now today I can understand it completely in its vivid and right contexts:
लडक़ी
वह नहीं जानती उसका होना
इतना दुष्कर होगा
वह नहीं जानती
वह आदमी कब उसके शरीर में जा छिपा
जो निरन्तर उसे अपमानित व परास्त कर रहा है
उसका उत्साह
निश्चित ताकतवर है
वह जानती है
उसकी आक्रामक मुद्रा में
कौनसा डर दुबक गया है
जो उसे अन्दर तक खाली कर रहा है
बार-बार उसका विश्वास
जीने के मोह के बाहर
उसे व्याकुल बनाता है
उसका अर्न्तमन
साफ-साफ दिख रहे समय के भीतर
दिलचस्प झूठ में लथपथ होकर
जो बन रहा है, वह कितना भयावह होगा
उसकी कल्पना में प्रसन्न चित्रों के रंग
किस कदर स्याह हो चुके हैं
वह नहीं जानती।
वह नहीं जानती
अपने विरुध्द अपने को तैयार करना
कितना दु:ख भरा साहस है।

And now some time back I read this Hindi poem by famous writer "Tasleema Nasreen".
तुम लडक़ी हो,
यह अच्छी तरह याद रखना,
तुम जब घर की चौखट लांघोगी,
लोग तुम्हें टेढी-मेढी नजरों से देखेंगे।
तुम जब गली से होकर गुजरोगी,
लोग तुम्हारा पीछा करेंगे,
सीटी बजाएंगे!
तुम जब गली पार करके
मुख्य सडक़ तक पहुँचोगी,
लोग तुम्हें चरित्रहीन कह कर
गालियाँ देंगे।
तुम व्यर्थ होओगी, अगर पीछे लौटोगी
वरना, जैसे जा रही हो जाओ!

Oh! Nothing has changed, same heinous feelings of being a female, it does not make any difference whether it is this country or that religion. Even if you don't cross the door that also does not ensure your safety at home! If those females who go out of villages to study are not safe then are those females who live in villages under long veils can feel safe?Harassment, sexual violence, mental tension, everything is same. The only change that is visible is that now these things cannot go unnoticed even when Honorable Supreme Court also does not give justice to Bhanvari Devi. Now the statistics do not increase rather the volume of these cries have become really bold and loud. Women are now all set to shed this wrong habit of so called tolerance. She has been told by this religion and male dominated society since ages, "Tolerate! But don't say a word, you will lose your prestige and place; we would not lose anything because we are males!" Religion was never with women. Right from the Vedic era to today's constitution there are hundreds and hundred pages written on female equality and devotion to her. Reality tells a different story; so far all the way it is only a glorified paradox. Is it not sad that in this country there is lot of noise on cow slaughter or temple-mosque disputes but no one talks about abortion of female fetus. Even doctors also forget their noble profession's oath. I happen to be a witness of this heinous crime‚ when I saw a gynecologist misguiding a village couple. There are no serious restriction and legislation; this issue has been neglected for a long time. All religions and all strata of our society are equally responsible for promoting this evil practice. Inheritance laws are also tilted in favor of male offspring. None of the successive governments have been successful in controlling dowry custom; all awareness, noise and ineffective laws can not help female. She is still considered a burden due to economic problems. Religion, custom, wrong practices and male discrimination are not only responsible for this sorry state of Indian woman, up to certain extent she herself is also to be blamed. If she is a mother, she should oppose abortion of female fetus. If she is a daughter then she should oppose the dowry system. She should stand up and oppose to physical abuse and rape.
Our constitution clearly says that there should not be any discrimination on the basis of sex and the women are also empowered with the right of voting but still she is neglected even for basic health services and literacy. However, the government seems to be helpless as in reality nothing reaches to her.After independence there have been a few progressive women who have made their place in this all male dominating world by using their freedom but a common woman still remains in her own cocoon. Slowly now the women are getting onto the path of progress through the medium of education. She has come forward to acclaim her place in a variety of fields. As an educated housewife and mother she had given right direction to the family and provided a new vision to the next generation. There are no two thoughts that women has awakened to her rights but on the darker side she still continues to suffer from lot of physical and emotional excesses.The empowerment of women is directly connected to the family, society and in turn to the development of the country. The cruelty with women is very painful, for her and her family and also shameful for society and country. A single crime with a woman reverses all forwarding steps of other women and the chain of development breaks up. There should be a positive change in attitude of man, society, religion and government so that woman can be given a fair chance to develop without any fear.
– Manisha Kulshrestha

20 comments:

Kavita Vachaknavee said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Kavita Vachaknavee said...

इतना तो उसे निश्चित मिलना ही चाहिए;अधिकार है उसका, जिसके लिए लड़कर और आन्दोलन चला कर, भीख माँग कर और बदनामी ले लेकर उसे संघर्ष करना पड़ रहा है।

Anonymous said...

A lot has changed very slowly on this front. I think if one looks at a common Indian family there has been a significant change in the rearing and care of girl child. Usually, she commands a lot of love and almost similar health care and education until and unless some exceptional circumstances like extreme poverty or absence of school in neighborhood prevent it.
I was travelling in small backward interior areas of UP districts recently and was really delighted to see a no. of girl students coming out of schools whenever our vehicle passed from a place where shool was over just at that time.
Usually great changes like this take a long time to come because of lack of good governance and social mores in developing countries. 50 yers are a great time for an individuals life but this time is nothing for social changes to happen.
Yes I do agree that we should all hasten the process and real change will happen when we will change our attitudes in full and women will be as free as man. But here is a big question-- whether man is free? Enjoying quality life as a human being is something which is still a dream!
sanjeev

KK Yadav said...

वह नहीं जानती
वह आदमी कब उसके शरीर में जा छिपा
जो निरन्तर उसे अपमानित व परास्त कर रहा है
...........Nari ki pragti ke kisse roj sune ja rahe hain, par samaj ki mansikta jas ki tas hai.Ise badalne ki jarurat hai.

shelley said...

manisha ji mai aapki bahut badi prasansak hu. sanjog se aaj hi aapka blog dekha. aapki yah kavita 8 mahine pahle kahi padhi thi aaj v mere paas print rakha mujhe kafi pasand hai yah. ummid hai aage v aisi hi kavita padhne ko milegi jo dil ko chhu len......

shelley said...

maaf kijiyega maine apne pasand ki kavita dekhane k baad kuch or dekha hi nahi. dubaara dekha to pata chala ye aapki nahi hai.

Unknown said...

i am regular reader of your 'hindi nest'& i realy appreciate your work. why i written this line as my first comment on your blog article this gives answer that women and girls are no where behind men any more. but you are psycology of female couldn't have changed still. every now or then she felt a bitter experience.you must have remembered one article of harinshakar parsai in which he has written that 'ek aadm ke kamane se pet nahi bharta is line ne 100 sudharko se jyada striyon ki dasha sudhari hai'.so,this new era globlisation has changed most of things and females should must change set of frame of their thinking.although i am too young to give comments like this but one thing indian women should must learn and it is 'raising their hands'.the day indian women going to start this habit as men onwards then there will be no rape or physical accuse neither they have to do movement for equality. i hope this will be soon.you written this blog very nicely comparision of two sentimental poems is realyh good. but there is one point as what happened which has cmpelled you to think in this way that nothing has changed?

Bahadur Patel said...

manisha ji bahut achchhi kavita hai taslima ki. apane padhavai.dhanywad. apake blog par pahali bar aaya hoon. gwr ki yaad taja ho gai. sangaman ke achchhe se hone ki badhai bhi yahin par de raha hoon.

vijay kumar sappatti said...

aapka ye lekh padha , bahut hi prabhavshali hai .

aur logo ke liye jagran ka karya karti hai ..

bahut badhai

vijay
poemsofvijay.blogspot.com

Anonymous said...

theek kaha hai aap ne asa hi hai pr kuchh to hum ko badalna hoga
saader
rachana

Akanksha Yadav said...

......अद्भुत, भावों की सरस अभिव्यंजना. कभी हमारे 'शब्दशिखर' www.shabdshikhar.blogspot.com पर भी पधारें !!

विजय गौड़ said...

यूं ही भटकते हुए गिरिराज जी के ब्लाग से आपके ब्लाग तक पहुंचा हूं, अच्छा लगा।

neelam said...

manisha ji ,
kuch to jaddojahad karni padegi par haalat ab kuch badal gaye hain ,when i was doing my P.G from lucknow univdrsity my one mate used to go by scooty ,everyday two boys on bicyleused to follow her ,she was just amajed with their courage ,chaahe garmi ho ya barsaat wo roj use ghar ki gali tak chor kar aate the ,ek din jaise hi wo waapas jaane lage usne apni scooty modi aur kahaa ,
jab itni mehnat karte ho hum scooty par tum cycle se hume roj ghar tak aate ho ,to aaj ghar dekh kar hi jaao ,she was serioue about it but they both never appeared .
to samay badal raha hai ,abhi aur badlega ,umeed ki kiran bujhni nahi chaahiye

सुशीला पुरी said...

kya baat hai!!!!!!! manisha ji bhut khojne par aap milin....

रश्मि प्रभा... said...

bahut hi sarthak rachnaon ko rekhankit kiya hai......

प्रदीप जिलवाने said...

बहुत ही प्रभावशाली कविताएं हैं. चयन और प्रस्‍तुति के लिए बधाई. विशेषकर इन काव्‍य पंक्तियों के लिए
'वह नहीं जानती
अपने विरुध्द अपने को तैयार करना
कितना दु:ख भरा साहस है।'

दीप पर्व की शुभकामनाओं सहित...
- प्रदीप जिलवाने, खरगोन म.प्र.

Kulwant Happy said...

जब तक औरत खुद आवाज बुलंद नहीं करेगी, तब तक अंधा कानून कुछ नहीं करेगा। आपका लेख एक सार्थक लेख है। फेसबुक एवं ऑर्कुट के शेयर बटन

सुशीला पुरी said...

बहुत सुंदर पोस्ट .....

Deepak Tiruwa said...

aap ke blog par pahunchna sukhad raha.follower link laga lijiye please apna yahan aana aasan ho jayega

DR. SHIV SHANKAR MISHRA said...

bolo ji par aakar achchhaa lagaa . aashaa hai sangaman-16' ki kuchh yaaden shesh hongi. kam se kam svchchhayaa paidal chalane ki, ya ramabhar stoop ki parikrama ki. kabhi aakhyaan.blogspot.com par aanaa ho , to mujhe khushi hogi.