“The new Mayor of Chennai Corporation is a woman.”
“11 out of 20 Mayors in Tamizh
Nadu are women.”
These lines are part of the
headlines in leading newspapers last week. What does this convey?
Women Empowerment? That women
in our country are now out of the clutches and that the cliched Glass ceiling
has been broken?
Before we attempt to draw any
conclusions, let me reproduce a small passage:
“Listen to me. You may be the
President of whatever of that ‘xyz’ company, but when we come home, you are a
wife and a mother and a daughter. Nobody can take that place. So, leave your
crown in the Garage.”
This passage is extracted from
the autobiography of Indra Nooyi, the first woman CEO of that multinational
company and that ‘dialogue’ was uttered by her mother when the CEO-Designate
drove back home and broke the news to her mother.
The headlines quoted in the
beginning and this passage may sound relevant to some and may sound irrelevant
to many. But the fact of the matter is, women-not just in India, but across the
world- are discriminated against, their roles being stereotyped with the ‘crown’
sitting uncomfortably on their heads, ready to be dislodged at the drop of a
hat!
‘All said and done, she is a
woman’- Is there anybody who has not used this expression? And this includes
women too.. Indra’s mother, a woman herself cannot extricate herself from the
definition of the ‘duties of a woman’. In a way, she is no different from that
gentleman called Manu, whose lines have been quoted ad nauseam.
At the other end of the
spectrum-which is diametrically opposite to that ‘empowerment theory’, we get
to see crimes and atrocities against women continuing unabated, not just in the
oppressed class, but also in the elite class. The shameful and nauseous
incident involving the Malayalam actor which happened in 2017 and despite all
evidence, being dragged by the court of law with the main accused continuing to
enjoy the ‘immunity’ and even continuing to act in films, is a case in point.
The fact that the female actor is audacious and doggedly pursuing the case
without giving up even an inch despite the aspersion cast, is indeed
appreciable and shows the light at the end of the tunnel.
Women are not objects or
subjects but are human beings with a free will. If we realise this fact(and
here ‘we’ means both men and women), only then can we say that women are
empowered.
Being glorified as ‘Shakti’,
being put on a pedestal, being considered a gold ornament which is at best kept
inside the locker or used only as an ornament on occasions, being made to
occupy powerful positions only to keep reminding them of their ‘duties’ as a ‘stree’,
are not things a woman wants. What they want is Respect in real sense without
assuming that the power to give freedom lies with a male.
In the song of the day, I feel
that freedom. ‘Karpoora Mullai OndRu’ from ‘Karpoora Mullai’(1991) reminds me
of a free bird which flies without any inhibitions.
The beginning itself suggests
this. The female voice humming ‘Bam ha Bam Bam’ with the chorus joining in soon
and the different sound which sounds like a ball falling down and bouncing
back, kindles interest. A kind of interest which would make anything
interesting. The bass guitar and the keys follow suit and produce sound which
can be called ‘naughty and notorious’. In short, Freedom at its best!
We move like that uncontrollable
river in a forest- sings Chitra in the Pallavi in which the bass guitar and the
drums back the vocals in their signature style.
The bass strings continue
their journey in the first interlude with the brass instruments peeping in in
the beginning and then going on their own trip. The bass strings enter again
but this time the violins join them and it is two different melodies superimposed.
The bass strings take a turn and chart their own path, after a while and lead
to the CharaNam.
The beginning of the CharaNam
is different yet again with the chorus singing in harmony.
We can no longer be tied like
how a snake is made to sleep inside a box. No longer are we the ‘Sitas’ to be confined
to the boundaries – sings the chorus.
We move like the silver
chariot in the night, singing and dancing to ourselves.
It is the funny sound of the
guitar which first attracts us in the second interlude. The strings follow
moving like a stream. The chorus hums a melody and though it is repetitive, it
does not sound stale because of the tune and also because of the guitar which
backs the vocals.
A river flows on its own. It need
not ask anybody about its path.
A cuckoo sings on its own. It
need not seek permission.
Hope people who build dams or
people who cage the birds are listening!
