Kamal Ghorui
Nari Shakti monnwalking in Mumbai
The males of the species were seated on sofas, discussing the Hormuz Strait and IPL scores. The ladies were in a cluster, in another corner of the living room, chatting about LPG cylinders and Akshaya Tritiya.
It was a typical Indian party, with a visible gender divide, passed down faithfully for generations. Kamala was glaring at me meaningfully, indicating that it was time for radical social change.
She tucked her Kanjeevaram sari firmly and then plonked herself on a beanbag, right in the midst of the men’s circle. For a moment, there was shocked silence, punctuated by a nervous giggle from Mr Sharma.
Kamala had symbolically crossed the line that men had drawn at patriarchal parties and had breached the last male bastion. To paraphrase Neil Armstrong, she had taken a small step for a woman but a giant leap for mankind.
The cliché about men being from Mars and women from Venus should have been relegated to history after the likes of Sunita Williams and Christina Koch boldly went where no woman has gone before.
Glass ceilings were being broken with impunity, and boardrooms were being bombarded with both EQ and IQ. Yet, these changes were not filtering down to the ordinary Indian home.
Yes, on Mumbai roads, a lone woman could be seen fearlessly challenging authority, in a vibrant reel of real Nari Shakti. She had stepped over craters to make her voice heard, clearly. Yes, women had been promised the moon – gender parity and safety at the workplace.
But the reality was that while becoming independent working women, they were still moonlighting as mothers, wives, daughters, sisters…
“So tell me, was the first moon landing fake?”
Kamala asked as she reached for a slice of pepperoni pizza. The men joined in with their conspiracy theories and went to the dark side of the moon.
The movie Michael popped up in conversation, and his legendary moonwalk was next. The animated discussion proceeded towards politics, propaganda, and peace talks. “Maybe if we had more women leaders, they would govern more and tweet less!” Kamala added pointedly.
She was over the moon that her gentle attempt at breaking barriers had unleashed Nari Shakti in the Indian living room conversations. I agreed with her, without any reservation.
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