I saw the little girls wearing red bindi and their best dresses in the morning. What their moms purchased from the paise guarded under wet pillows. Though crumbled like a writer’s shitty drafts, but preserved.
It is Durga Asthami! This ceremony largely involves the worship of girls. The younger the better. It is believed that in girls before they hit puberty, resides all nine forms of Goddess.
In the evening now. As I sit on the balcony looking at the sunset, it’s breathtaking to watch the crimson color unfurling all over the sky, and it’s heartbreaking to see the same Poori and Halwa, which were enchanted with prayers in the morning, eating dust under the Peepal tree.
…
I never understood the actual concept of worshiping womanhood this way. How can a woman be a goddess on some days and a gender card on others?
Enough of this conditional love. Worshiping a girl child while expecting them to be Devi as they grow — expecting them to be all, take all; take the role of Parvati (submit to their partner) as a wife and mother, Lakshmi (bring prosperity) as a wife, Saraswati as the first guru of her children, Durga as the destroyer of all obstacles for her family, Annapurna as the food provider through her cooking, Kali as the punisher to bring the members of the family on the right track, and whatnot.
The evening is crimson. Veiled in that crimson color… the Sun is setting down to rise again in some distant land. It is a sign of hope and a beginning of a new day.
…
“paise smells like sweat and the Sun, is it from the trash bin,” the elderly bookseller peers at her from over the frames of the glasses.
“the smell and crumble don’t make it any less to buy the freedom for my child,” a woman with a smile responded.
Now he realizes that he should have realized all along. He cannot just keep the book. Now he realizes: the book has changed and cannot go back to where it was. The woman has changed and cannot go back to where she once was. And also — a terrifying thought — he has changed. He cannot go back to where he was before.
…
Who is this strange woman doing the talking? I am a flawsome parent, a woman in technology, and a self-proclaimed DIP. Discoveries-in-Progress. I am on my mission to boldly redefine what it means to truly lead and belong — in the workplace, our families, and our communities. You can follow my work here.
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This post was previously published on medium.com.
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From The Good Men Project on Medium
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Photo credit: Sonika Agarwal on Unsplash
