musings

Who is an empowered woman? Sometimes it seems confusing for many as it is an abstract entity. Is she the one who demands equality and if so, what kind of equality? Or is she someone who is in constant struggle to change the system as a whole? Is she a career woman, a homemaker or someone who tries to be superhuman? I would rather stick to a simple definition. An empowered woman is someone who knows and exercises her rights as a citizen and an individual, and knows where to set limits and personal boundaries. Ofcourse it is the same for any empowered individual, not just for women.  Never fall in the traps of glorious adjectives Yes, you are a mother, a wife, a daughter and all those possible relationships. But, you are not a goddess nor an angel. Never fall for such attributed divinity. You are just a human being and  fallible. Stay beyond the patriarchal society definitions of womanhood. You needn't carry the burden of family honour on your shoulders. If your family's ho...

"What fabrications they are, mothers. Scarecrows, wax dolls for us to stick pins into, crude diagrams. We deny them an existence of their own, we make them up to suit ourselves -- our own hungers, our own wishes, our own deficiencies." Margaret Atwood, The Blind Assassin The Netflix movie "Tribhanga" reminded me of the above quote. We have our own expectations from our mothers. It's easier to find fault with the choices they took ( if at all they were bold enough to make choices of their own) in their lives for our messed up lives. Anu, an Odissi dancer, a Padma awardee ( played beautifully by Kajol) puts the characters of  her mother, an eminent writer ( as always, expertly portrayed by Tanvi Azmi), her daughter and herself, in terms of Odissi dance postures. The journey from an "abhanga" ( slightly off balanced) grand mother through a "Tribhanga" ( complicated) daughter to a "samabhanga" ( well balanced) grand daughter...