Is it safe for women in India?

"Is it safe for women in India?"

I have been asked this question several times outside India . Men, women, girls and boys all have asked me while in a random conversation about my country, India. Infact, few Indians living outside feel the same.

Yes, it is a hurting question to hear. Nevertheless, it is concerning at the same time. Not that I am unaware of the fact. I have been through those unsafe moments like so many others across the world. Yes, the world and not just India.

Confused with teenage hormones and emotions, I have felt unsafe when a familiar face troubled me lecherously for months.
Scared from the big college dream, I have felt unsafe when followed by a man double my age. His prying eyes looking for an opportunity to attack. Eve-teased numerous times.
Ready to go for work, I have felt unsafe everytime someone has intentionally pressed their private parts against me or foxily touched my chest giving excuse of a crowded bus.
Tired from evening shifts at job, I have felt usafe when cornered several times by men with malicious intentions.
While in the comfort of my home, I have felt unsafe from receiving postal mails fearing it should not be another letter with naked female body drawn.
When watching or reading news about rape or abuse to a woman, I am scared to death. All those unsafe moments come rushing towards me.

There have been several such instances of violations. But not once did I feel that India as a whole is an unsafe country. Am I in denial? I do not know. I am sure, I am not a jingoist. Don't get me wrong here. I am not supporting this state of my country or any country for that matter. Yes, few among us may be bad. But an entire country being unsafe for that. Never. For me, the world in general is an unsafe place because what could happen to a woman in India could possibly happen anywhere in the world. A woman is raped, abused or violated in the conservative nations, in the non-conservative nations and in nations in-between. And that is an alarming condition for me.

So, my answer to the question is simple. "India is as safe as any country in this world. Until there are perpetrators with intentions to violate a woman, she is unsafe anywhere and everywhere."

Article © Copyright Salvwi Prasad

#KnowYourRights campaign

Our Indian society, its cultural norms and attitude per say has always reflected the patriarchal thought process. Sometimes I think it is a sheer oxymoron that we personify the Indian nation as a female while the societal hierarchy system is predominantly male. However, I would definitely agree with current chorus that the Indian society imbalance is changing. But the larger question is, has that anyway changed the thinking of general mass? It could be “yes” and “no” at the same time.

Can a woman carve out a successful corporate career after a break from work ?

The femininity renaissance gave birth to the 21st century woman who is not just a homemaker now but the bread-winner too. The metamorphosis of the timid pupa to an independent butterfly may have taken decades together for the female community nevertheless; this transition has been conspicuous and profound. This attainment of equal status has coupled her challenges manifold. But woman, being the incarnation of patience and dedication has confronted these changes victoriously. 

Read more @ Can a woman carve out a successful corporate career after a break from work?

This article has been published at Ezine Articles.

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Article © Copyright Salvwi Prasad

My Choice on Vogue India video

I know its quite out of time to post this article now. I had shared these views on facebook earlier but was lazy to write on blog. But here it goes finally.

Somehow, I do not entirely agree with the Vogue India My Choice video.

What exactly is the message?

'SHE' dies , Whatsoever !

While surfing the net on the eve of India’s Independence Day I came through a news headline.

“6 lakh girls go missing at birth annually” reads a headline in one of the e-news site for a country whose president is a female herself .No guessing it's India. This survey by United Nations Population Fund is not just alarming but pathetic and at the same time a blot on the nation. The heinous crime of female foeticide and infanticide is prevalent since the Indus Valley Civilization but it's existence in modern India is definitely irrelevant and shocking. This psychic mindset is not just restricted to the remote villages but also to many sophisticated cities.

The baby is sentenced to death the very moment it's gender is disclosed. This condemnable sin is executed in some of the most gruesome and merciless manners. She is thrown into a river or sea as a food for the man-eater fishes or she is abandoned on the roadsides for the dogs to feast upon or she is suffocated in a drum full of milk till she succumbs to death or sometimes cut into pieces by her own parents or even sometimes denied arrival to the world. Such unabashed deeds are committed with elaborate reasons like to elude dowry problem in future , due to superstitious belief or some curse , sometimes for family pride or for continuation of clan and hence the excuses extend till infinity. India is truly a land of contradictions. A land where the Divine female is worshiped with utmost devotion and regarded as Shakti , the human female is mashed brutally. Where should SHE flee and to whom , when the protectors turn into murderers.

Sometimes SHE escapes the slaughter but only for more torture ahead. SHE lives and grows with an innate fear, constantly protecting herself from many vulture eyes. Her plight written will only finish all papers and dry your ink.

I know not if I can do anything to change the headline , but now I only feel relieved and thank GOD that I am lucky to be born to my parents who think otherwise.