Men and Women

I can do anything I set my heart to. This is the mantra my dad gave me when I was a little girl.
Whenever my little sister and I met any of the people my dad and mom knew they’d introduce us to them. After all the courtesies were done, there was one question that would always pop up in the end, "Two daughters and no son?”
Once I asked my dad and mom whether they were unhappy because I wasn’t a boy and they just laughed and assured us- My baby sis and me, tht we were even better than boys were and that they were really proud of us! But those episodes left behind an insecurity I wasn’t even aware that I was nurturing within.
I could do anything I wanted to and do it better than boys. Studies, sports, drawing, dancing, drama, climbing trees, staying out late, and anything else you could name!
I went to college with this same idea, started work with the same faith and lived 20 years of my life believing that I wouldn’t let any man stand a chance against me.
Funny isn't it? Because these were the same men I started liking eventually, some of whom I fell in love with or who became my best-buddies who I trusted with all my heart. Others I was so crazy about that I could do anything to have them look at me adoringly like Jack looks at Rose in Titanic.
When it came to my professional life, these were the same men I needed to work with. I resented their chauvinism but that did not stop me from being aware of the fact that many of them like my female co-workers were infact good at their jobs and this demanded my respect if nothing else. And it wasn’t as though I was perfect. I had become a hard-core feminist too and I couldn’t justify my irrational behaviour based on my past experiences.
My attitude didn’t go unnoticed. A lot of men I know did not like the way I treated them. I had a lot of contradictory feelings. And when I realised that men I really cared for couldn’t believe that I could have an “girlie” feelings, as they put it, I was really hurt. So after a lot of introspection and mind-boggling research I have got a few answers…Please read ahead!

Chauvinism and whether women are equal to men
You know it really disturbed me to realise that men and women were not made equal by God, because I have been brought up saying tht I could do anything a guy could do. But as I am growing up, I realise that there are a lot of things that men can do that women can’t and this realisation really upset me when it first occurred to me.
The worst part was that many of my female colleagues spoke as if women were not equal to men, One even asked me how I could say that women were equal to men when we still had 33% reservations in so many fields and when we still needed reserved seats in busses and trains, I had no answer then. Now I do. After being suppressed for thousand of years, in order to change the inferiority complex now embedded in the minds of Indian women, reservations are an important tool.
It is diffcult for us in the 21st century to even fathom how it must have felt in those medieval ages of Sati, where women’s place was considered to be the bed-post, the kitchen and looking after the children. I experienced a glimmer of this chauvinism when I entered the corporate world. Of course, times are changing and not every man thinks like a neanderthal but it still can appropriately called a man’s world especially in a developing country like India.
So getting back to my introspection, was I a fool all these years strutting all over the place thinking I was better than these species??
I raged a war against GOD…my God who made everything on this planet equal, gave everything equal right to freedom and equal right to our planet. Could I have misunderstood him? May be I am just like other animals, here for the pleasure of these MEN!!
And one beautiful night when I was on my usual walk, the answers suddenly dawned on me. A smooth stream of thoughts started tickling my mind and I could see clearly what I had been unable to see before. Men and women are equal counterparts. If men are made to protect women, to take care of them, to be the physically stronger ones, to love them and be the ones who earn a living then, women are made to be mothers, nurturers, emotionally stronger than men with invincible faith and love that can gives her the strenght and courage to face the world for her loved ones.
You know the way our anatomy is …a man enters a woman…He dominates her, that’s what people believe. But ther’s another way of looking at it as well. I feel that she receives him in, so again there, she nurtures him.
She gives him her shield and protection in her own way just like he protects her. Both of them may or may not have pleasure on their own but to make the most beautiful fireworks and magic they have to both be in harmony. Have you also noticed this thing about the human anatomy, men and women fit into each other …they are equal halves..meant to become one!!
Men and women are equal because they balance each other and not because they can do the same things…You know what I mean…so if physically he can move mountains ..then emotionally so can she.
If he’s good at handling the world…she’s still good at handling him…
God’s harmony is so great…for a sensitive and emotional mother…he made the soft body of a woman…and for the protector and father…he made the body of a man! I mean, how would lying in the lap of a mother or being held by her or holding her hand be so beautiful if she’d been strong like dads. Similarly how would being held by dad make one feel so secure as if nothing in the world could harm us, or how wud a slap from him for making a mistake be as effective, his image as our hero be as true but for his strong physique?
Further on in today’s 21st century world…when women are doing so many things men did before…so are men doing so many things women did…right?
I mean, if she’s flying aeroplnes, driving rickshaws and buses, he is also changing diapers, cooking and being the one children share their problems with.
Both of them are still in harmony…the minute they are not… there are divorces and unhappy families…so its basically about just being compatible with one another. Both of them can work and both of them can look after the house or whatever suits them…that’s so cool na?
And as for the neanderthals at work and other facets of our lives, we shouldn’t define men based on our experiences with them, right? Nothing’s black or white..there are only shades of grey. I am sure there are a lot of women who aren’t too nice either.
Now I feel at peace with myself…I am happy with Mr. Ganpu for this entire arrangement!!!...;-)