7 REASONS BEHIND WHY IT IS NOT SO DIFFICULT TO SURVIVE AS A YOUNG WOMAN IN INDIA

THE GOLDEN CAGE

Daily I wake up with the news of children and women being raped. Every morning the first thing which I do is to open the news app on my phone and all I read is about this - “A 5 year old raped in a school van”, “A 13 year old abducted and raped in Surat”, even before the morning prayers or even before taking a dump, I have to face the harsh reality of my life – the world is not safe and apparently I am on the suffering end.

But not to worry, I live in a safe cage made by my well wishers. They will cut my freedom and protect me, nothing can happen to me.

WE DON’T HAVE TO DECIDE OUR CLOTHES; THE SOCIETY DOES THAT FOR US

I am not supposed to wear indecent clothes, if I do so I won’t be allowed to step out of the hostel. Here, the term “indecent clothes” encapsulates sleeveless tops or something whose length is above my ankle. So even if the temperature outside is too high, I am forced to wear fully covered and suffocating jeans/ pyjamas.

You might be thinking -why?? Because if I show a bit of extra skin, I will get raped or worse, the boys of my college will get distracted. They can’t ask guys to not to look at us in a wrong way as they all believe in- “men, will be men”; but asking us to choose our clothes according to the society we live in, is an easier task to do.

Hence, just to save my non-obligation certificate, I have to choose not to retaliate and wear those so called “decent” clothes. Haah! look it’s so easy.

WE DON’T REALLY HAVE TO GO OUT AT NIGHT

I love partying and travelling, and for that I have my indoor pyjama parties and a travel channel on TV to satisfy my needs. Because, if I step out of my home (or second home) after 7:00 pm (yea, for me the in-time is seven) it will be really difficult for the men to control their hormones and the authorities are handicapped enough for not being able to protect me after 7.

It’s okay! I can totally control my dreams with respect to the in-time and pray that one day for me to have a peaceful walk at night, will come under my country’s budget.

THE CULTURE SAGA

If I hang out alone with any of my male friend while wearing something like- denim shorts (OMG too much skin show :O), the whole day I will have to deal with long lasting stares and struggling Indian Idols trying to sing amazing item songs, especially for me. If I am lucky on that day, then an uncle or aunty will stop by and will teach me about something like “You should follow our culture” (Yes, you guessed it correctly! An uncle gave me a lecture on Tamil culture recently.). I am still wondering which thing is more against the culture - the clothes or hanging out alone with a male friend?

Oh yeah, these are the perks of aberration.

MONEY BALL         

When I switch on the TV, there will be these amazing stars of our generation making money by objectifying women. All I can do is to frown. The same uncles and aunties will be dancing on the tunes of those songs in the parties and weddings. Now, where did those amazing and knowledgeable talks about the supreme culture go?

It’s okay, who cares about all of this? Let’s dance, enjoy and have fun. Consequently, our sons will do the same.

WE DON’T HAVE TO STUDY MUCH, WE CAN GET MARRIED

I have a good resume even after having too many restrictions to work apart from the academic curriculum. I got accepted by 4 international universities for the six months internship, but I can’t go for it. Why? – They all are out of my budget and there is no scope for scholarship, I feel frustrated.

 I really wonder, lucky are those girls who get married to a wealthy family at an early age. They don’t get opportunities to achieve the required level in order to face such disappointments. They will get married, shop, have babies, do household work and have babies again. But, here I am struggling to stand on my own feet to feed my ego, self dependency and self respect.  Who needs all of that? Common, get us married! so that this patriarchal society can have a peaceful sleep.  They are too scared to see women overpowering men financially.

THE BITCH FACTOR

Women can destroy women. Be it those orthodox gossipping aunties or a bunch of jealous girls. Be it those female MPs on TV or just your own teacher herself. You may wake up one morning with a check-list in your hand abusing you for the work you did for your own self development. They are so jobless to give so much shit about each other. Gone are the days where just men were the devils.

But again, there are all those promising mothers who fight for their daughters, the female role models fighting for the whole lot, a group of your female best friends who are way better than all the best boyfriends in this world. Surprisingly, they all stand for each other in the end even after being a part of all those women centric jokes which we forward on Whatsapp. Yes, it’s easy to survive with them (No sarcasm intended in this one).