Bridal Procession -
Women in bright saris crowd together as they walk in a
bridal procession in Mandawa, Rajasthan. Rajasthan is the largest state in
India—a land of extremes—encompassing steamy forests, dry plains, and the snowy
Himalaya.
Women, around
the globe, from time immemorial to today, have borne the cruel brunt of
countless unjust judgments, subjected to the tribunal of timeless distorted
beliefs; the list is endless in time and space. Women have lived, are still
living the many travesties of life in a place lead by men birthed by women. Will
it stay the same till the revelation of a great apocalypse?
Does not blood
start to flow when one begins journey as a fetus in a womb? Does not blood nurture
love when one first receives the mother’s blood? Does not a mother’s blood
receive waste after a fetus a baby ingests all goodness? It is not a matter of the
final word to have a baby. It is simply she, who bears nine laboring months, deserves
not mere equality or better treatment but unrequital respect and discerning
perspectives.
I am not a
feminist nor an activist but just a simple layperson with a deep and genuine concern. Browsing, even for few
short minutes, only one news website and I unwillingly, sadly learned of the
plight of hundreds of kidnapped girls in Nigeria, a 3 months pregnant Islamic woman
married a Christian being sentenced to death in Africa, or a pregnant woman
stoned to death in Pakistan, or the continuous atrocious and unforgiving acts
of rapes in India. Yet, they represented only a fraction of a huge number
worldwide but especially in Africa, India and others where poverty and deprivation
of education leads to terrorism and unchanging customs and traditions.
At the end of
the day, my mind would weigh with questions begging answers but one question always
stands out, “Have You stop hearing their cries?”
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