#METOO SATYAMEVA JAYATE
Video: https://www.facebook.com/TheWireUrdu/videos/181885542723321/
Nupur, God bless you for talking about this topic. For thousands of years, women have endured this pain and lived in anguish. There was no one to listen to them and their anxiety, except maybe the mother.
As a supporter of the #Metoo movement, and deeply involved in the Kavanaugh hearings and protests at the Supreme Court, and relentlessly pursuing on the topic. I was concerned about my motherland, how a majority of Indian women who spoke nothing but Urdu/Hindi were deprived of the new hope, how do we communicate this to them, that a movement has started and there is hope to restore their dignity of women. I am proud of my homeland, America, where continuous efforts are being made to think, act and believe that men and women are equal in the eyes of God.
A new milestone is achieved in 2018 in how women are treated, for the first time in the human history, the men in the Senate are showing their true colors of misogyny by reluctantly agreeing to listen to the testimony of Dr. Christine Ford. Right off the bat, they do not want to believe Her but believe their man. This attitude of discounting women's evidence has got to end.
“A woman should behave like a woman” “Her place is home." They may not say it, but that is what the Conservative religious men from Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist and other traditions secretly want.
First for someone to listen to a woman’s story, believe in it and act upon it. Javed Akhtar Saheb has shared his wisdom on Rekhta, that woman does not need to be worshipped, but respected.
Years ago, when I saw the series for the shows Satayameva Jayate, I was moved by it and was hopeful for the change it brought to our thinking and ultimate relief on a variety of issues. I had called Amir Khan an Avatar of Krishna for emerging among us to restore the righteousness in the society. This issue you have taken up needs to be listened to, and as you concluded, more complete. It needs to reach out to the Urdu/Hindi speaking masses.
http://mikeghouseforindia.blogspot.com/search?q=avatar+of+krishna (an article about you is also in the search)
I have just completed writing my book, the Muslim Agenda, to empower Muslims to become contributing members of the society and restore cohesiveness in the community. One of the chapters is “Gender Equality.” The book is under revision and hopes to get that translated in Urdu/Hindi to reach out to my fellow Indians.
Gender Equality is one of the most important values in society, it affects almost half of the human race. If we can fix this, most of our issues will be resolved, and we can see a lot more joy in the world, instead of battling who gets paid more for the same work or who controls the household. Indeed, misogyny is the mother of all sickness.
I will be happy to join you in India for townhall discussions to communicate this message.
The Sense of entitlement and patriarchy needs to be phased.
Thoroughly researched piece! But requires a few more conversations. It is a full-time topic.
We are going through the season of Navaratri. Navaratri is rich in meaning. At one level, Navaratri signifies the progress of a spiritual aspirant. During this spiritual journey, the aspirant has to pass three stages personified by Durga, Lakshmi, and Saraswathi.
Your piece is timely, we need to connect the Yashoda ki hamjins and the hawwa ki beti. My hats off to you to drive people to consider the issue and put blinders on them to focus on the topic. God bless you Nupur!
Dr. Mike Ghouse is a public speaker and the Executive Director of the Center for Pluralism in Washington, DC. He is committed to building cohesive societies and offers pluralistic solutions on issues of the day. More about him at https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikeghouse/