Let us see. What do we have here?
A misogynist and unambiguously patriarchal hellhole crafted insidiously and fuelled zealously over eons, aimed solely at seeing henna instead of a book in our little girl’s hands from the day she was born i.e. if she was allowed to be born in the first place.
Ridiculously irresponsible and regressive policymakers(political affiliations notwithstanding) who have no qualms in making blatantly sexist remarks on public platforms, sheepishly and often even brazenly resigning to the ‘Mera woh matlab nahi tha’ (that’s not what I meant) mode when questioned about their blinkered views on women. One shudders at the very thought of what lies in store for the better half of humanity when misogyny finds company in the highest echelons of decision making.
Caste fiefdoms that find the very idea of empowering those that have been at the receiving end of their whims since ages are revulsive. Still very much in favour of pouring lead into the ears of those that even dare to aspire for a better life. These enemies of social harmony and the very idea of a more vibrant and inclusively progressive India of our dreams are unabashedly and undoubtedly at the forefront of the fight against the emancipation of any kind, our struggles for the cowering girl child, included.
We have a morally bankrupt, increasingly nepotic, dictatorial and exclusivist educational system that seems to be in cohorts with the rich and the nouveau riche when it comes to offering learnings of the quality kind.
We have a national policy on education that has for ages been superfluous on paper and completely inept when it comes to the ground reality. I mean we actually have classrooms reserved for cattle while the future of this nation squats in the open fields in a despotic last breath attempt to keep the fig leaf of educating the masses on.
And if that was not enough, we have the final nail in the coffin in the form of a pandemic that has brought an already gasping for a breath learning system to the ventilator. The less said about the impact of this highly unprecedented catastrophe on the already precarious dropout rates, the better.
All that being said, the resilience on display via the Back to School, Kaksha Crisis and Reimagine Together initiatives which intend to grab the bull by its horns are richly deserving of kudos of the highest order.
Any initiative that aims to restore a semblance of dignity and worth especially to the highly marginalized and I repeat with all the sincerity I can muster, the better half of our society shall find me by its side, staunch and unwavering.
I shall continue to wield the pen in favour of any platform/platforms that can act as a trajectory for the upliftment of women.
That is, I believe, the least I can do for the hands that have rocked my cradle.