Stand Together

I am an Indian woman. I am the obedient daughter, the dutiful sister, the loving wife, the caring mother and the doting grandmother. I am more than I was destined to be and I am proud of it. I am a strong woman. A woman who can fight, a woman who can support, a woman you can rely on and a woman who can cry with you. I am all this. I simply have no defects. As a child I obey my parents. I bring them unfathomable joy. But there are those who do not want me. They kill me before I am born. There are instances where I have survived and when I survive, I repay my salvation in full with interest. I am trained to be a good wife from a tender age. At an age where my brother gets to play cricket in the street, I am set a task of learning to cook. I finish my cooking course as though I am a prodigy with a brilliant performance; a performance that lasts as long as I live. By the time I am out of my teens, I have turned my childhood nemesis of cooking into a therapy session. That is my accomp...

Belonging to a minority community in India is difficult. Minorities are asked to prove our loyalties time and again though we all celebrate Diwali, play holi, watch Bollywood movies and do everything that a normal Indian does. But, we are n ot very welcome in India. I read and hear hateful speeches all that time and they have a devastating effect on me. Especially now since I won't comply or appreciate anyone who wants to vote for Modi. I really don't care who you vote for but I care whose side you will take if Gujarat riots occur again. I have had a 'facebook acquaintance', accuse me of selling India off to Pakistan, China and other countries. What more must I do to prove I am patriotic as well? I cry every time I hear Jana Gana Mana in the foreign land I live in. But again, when this is what so called educated people believe, why take the trouble of proving myself? This is a real "comment" made by the same person and it has left me shaken and chilled to the...