I Am an Indian Woman - I Am India

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 accomplishment. Mine alone.

My accomplishments, whether culinary or academic, rarely serve as a key to my independence. They are instead used as an excuse to bind me in a relationship, in a marriage that I do not really seek. I work hard, I toil day and night to bring meaning to the chains and responsibilities I suddenly find myself bound in. My hard work mostly pays off. I turn an unrequired relationship into something beautiful because I do not like to fail. Failure is not acceptable to me. When the marriage does not fare as well as I expect or does not give me what I deserve, it is not my fault. Not mine at all.

I am the girl who walks down the street. I am the girl you harass when I pass you on the road, when I am seated in the bus, when I am at school, at college, at university, at work and at home. My age is anywhere between one single day and 100 years. I am the child, the girl, the woman you rape, abuse and torture. I am the disfigured beautiful face that you have thrown acid at. You may have been successful in taking away my identity but you have failed in crushing my spirit. It is your failure. Yours alone.

68 years later, I am still all this. I am also much more. I have reached beyond the skies, a place you only dream of. I run governments, a power you covet to cover your selfish and criminal deeds. I am the mother who believes in bringing up her son the right way. I am the employee and the boss who stands up for herself and won’t bow down to your selfish ambitions. Though you persecute me now, more than ever, I stand strong and challenge you every way I can. You can rape me, abuse me, torture me and kill me but you will never be able to destroy me and the essence of being me.

I am an Indian woman. I am India. Jai Hind.