Lately, I've been traveling to college by train in the ladies compartment. I probably enjoy it more than the bus journeys but for the heat. I get to observe women from various backgrounds everyday and sometimes get into a conversation with some of them. I see working women, college girls, school girls and sometimes women in heavy pattu sarees, maybe going for some function. Each one of them is different.
Every morning, I see future women employees of Microsoft, PayPal, Polaris, Aricent, Deloitte and other big companies around me. And then, there is this girl who has just got an admit from a top university in the U.S. I sometimes wonder if my co-passengers even know that these girls will be paid just as much as the guys are. The world looks at her as the funky girl with cool phones and cooler sense of dressing. I am not going to tell you more about her 'cos we find her quite a lot these days. Everywhere. Everyday. Maybe, she is your friend, your sister or maybe it is you! I leave it at that.
Despite all the talks of how women are competing with men today, trying to be their equal, the feminine in her hasn't left her yet. It never will. There is this woman who gets onto the train, grabs a seat next to the window, dries her hair and tries to make herself look presentable. I didn't like her concept of using the train as her second home until I saw her colleague get into the train at the next station and they both got into a conversation. I got to know that this woman got up at 5 a.m that morning, made coffee, breakfast, lunch, did the household cores, got her kids ready and had managed to catch the 8 o'clock train to work. She was working because the family could not be run on her husband's income. She had to help without compromising on her duties. She didn't complain, though. I stopped judging people in train after this eye-opener. At the next stop, I saw this woman rush in along with her two kids. She had to drop them at school and then get back. There was only seat available. She made her kids sit and she fed them there. There was this other woman who got in, looking tired and exhausted. She didn't have a place to sit. She sat down near the door and dozed off. I assumed she was tired after all her house work and then was coming to work for her employer. When the man in the first class compartment takes out a newspaper to read, I see a woman here reading her Bible and saying a silent word of prayer. Maybe, she is praying for her children or her parents or her dear friend. Maybe, she is praying for herself, asking God to help her survive the day. Sometimes, the trains are over-crowded. These women cannot afford to miss this train because waiting for the next one meant not being on time to their work place. Coming early was not possible as the household responsibilities could not be given a miss. In the evenings, I see tired women sitting silently having a bag of vegetables that they have bought on the way back, wondering what to cook for dinner.
Maybe, these women are not CEOs or scientists. They are not business-minded, yet they are industrious. They are not chasing their dreams but are chasing the dreams of their families. I am left to wonder, what is this sudden super power that has creeped into this woman of this 21st century that she is able to balance both her worlds. She is still the weaker of the two genders physically, mentally and emotionally. Yet, it is she who carries the next generation in her womb and it is she who takes a day off from her work when her baby girl is sick.
There are some things which only she can do and the rest, she 'also' can do.
To the woman who is living to chase her dreams, to the woman who puts her family before her dreams, to the woman who is raising up another generation full of dreams, to that woman, we all salute. She is making a difference.
There is, however a dark side to this woman that is heart-breaking. There are an estimated 27 million slaves in the world today, trafficked and beaten—more than any other time in history. Approximately 80 percent of human trafficking victims are women and girls, and up to 50 percent are minors. If you want to do something on this Woman's day, other than updating a "Happy Woman's Day" status on facebook and twitter, stand up against this evil curse called human trafficking where this woman who has the ability to give this world so much has lost much, her voice and her dreams.
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