No Woman No Cry.

The woman who cleans and sweeps.She shall go from house to house as she everyday.She wears her sari,wrapping it a little tighter than usual.She flourishes her jharoo with a little extra energy and carries herself more upright than she usually does..... till fatigue replaces her childish excitement.Happy Women's Day.

The prostitute.She shall see her kids off to school,like my mother does. She cooks and cleans ,like any other housewife. She returns to an alcoholic husband,like many women around her do.She is a career woman,like most women of today.She keeps slightly different working hours though.She sells her body,but keeps her soul.Happy Woman's Day.

My classmate.Education was her passport to move out of her village and live in a town:if not a city.She dreams to earn,live and spend like the girls she studies with. Yet she knows that she shall have to return to her village someday and spend the rest of her life with a someone who is a stranger to her. Education has broadened her mind like it does to everyone.... it has also given her the knowledge not to defy tradition. She collects and preserves the broken,coloured,fragile fragments of those dreams. Someday she shall give them to her daughter.Happy Women's Day.

My grandmother and mother. Two women with a backbone of thin invisible steel.They've played the role of a mother,daughter,sister,wife,the career woman.... all at the same time. They have had to fight a different sort of a battle. Though they did not win every time, they survived to fight the next one. Salute.

Education,career,social rights,equality and whatnot have been my birthright.I've never felt i was denied any of it... nor did i ever have to fight for it.I had considered myself to be too urbane to be concerned with mediocre mindsets and middle class struggles.

Today i am humbled by these women.They have seen what could be a better lifestyle. But they have learnt that the have to achieve not what they aspire,but what those who are dependent on them need.How they can be so selfless is beyond my comprehension.How they live a life of continuous sacrifices and compromises is something i fail understand. I am awed by their strength and hardiness.Life has,time and again, reminded them of their place and role in society and the family.

To those who are not aware of it,Happy Womens Day.To the urban hoi polloi,Happy Women's Day.After all is your celebration.