Ya devi sarva Bhuteshu, Skati rupena samsthitha

Namastasye Namastasye Namastasye Namo Nama

So starts a Hindu chant, which literally means, “To the Divine Goddess who resides in all existence in the form of energy, we bow to her, continuously and consistently”.

Goddess is a symbolism of energy, intelligence and prosperity which is blessed on people and it’s a manifestation of the feminine form. We all have ying and yang, a balance of the masculine factors of strength and feminine form of compassion and hence forth. Our sages who had penned all the chants had visualised communities who would give respect to women, who best represents the feminine form, in reality. However, one sees that the greatest of the followers of mother Goddess, especially in North India treat their women like inferior commodity (as per my observations of people I know and the records of crime against women, particularly in UP/Bihar). In contrast, there is a big difference in states like Gujarat, all southern states and Maharashtra where we see women ahead of their northern counterparts and participating in the development process. Recently our Nobel Laureate Kailash Satyarthi had said that because children work as labourers, we have poverty. I will go one step ahead and say that we have poverty because our women are not empowered. In states where they are empowered (Gujarat, for example), they are doing well even in the areas of social impact and innovation

I am from Uttar Pradesh (UP), the northern and the most populated state in India and the state which has given the maximum number of Prime Ministers. Unfortunately the state is still very backward and quiet alike is the state of Bihar, which is next door. Whenever I visit my hometown and get down from the train, I particularly get dismayed by the sight of women, majority of who have ghoonghat (veil, an extended part of the Indian dress, Sari, the picture of which is depicted in this article) and they would all be walking behind men. Sometimes I wonder if it is the same country which once had produced Kamasutra and have all the great hymns for the mother Goddess. I feel a strange sadness in the air in many north Indian states, including Rajasthan. There is a kind of a melancholy associated with a place where women do not have an identity. Compared to that, if one visits the cities like Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bangalore, there is a energy in those cities and one may see both men and women reaching their aspirations and creating their own abundant spaces

In my community, a woman can’t speak her husband’s name in front of him (as a mark of respect) and many a times in his absence as well and she has to keep a little of her sari over her head when any person elder to her husband visits the house. In traditional and conservative houses the ghoonghat/veil is permanent in nature (in many urban and rural pockets). In fact, in some backward thinking communities, women wearing any other outfit rather than the sari were deemed to be “cunning” as they were defying the norms. This all leads to frustration and deep identity crisis for women, majority of who are housewives and rearing children. They hardly go out of the House and if they do, they just have few small chats with the neighbors. So they do not have a time of their own to think about other things in the world rather than the husband and children (except for few middle class and elite families). They are forced into fasting rituals like Karwa Chowth (A north Indian festival) where for the entire day they would not have anything to eat or drink and they would break the fast when the husband offers food after the moon shines on the horizon. Hence the entire premise is dependability and in many a situations in the event when the spouse passes away such women find it difficult to sustain as they are unable to do various things like operating a bank account, networking with people and so on.

Culturally as well, the women in the states I have mentioned above are not supposed to learn creative things like dancing or singing as it is considered obnoxious by the society, compared to states like Bengal and all southern states where learning such art forms is appreciated. Ironically, in my community, a newly wedded girl is asked to dance by her mother-in-law in front of other invited women and then she is given a small gift (usually some cash). I find this objectionable as a woman is treated as a commodity in this case, although the same woman would not be allowed to pursue singing and dancing either as a hobby or career.

Sometimes I feel that all this has happened because the Northern Part of India had faced a lot of invaders from outside world (including Afghanistan and the Arabic world) and to protect the womenfolk the people would have kept them indoors or else as India had a long stint of conservative Muslim rulers, some of their religious customs of conservatism would have influenced people in the Hindu community. But whatever one may say, I think that states like UP and Bihar are still stuck in the 1st century and although capable of going many steps forward, the aspiration is missing from this deeply divided, lackluster and confused patriarchal society which is divided into the constructs of caste, untouchability and conservatism.