Ever since Mira Rajput started receiving flak for her comments, my Twitter timeline is flooded with blog posts and links regarding the issue. Some of the articles were literally bashing her for her privileges of being rich, or being married to a celebrity and all. Meanwhile, my heart is going out to her as I think I could understand where her statements came from.
Now many would say, being a stay at home mom myself, I am plainly taking sides with her. I am not at all taking any sides. What I could see as a third person was the hullabaloo about a single word “puppy” among women.
Yes, she made an analogy of puppies. But I don’t think she meant having babies is like having puppies. I too make analogy for clarifying my opinions, and this mostly leads to arguments in my house too. Obviously the other person picks up on the analogy rather than the actual discussion and the point gets completely missed.
Similarly, women are missing the statements Mira said while supporting other homemakers. Never in the interview I found that she was accusing working women of leaving their babies at home. Women make the choice of being at home not only because there are no other options, but also, out of their beliefs that they need to be with their child all the time. This doesn’t mean working women are at wrong. When we say, freedom in being single or live in relationships are better choice at times, it doesn’t mean married couples are stupid. Supporting one ideology need not amount to negating other ideas. And now the new move of Mira’s previous classmate is equivalent to keeping the fire alive in the forest.
This is not a new incident though. Women supposedly plays a bigger role in hindering women empowerment. They are the first ones to gossip about other women, and by gossip they mean stressing and spreading the negativity around. The #LogKyaKahenge attitude has stemmed out of women shaming other women for their choices. If a woman starts seeing men in teenage years, she is never encouraged. If she is not married, women do not support her, but would rather come up or make their own reasons and deficiencies as to why she is not married yet. If she leaves her baby home to focus on career, she is called selfish. If her focus is on family life, she is considered privileged wasting her education. And so on and on…
Isn’t it time to stop berating each other for personal opinions? Isn’t it better to work towards the betterment of our lives, rather than counting the mistakes? The following line perfectly sums up the situation.
Jio aur Jeene do.
