Yeh hai meri kahani

I ogled at the baby placed in my hands. His round-black-innocent eyes, dusky coloured skin, curly jet-black hair, rosy pink lips curled one on top of the other reminded me of the rhyme I learnt when I was a year or two older than this baby. He looked at me with an intense stare and his lips curved to form a smile, which I knew would remind me in the worst of worst moments that it would be ok. I held him tight and kept my little finger in his tiny hands, and closed my eyes and said promised, “chahe kuch bhi ho jaaye mein yeh haath nahi chodunga.”  

Three years had passed since Rahul was placed in my hands. But I never had a moment where I did not keep my promise. Be it day or the worst nights, I always had him by my side, reminding me with that beautiful smile of his that it would be ok. Probably he wouldn’t calm me with the same smile once he grew up and realized what his mother did for a living, but I hope he would understand.

I was a graduate student. I completed my graduation in a very reputed college next to my village. I was a bright and ambitious student, may be if I wasn’t I wouldn’t have had this fate. A man came home, one day, and asked my mother, “kya aap apni neti ko kaam ke silsile mein Mumbai bechna chaathi ho?” My eyes would have nearly pumped out of my face, but thankfully they didn’t. My mother, unlike the others in the village, did not believe in getting her daughter married right after her studies. She wanted her daughter to work and earn money, before she could get her married off. Maybe if she followed the other women in the village, I would have been in some safe home, making dal and paratha.

I was called off from my past with a loud knock on my door. I opened it to a man in his early 40’s, who was drunk and barely in his senses.

Man: “Jaldi karo, mujhe zyada waqy nahi hai.”

"Kya aap shadi shuda ho?”

Man: “Haan. lekin use teri kya lena dena? jaldi karo varna mein kissi aur ka paas ka ja ongi. Bahut paise denge. Aa ja randi.”

With a sigh, knowing someday I would be the cause for the loss of his marriage, I agreed. Only to feed Rahul.

Sheela was a prostitute, by fate. The man who had taken her to Mumbai, was part of a sex racket, and had brought her over to sell her. She had no other go but to continue with her profession, since she had no other option to feed her son, Rahul. There are thousands and millions of Sheela's out there, and it is high time that they got the respect they deserved. They are in this profession because they have no other alternative. Provide them with one, and I am sure they would be more than happy and grateful to do a wonderful job out of it.

All characters in this story are of my creation. I had no intentions of narrating anyone's story or life. Any coincidence is purely fictitious.

Photo courtesy: Google

Stepping the stones to Success

An old saying by Henrik Ibsen, considered as the father of the prose drama goes as, “A woman cannot be herself in the society of the present day, which is an exclusively masculine society, with laws framed by men and with a judicial system that judges feminine conduct from a masculine point of view.” Women of today’s era, however, are proving him wrong.


The Indian woman of present age, are walking the road less travelled, compelling their male equivalent to put in double the effort and strength to overtake them and reach the top. Their ability to juggle with family and professional lives and be an expert in multi-tasking creates awe among the men. Her excellent inter-personal and intra-personal skills and acceptance to admit her faults builds envy among her male equals. Be it P.K.Jayalakshmi, the youngest minister in Kerala, or Bachendri Pal, who wears the honour to be the first Indian woman to stand on top of the world, they have all put in that extra effort to stand above the men. The female foetus is crying for Andal Damodaran’s help to abolish female infanticide. She could be by the name Suparna Ganguli or Shirin Juwaley. She also could be the fitness and beauty conscious Vandana Luthra, who helped women bring back the life into their face.


Women have been looked down upon from time immemorial and the ritual continues. It is believed, and sadly accepted, that a woman’s world starts and ends with her family and does not deserve to enjoy the life she dreams of. On the roads, in trains and/or buses, cinema complexes, institutions, offices, why go any further, some women are ill-treated in their very own homes. They are not treated as equals, and are not provided with equal opportunities in any fields of education and employment. She is considered inferior to men, when in reality, she is a lot more capable and possesses potential to at least give a shot on the impossible.


According to the 2006, The Week Cover story, women are considered to be better leaders, when compared to men. In the same article, Padma Bandopadhyay, retired Air Marshal quotes “Our world begins with the family. While leading a team too, we adopt the same approach.” This very well proves the conclusion given by the magazine. It has to be accepted that every family runs smoothly and lovingly, only because of the sole reason for a woman. Her experience at home, with her husband and kids, moulds her to the whims and fancies of individuals. In an office, the members are collectively looked upon as a family, and this ship of individuals can be sailed a lot smoother with the help of a lady captain. The famous Bachendri Pal, the first Indian woman to climb Mount Everest said in a recent interview in CNN IBN that, during tough times she gathers strength from the moments when she had to climb the mountain. “If I can reach the top of the world, nothing is impossible,” she says. Shirin Juwaley, a burn victim by her very own husband, now fights with the help of her NGO Palash, and is out on the roads, helping other similar victims regain their self esteem and self confidence, to live life as a normal human being.

A lot many women have proved that impossible is nothing, as long as you put in your heart and soul into it your act. It takes a lot of determination and courage, for a woman to stand out, in a man dominated world. But as long as you are ready to input that extra effort to crack that egg in a special way, you would be the star, no matter what gender you belong to