FRANK FEEL: (Beware) The Eves of March! by D. Om Prakash Narayan

Frailty, thy name is no longer woman. Look at the way women have empowered themselves, with little or no help from the men – women have entered every field of business, enterprise, industry and technology that there are very few areas that don’t have women. Right from Women Bureaucrats, Women Entrepreneurs, Women CEOs, Women Bankers, Women pilots, to even Women Auto drivers. Women have flooded the employment opportunities market so much that for every man getting a job, there is a woman behind – Waiting to grab that job if he fails. So, if any WOMAN tells you that she is the one who does the house work at home these days, don’t believe her – Probably there is a Mrs. Tendulkar waiting for her at home. This Tendulkar TV serial is so popular, that many men of late, are fascinated with the idea of being house husbands. It is a not a bad deal, either. You get to cook the food you want, you get to eat in time, you get to sit and watch ESPN on television (especially all the Cricket/Tennis and Football matches) when the kids have gone to school (May be take a sneak peak at Beach Volleyball or swig beer from the fridge when no one is around) and when the wife comes home from work, pretend you had so much work, and say, “Whew! That was horrible today. I did so much of work, that I am too tired. Can you make a cup of coffee for me?” (Believe me, it always works) – The important thing is, once the man establishes the house husband routine, there is no going back. Then all he has to do, is to sit and see the serials, and sing, “What a Wonderful Life” like Shrek.

I am very eager that this trend catches on, so that if the population of husbands becoming house husbands increases, then, at an appropriate time in history, there will be a MEN’s DAY!    (Of course, it will be the WOMEN who will take pity on the men, and throw one day at the men in charity, saying, “We don’t want to be labeled as cruel. So, go ahead and celebrate Men’s Day. But remember! – WE have given you this day in charity!”

When Wordsworth said, “April is the cruelest month of the year, breeding lilacs from the dead ground, mixing memory and desire…” probably he did not know the merits of March when the World celebrates the most important day of the year – the Women’s day.

On a more serious note, the Women’s Day had its origin in civil rights at different times in Russia, US and other parts of the world  – But only when the UN named 8^th March as the Women’s Day in the 1970s, the day became more popular. From being a civil rights movement in inception, Women’s day has assumed an altogether different perspective altogether over the years, the emphasis being more on the freedom of women FROM MEN – And for many, Women’s Day means to line up on the women’s side of the battle of the sexes and bash up men. The battle of the sexes has been there right from Adam and Eve, and will continue. But, the real intention of the creator could NOT have been this eternal competition between Men and Women. During sleep, both MEN and WOMEN do not know that they are MEN and WOMEN. During sleep, we all become just specks of consciousness – of self – rising above the narrow identification of the body – And many women mistakenly believe that they should put DOWN the men in order to lead. But all over the world, women have ruled nations with great honour and valour as much as men – Be it ancient history or contemporary history, women, HAVE ruled, with aplomb.  The history of this world would not be complete without the legendary women rulers Queen Cleopatra, Queen Sheeba, Queen Nefertiti, Queen Vishpala (7000 B,C?) Razia Sultan, Joan of Arc, Isabella of Spain, Mary, Queen of Scots, Catherine the Great of Russia, Queen Victoria of England, Tzu-hsi, empress of China, Rani Laxmi Bai, Rani Rasmani, Kittur Rani Chennamma, Golda Meir, Indira Gandhi, Margaret Thatcher, Kim Campbell, Tansu Ciller, Srimavo Bandaranaika, and Corazon Aquino (Phillipines) –  (to name a few – there are hundreds of women queens and empresses and presidents/PMs all over the world – even in small countries like Hawaii or Fiji). History of Ancient India has many women who have shown the way to the world  – Whatever be the state of women in India today, women have always been the backbone of this great nation, for one simple reason – they are more spiritual than men.

Happy Women’s Day!