I remember the lines of my Malayalam teacher at school.”A
woman is always weaker than man. Hence at every point of time in a woman’s life
there would be a stage when the hand of a man would always be there to protect her.
As a child she will be protected by her father, at growing ages by her brother.
When a woman by her husband and when aged by her son. Never can a woman be
free.”She was explaining the lines of some Sanskrit versus whose author I can’t
remember. Back then it had hurt me, that the society I lived in was too harsh
on woman.
And as I grew, this belief further strengthened. For as I
grew up, the only concern of my neighborhood elders was of getting me sacked off.
“Are good proposal coming?...Should I suggest your daughter for this lad I
know?......”.These were their most repeated enquiries.
Even the outlook of the educated class I interacted with was
more or less the same. Cause every time exams neared, my teachers at col, esp.
the male teachers would look at the boys and say,
”You guys better study seriously if u want to be placed .As
for these ladies out here, whether they get a job or not, they’ll definitely
get married off. Their expenses will be met. But you guys have none to lean
upon.”
I so much loathed those words. For I believed a woman is not
someone who must be looked upon as a fragile being. Yes, she had her weaknesses.
But the society must help her lead her life peacefully and purposefully, not
make her a dependent being. Now don’t get me wrong here because I said those
lines. No, I am not a feminist. But a believer in the lines, “When u give a
woman a fish , you feed her for a day. Teach a woman how to fish, and you feed
her for a lifetime.”
So my primary concern in life was to get a job. As I neared
the final days of my col and exams neared, my exam fear was at full peak.
“My child just relax….Your program was right in logic. The
output didn’t come out fully correct though. It must be the kit’s prob .Don’t
worry Child. This is just internals. I’m confident you’ll do well at externals.
Smile okay?....”.My Favorite teacher was soothing me as I walked out off the
labs.
I paced back slowly to the class. Half my energy drained. I
looked at my watch.2:30 pm .I had skipped breakfast. Now I’ve missed lunch too.
No wonder that I had begun to develop a headache. I was greeted at the door of
my empty classroom by Hashif. “Laurel, u’ve kept me waiting this
long!!!.....Open your tiffin .I book your egg”. I feigned a smile at him. Not
having the energy to retort back. All my classmates who were close to me knew
of my weakness for eggs and that, almost everyday I would have an omelet for lunch.
And Hashif would always be there to eat it, the minute I opened my tiffin.
Veda had arrived by then. The sooner she saw me, her hands
were corked in mine. “ Washroom. Now!!...I’m hungry!!!...”.Veda had been this
one person in my life, who was more or less a part of my own soul. It was hard
to see us separate from each other except on those occasions that Veda chose to
stay at home and sleep. Veda had seen me struggle at the labs, so she didn’t
ve to ask me ,how it went. Whilst we
lunched and greedy Hashif was devouring half of my omelet some of the cheery
guys in my class arrived. “Lora, you did it this time .Right? I was worried
that you were taking a long time.” As Rohith said those lines, there was some
background music ,teasing and comments. I looked up from my tiffin .Silence fell. I swallowed my anger
and said, “I nearly managed”. And then slowly, all of the boys flocked around
in a circle and gave us (me and Veda) company with their chattering. The talks
got heated up as we reached back after washing our hands. Now the topic of
discussion was life ahead without a job. I and Veda decided to join the group
with their chattering as we all had silently begun to feel the pangs of
farewell dawning upon us. And silently we were wishing to spend as much time
together as possible.
So, I sat down next to Haresh and said ,”Yea… life without a
job is not gonna be easy”. No sooner had I completed my sentence when Kishen
began with his gyaan . “You gals don’t need a job in the first place. Only us
boys will have a problem with that. After all, you gals are good for only one thing.
Getting married!!!....You wait and watch, the sooner we get out of here, all of
you would have tied the knot. The only exception may be Vanshika.” As much as I
hated arguments, I couldn’t stop myself from replying, “You wait and see , life
has stupid twists. The person you least expect to marry first, maybe the first
to marry.”It was as though my words were jinxed; indeed Vanshika was the first
in our group to get married.
To be contd
