“Peace in Patriarchy is war against WOMEN”

Remember the story of wicked Queen and her step daughter Snow White? Snow White was a lovely princess; her step mother was very cruel.

The Queen hated anyone who was more beautiful than her, she treated Snow White like a servant but she always obeyed and never complained.

The Queen had a magical mirror whom she used to ask, “Mirror, Mirror, on the wall, who is the fairest of all?” Every day the mirror had the same reply, “You are the fairest.” So the Queen remained content and happy every day with being the fairest. But as Snow White grew older, she grew more beautiful and that made the Queen jealous. One day the magic mirror told the Queen that someone else is fairest in the land and that is Snow White. In her jealous rage wicked Queen decided to kill Snow White. I heard this story when I was very young probably 7-8 years old, I loved that story but as I grew I thought this is merely a story nothing real about it. 

But as I sit down to write how I felt in the last 3 days, I feel that the WICKED QUEEN and her fake ego exist, though symbolically! The intention behind starting Sahas was to fill the large loopholes that I had witnessed, experienced and lived in the social space that claims to curb Gender based violence. Not even remotely I ever thought of giving competition or challenging the existent ecosystems who were trying to solve the predominant problem of gender based violence in their own unique way, in fact I felt inspired and motivated to begin Sahas as through this we wanted to hit the root cause of gender based violence. 

However this was nothing but the beautiful mirage created by pseudo social workers who taught Love, Empathy, Peace and Inclusion. So I would like to request all those intellectuals who claim to change the world by their intervention and are highly educated from the much acclaimed colleges to please go back to dictionary and read the meaning of the terms like peace, inclusion etc, because I doubt whether they even know the real existent meaning forget about understanding and applying in the real world. 

For the past 3 days we have been thinking almost day and night as to what harm are we doing to the existent kingdom? And trust me I have no answer! I am not able to understand that why a person “a man” here is not able to digest that 2 women without any support are able to leave their comfort zone and work towards a society that they desire to live in? Is that too much to ask for? Am I asking for a favor? Absolutely No! I am working and fighting every day to achieve those rights which are there for me. 

I worked in Media industry for almost 5 years; I loved and lived my work. But at the same time I experienced orthodox structures, hierarchy, patriarchy that tried every possible way to stop me but I never gave up. When I came to social space, I could smell honest emotions, feel the desire to work for a cause and importantly I believed that this space values people. 

Then the rude shock hit me like an avalanche as the space that helped me to trust backstabbed me, the space that helped set me free tried curbing my work by threatening the people I am working with, tried blocking the path I was taking ! I am not sad, scared or disheartened rather I am angry, very angry because they are the people who talk about equality, equity and peace but what do they do in reality! They keep grudges in their heart, creates conflict and loves being in conflict just like the wicked Queen.  

Unfortunately I feel, “Blind belief in Authority is the greatest enemy of truth” and when someone is not able to see and walk on the path of truth, their decline becomes closer. Also I want to say that competing with us will not help because we have better things to do and just like Arjun from Mahabharta, I aim for the eye of the fish, nothing more or else! 

From the very beginning of Sahas, I knew that the path won’t be easy but I never imagined that people would get so insecure that they would really try all the possible ways to block our work, without understanding that this work is the need of the hour and all of us in our own way is fighting the demon that is disfiguring the society. 

Albert Einstein rightly said “Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from the mediocre minds. The mediocre mind is capable of understanding the people who refuses to bow blindly to conventional prejudices and chooses instead to express his opinions courageously and honestly”

So now, I know that like corporates even social space is a mesh of unsolicited structures; have strong power dynamics, patriarchal system and is scared of women taking charge of their space! This incidence has made me more aware, alert and also strengthens my will to work towards the vision that we have thought through Sahas, because,

                           “Peace in Patriarchy is war against WOMEN”