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