What a Girl Wants? An Audi-R8 or a Tanishq diamond?

A female; the strongest yet sensitive creation of the Almighty. Prefix with a male, indeed females are ahead of the opposite gender in varied sense and mannerism. From obtaining her first breath to breathing her last, an Indian girl is asked to compromise her dignity to entertain the bridges created from the orthodox and patriarchal society. Isn’t it funny how this society who overshadows us is nowhere to be found at the times of trouble but when they have to slander the name of the girl, they’re quite fast?

Why the sham of a good society only to extract a good party or gifts?

Guess, we’re up for a ride to unveil the level of degradation caused from treacheries of the self-conceited people against endangering the womanhood of the innocent hearts but first let’s dig into the graveyard of girl’s life.

In India, a girl’s birth is considered to be an auspicious occasion of the birth of the goddess of wealth, Lakshmi, but years later, when the blessed lady intends to honor her wishes by building a separate life for herself, she’s tagged as characterless and modernized. The hypocrisy tends get the best of the people when having an individual identity is called a charade because it’s the lady of the house who’s supposed to hide behind the four walls and serve the family. In case of the males, the priorities alter to a downtrodden mentality of him becoming the sole earner of the family and having a superior position at the table.

As opposed to the 16th century where a woman was urged to perform Sati or Purdah to impress the clan of perpetrators, in the 21st century she should have the privilege to have her integrity intact and believes about herself and her character untainted. It’s not likely for a female to take over the male; it’s the requirement of a podium for her to stand and state her opinion with confidence to obtain respect for crashing the ideologies of those differing from her.

Sad is the state of our nation which goes big on women empowerment but when it comes to protecting the interest of a female in the households or even in the corporate sectors, it lacks a definite system. Safety is that binary asset cherished by the female who’s given independence in the decision-making process in the crucial or trivial matters.

“A respected female brings a harvest sweeter than the forbidden fruit yet as soon as she starts growing up, she’s pushed into a mindset rather negatively framed and projected by the family members who become puppeteers to be raising a puppet who must dance at their tune until the man of their choice takes the ownership of their delicate and untouched angel.”

A divorce decree which is a common event of an emotional cry at the demise of a collapsing marriage, actually becomes an atmosphere of cracking a famous aunty jokes endorsing their favorite line, “That the girl might not have been good enough.” Or let me throw some beguiling light on the topic of molestation when the woman who has been robbed of her dignity and integrity is held responsible for wearing short clothes or travelling late at night or standing at the bus stand or hiring a cab.

Why is it a woman’s fault first always and the man is considered to be a saint, particularly because he is born from another female who hasn’t made him a man enough to control his urges and respect the lone woman in the night? I think here I might’ve clearly confirmed the common belief of the world that, “a woman is another woman’s worse enemy.”

Roger that thought because it’s getting brighter and clearer as I type this extravagant and maybe, sadistically feminist article.

Before we talk some more hostility and I get lost in the web of the emotions running in my veins, I’d like to bring the topic of dowry to highlight. If the history were to be believed then those times are long gone when the girl was supposed to carry a trunk of gold and other luxurious stuff from her father’s side to her in-laws’ side.

Now, the expectations have gone down for those grooms who get wives who have an independent career but still somewhere along the lines the male dominance comes to the surface when the wife begins to receive a higher pay than the husband. The ego clashes are inevitable until the in-laws add their commentary of “What has your father even given you or taught you other than running your six feet tongue?” It’s a mutual fund of the family against the daughter-in-law who finds herself juggling between the roles of a dutiful wife, daughter-in-law, mother, and a corporate leader. Such is the hypocritical misogyny in the household that the same people who want their daughters to be respected at their homes, turn blind eye to the efforts of the new bride they bring home to satisfy them and their probably, male chauvinistic son.

If we were to reverse these roles then what did the bratty sister-in-law of the house brought for her brother’s wife? Probably, disrespect and some world class tantrum which she copied from a telenovela or the highest running TRP garner in the Indian series.

The moment a girl steps in the world, she gets tied to the dreams being woven in her parent’s heart but why do they forget that a girl is a human being before being a female. Her aspirations need to be sheltered just as her especially if she’s around the predatory population who haven’t modernized in their mentality to evaluate her worth through the garments she wears. Falling in love is declared to be a characterless thing for her, hence as soon as she finishes her school or graduation or at times forced to drop out, she’s threatened to tie the knot with a random stranger who may or may not consider her wishes ever. Another tyrannical situation occurs when the delicate doll tightens the seat belt of her life and probably, steps ahead than her blood siblings or cousins. The pool of jealousy and envy gets deepened by the day when the parents of the cousins join the club of elites to put down the now rising star of the house with their satirical approach. The bickering gets heavier because the ideology of the man having the upper hand seems to become larger than life itself.

The inequality between a male and female starting from the tender age spreading even in the adulthood is painful and contemptuous. She learns to fight her own battles, but this world doesn't leave a stone unturned in making her stagger back on her confidence and dreams, and the only reason being because she is a girl. Going by the rather popular definition circulating around, “A girl is a weakling meant to be held back in the eight walls of the brick house for it’s a risky world outside and she can’t manage herself.”

Questioning the atrocity and postulating an experienced and applied definition, breaking the cycle of degradation, the conclusion goes like, " A girl, the strongest creation of God, is the phenomenal power of the nine divine goddesses. In her loneliness she’s Rudra and putting on a fearless form, she’s Parvati. She’s that wife who can kill and she’s that mother who bleeds to give birth and nurture a child in the unknown world, expecting nothing but giving unconditional love until the child matures and forgets that he’s born from a female, but he requires the fulfilment to be the ruler of her life for she’s getting grey hair.”

It's a fairy tale from the outside, and a shattered and splintered dark cave of secrets from within. The blame rests on no one but her for she’s left unattended in the cruel world who has not known the worth of the jewel born but have known to criticize and laugh at its fragility.

A girl only needs love, affection, care, but above all she needs respect from her loved ones, whom she loves more than anything in the world. But when she doesn't get it, her heart breaks into zillions of pieces, but the sound isn't heard by any, because she hides it from all and dissolves herself into self-pity and becomes the victim of depression and mental trauma, thus only wishing to end her life, as that is the only option she finds suitable in that moment, but sadly even after her death, she is not left in peace, because the world becomes so heartless to even torment her only memories which she created with her friends and families too. At last, she realizes that she is born to fight till her last breath, and if she wants to live her life with freedom, then she must respect, love and care for herself, but first she must become her sole guardian angel to protect herself from every backlash and backstabber after all that's What a Girl Wants…not an expensive car or jewelry.