Rewrite Your Story

“She is free in her wildness; she is a wanderess, a drop of free water. She knows nothing of borders and cares nothing for rules or customs. ‘Time’ for her isn’t something to fight against. Her life flows clean, with passion, like fresh water.” – Roman Payne

- Anthony Aravind

Few days ago I received a call from Gracie, my school friend. We haven’t spoken in years and I was thrilled that she called. We began to talk and most naturally the conversation kept moving from wellbeing, to family, to friends, to long lost memories; and eventually I asked about her work and with a weakened voice she uttered “Engineering was and is my passion, but the male-dominance of the profession has stifled me and many other girls who aspired to become a great engineer”. When I heard that statement, I knew I had to choose my words wisely as my response was limited, and little did I know that she would be surprised and benefitted with my limited response - “You have the freedom and the authority to rewrite your story”.

My statement in response to Gracie became my inspiration for this edition’s article, in relation with the ‘Like a Girl’ campaign by Procter & Gamble, for their range of sanitary and hygiene products popularly known by the name ‘Whisper’. I’m confident that most of us have watched the campaign on TV. The television version of the campaign has been ridiculously edited, I encourage you to watch the YouTube version of the campaign because it is not just elaborate, it is educational and inspirational.

The ‘Like a Girl’ campaign broke away the little stigma, that which was hiding deep inside of me all this while. It helped me revaluate phrases such as ‘Hit like a girl’, ‘Throw like a girl’, ‘Run like a girl’ etc. I was also enlightened to the fact that, it is not just men who use this phrase to undermine the strength of a woman, but women themselves have conceived and employed the aforementioned phrases in contempt, of course there are exceptions in every affair.