"I Don't Want To Be A 'Tangdi Kabab'!"

Objectification of women, fairness creams, son obsession and more... Priyanka Chopra goes all guns blazing after the ills that plague our society and women in particular. Shubarna Mukerji Shu applauds!

- Shubarna Mukerji Shu

I am well aware that we are a part of a civilization that is one of the oldest in the world. We are a country where, since eons, we have been told that ‘Agar ladka nahi hoga toh vansh aage nahi badhega’. Or worse - if your son doesn’t cremate you ‘aapko jannat nahi milegi!’ These beliefs, though one would be tempted to call them mere ideas, have been ingrained in us for generations - it will take many years, perhaps generations, to change that belief. There are loads of hindrances here, it is not easy to have a blanket philosophy preached in a country like ours where there are so many different kinds of cultures and languages (written and spoken) not to be mistaken with dialects.

We live together under one nation, practicing myriad religions. We are probably the only country where we are taught in school as children ‘Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Issai...Hum sabh hai bhai bhai!’ Where else in the world does this happen? Quite frankly, India is an anomaly and it is obviously extremely diffi cult to govern a country so diverse. It is actually shocking that we have been so secular and yet, safe and non-violent. We have our spurts of craziness but, given the circumstances, we should be killing each other!!! So clearly we have achieved something that’s unattainable by most in the world, yet while we have achieved this, there is a lot of wrong education that cannot be ignored or put on the back burner any longer. Our very mindset needs to be changed. The dichotomy of our nation is that we worship Goddesses, yet we have people who treat a girl-child as not just unwanted but worthless. What is truly saddening is the fact that it is not just in rural areas where we, as educated people, assume it is predominant but in affl uent families. It is going to take a lot of conversation and a serious change of mindset for all this to change.