33 & 1/3rd for me

I am a woman. That’s not a self-convincing statement, that’s just a statement of fact. Biologically, that’s what I am and I have been accepted as one socially too. Except for a couple of occasions on local buses where I was told to get off the ladies seat as I was hogging them and a few instances where my girl friends (friends who belong to the fairer sex – whatever that means) parents got reports that their daughters were spotted with a stocky guy with shaggy hair.

Ok, so I’m a bit tomboyish. I walk with a stagger, don’t have an ounce of the famed feminine shyness, am totally colour blind (women are supposed to differentiate beige from pastel – both are shades of light colour, Im told), I love talking about sex, I forget to zip up my jeans once in a while, I scratch my crotch in public… all those obnoxious things that guys are supposed to do, I do them (except for smoking and drinking – these are plain stupid).

I have always believed that girls and guys feel almost the same things at approximately the same age. It’s just a matter of the social perimeter, which encages us that differentiates the behaviour of the opposite sexes. You think that if a fat girl wears a tight pair of pants the zip does not slide down because the zip is aware of the wearers feminity. You think that the crotch of a girl is a tension free and scratch proof area… you are grossly wrong. You think a woman never farts, think again. You think a woman always smells of fresh flowers, tell the summer sun to be partial to the fairer sex and then maybe the theory will be true. And who ever still says that women are the fairer sex. Isn’t there a beauty cream called “Fair and Handsome” for men. You think a woman does not think about sex, believe me they think about it from the time puberty sets in.. infact for a short period that’s all what they think of. So you see, when it comes to gross stuff girls compete very strongly and sometimes hold an edge over guys.

Similarly when it comes to sensitive behaviour typically associated with women, todays men are not to be left far behind. There is a new breed of men called metro sexuals, they cry openly, they are not scared to show emotion publicly (some times that’s plain embarrassing), they spend a good part of their routine grooming and looking good, they some times even genuinely care.

So things are finally the way God wants them to be (I suppose). Men and women have started realizing that the only thing that actually separates them is a piece of flesh placed in separate parts of the body. They are sharing responsibilities, there are egos being put to rest, expectations are being tempered, people are actually coming to their senses. And amidst all this, are we as a country declaring 33 and 1/3rd reservation for women?? Why on earth would we want to do that? I do understand the fact that India still has a lot of places where women are under valued, places where female infanticide and feoticide is common, places where young girls are not sent to school, places where girls are married off at tender ages of 10 and below. I get all that, but aren’t we a country that’s just about 60 years young. What we have achieved in these 60 years is remarkable if we consider the main fact that, we are a democratic country and no matter how misused, we have maintained that that’s what we want to be.

In such a situation is it right on our part to encourage the division of the society on the basis of sex, religion, caste etc. Aren’t we above these petty issues? Isn’t it apparent that if a person has the goods to be at the top of the game, they will be, no matter what their gender is or religion is or caste is. And if a person doesn’t make it out in the world then maybe they are just not cut out for it. Do we want an unqualified person operating on us just because he got an MBBS on the merit of being born in a particular section of the society, do we want a person who knows nothing about the cement to sand ratio building bridges for us, just because he belongs to a protected religion? Then we definitely do not want a woman who knows nothing about politics or policies for that matter ruling over us as mayors, MPs, PMs etc.

Do something only if you are capable of doing it and not because someone handed it over to you in a silver platter and convinced you that you can’t do it on your own. Reservation for women is by far the most degrading of all government policies because it encourages us to be equal to men by protecting us and by making sure we know that we are weak and cannot make it on our own. And the saddest part is most women support this reservation…So much for self will and standing up on your own feet.