The Wanderer

How to create under confident women: Tell them that if they do not use fairness creams, no one will marry them. Tell them that if they do not look a certain way, no one will love them. Make sure they do not talk to guys in school/college, because you know Sanskaar . When they come to you about marital problems, try to find a way to blame them for it. Of course, she is to be blamed, after all how can the son be wrong?  Make her believe, that no matter how wrong the husband is, it is her duty to 'adjust'. And if she can't, she is not a good enough wife.  Tell her that she should be thankful that she is so lucky, you know 'it could be worse'.  Tell her that no matter who she becomes, the men will be rated higher than you. Equality? Bah, humbug. Scare them into believing that if they stood up for themselves, they will be outlawed by the society. And that this is a bad thing. Oh, and to be clear, most times it is women who make other women believe this. Yeah...

Loss can teach you so much. One of the most heartwarming pieces I have read. Or maybe just related to it. Excerpts from Sheryl Sandberg's moving tribute to her husband. The most powerful one-line prayer: “Let me not die while I am still alive.” The choice offered by tragedy I think when tragedy occurs, it presents a choice. You can give in to the void, the emptiness that fills your heart, your lungs, constricts your ability to think or even breathe. Or you can try to find meaning. These past thirty days, I have spent many of my moments lost in that void. And I know that many future moments will be consumed by the vast emptiness as well. I have lived thirty years in these thirty days. I am thirty years sadder. I feel like I am thirty years wiser. But when I can, I want to choose life and meaning.  Being a mother I have gained a more profound understanding of what it is to be a mother, both through the depth of the agony I feel when my children scream and cry and from the c...