Em'power'ing!

A facebook post by a very good friend sparked a controversy and of course a conversation that triggered my thoughts today on what really is empowerment of women.

I believe, like most of the 'concepts', empowerment would mean so many different things to people at different times. This blog entry is just a rambling of what I feel about it in the Indian context.

If it was as in the early afghan invasion era, where women had to be protected carefully, even a woman freely walking around on her own might have been considered empowerment. Probably in the independence war era, it would have meant the same and more, women getting more or less equal opportunities to fight against the foreign oppression. This was also the time when the seeds of liberation were sprouting in more human pots than in several prior centuries.

What does it really mean now!? I feel it is about freeing women from the centuries of stranglehold on various fronts - cultural, educational, social and spiritual - more than ever.

My vision is simple:

- A child should not be discriminated against pursuing any sort of education she likes
- A woman should be able to freely go on the streets at midnight, as the Mahatma also wished for
- No woman should be ill-treated or physically abused, irrespective of the place being a house or a school or a bus or a train
- Every person, man or woman, should have the basic freedom of choice without any external pressure

It is said that in the vedic period, a woman could wear the sacred thread just like a man - not based on being born in a caste, but out of her own capability. A woman would dissolve her family at will and pursue a spiritual path because that was considered the ultimate thing everyone aspired.

It is shameful that such a free culture is more or less lost now. But if we can create back or restore a culture even closer to that state, that should be the minimum contribution from our generation to the next.

Deeply, Madly in Love ...

One of the most beautiful lyrics I have heard in recent times ... Nenjil Nenjil song from Engeyum Kadhal. Brilliant composition and brilliantly sung as well!


(male)
nenjil nenjil idho idho,
kaadhal kaadhal pirandhadho
konjum kaatril mayangiyae
konjam maele paranthatho
maalai vaelai velai kaattutho
en moolai vaanam jwalai moottudho

(male repeat)
nenjil nenjil idho idho,
kaadhal kaadhal pirandhadho
konjum kaatril mayangiyae
konjam maele paranthatho
maalai vaelai velai kaattutho
en moolai vaanam jwalai moottudho

(male)
en nilaavil en nilaavil
oru minsaaral thaan thoovudho
en kanaavil en kanaavil
un bimba thugazh inbangal pozhigayil

(female)
nenjil nenjil idho idho,
kaadhal kaadhal pirandhadho
konjum kaatril mayangiyae
konjam maele paranthatho
maalai vaelai velai kaattutho
en moolai vaanam jwalai moottudho

(male)
Oru mounam paravum
siru kaadhal pozhudhil
Kizhiyil vizhaiyum mozhiyil edhuvum kavithaiyadi
Asaiyum imaiyum isaiyil edhuvum inimaiyadi

(female)
ven maarbil padarum
un paarvai thiravam
ithaya putharil, sidhari sidhari, vazhivathaen
oru uthirum thuliyil, uthiram muzhuthum, athirvathu aaen

(male)
urugaathey uyirae, vilagaathey malarae
un kaadhal vaerai kaanavendi
vaanam thaandi unakkul nuzhaindha

(male starts and female takes up)
nenjil nenjil idho idho,
kaadhal kaadhal pirandhadho
konjum kaatril mayangiyae
konjam maele paranthatho
maalai vaelai velai kaattutho
en moolai vaanam jwalai moottudho

(female)
pasi oorum idhazhum,
pasi aerum viralum
viradham mudithu, irayai virayum, naeram idhu
uyirin murayil, mayirin izhayoor nooram adhu

(male)
oru vellai thiraiyaai,
un ullam thirandhaai
siruga siruga, iravai thirudum thaarigayae
vidiyum varayil, viralum ithazhum thoorigaiyae

(female)
vidiyaadhe iravae mudiyaadhe kanavae,
nee innum konjam neelakkori kaadhal kaani thudikka thudikka

(male)
nenjil nenjil idho idho,
kaadhal kaadhal pirandhadho
konjum kaatril mayangiyae
konjam maele paranthatho
maalai vaelai velai kaattutho
en moolai vaanam jwalai moottudho

(female)
en nilaavil en nilaavil
oru minsaaral thaan thoovudho
en kanaavil en kanaavil
un bimba thugazh inbangal pozhigayil