Prasoon Joshi's words hit where the hurt is. Sharm Aa Rahi Hai Na, his poem on the girl child questions why women are compared with men. Why gender at all comes in the way.
Speaking at the Jaipur Literature Fest, the lyricist said, “I don’t believe that women need to turn into men to prove their worth. She needs to be the woman that she is. And we as a society will only be successful when we stop ask women to run like men or fight like men and when we start respecting them for the qualities they are born with. The day we become a gender equal society respecting women for who they are, I will start believe that we as a society have progressed.”
"we as a society will only be successful when we stop ask women to run like men or fight like men and when we start respecting them for the qualities they are born with"- Prasoon Joshi
The Padma Shri awardee added that we needed to stop making a man out of a woman for her to succeed in this society.
He also read out a poem which he recently wrote after Rio Olympics 2016 condemning everyone who should feel embarrassed for not celebrating the birth of a girl as only women won medals at the sports event. He questioned everyone who is now basking in the glory of Sakshi Malik, Deepa Malik and PV Sindhu and celebrating their achievement but was saddened on the birth of a girl child in their own homes.
A few lines from his poem are,
“Sharm a rahi hai na
Us samajh ko jisne uske hone par koi jashn nahi manaya
Sharm a rahi hai na
Us pita ko jisne uske hone par ek diya kam jalaya
Sharma a rahi hai na
Un rasmo ko un riwazo ko un bediyo ko un darwazon ko
Sharma a rahi hai na
Un buzurgon ko jinhone uske astitva ko sirf andhere se joda”
The poem questions those rituals and rites that discourage women and their rights. A recent movie – Dangal based on the lives of wrestlers Gita Phogat and Babita Phogat also talks about the same issue where girls had to fight the regressive mindset of the society to become who they are and win medals for the country.
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It is a big question that out of the entire population the ratio between girls and boys is still so skewed even in the modern times. States like Haryana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, UP, Jharkhand etc still are very much involved in practices like girl child foeticide, lack of education for girls etc.
However, there are signs of progress. People from different fields are coming out to speak about gender bias.
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