Kusum Choppra

For those of us, footsoldiers of Women's Lib in varied arenas of family and friends, authorities in school, college, public life and work places, Women's Lib then was a quest for an equal space under the sun, the right to do what one desired, rather than submit to ancient stereotypes. Is it therefore not painful to see the next generation lapsing so easily? There are those who tamefully hand over hard won freedoms to dissolute husbands who have become tyrannical because they themselves are frightened by the challenge of the confident women in their workspaces. And then there are those who cheerfully step on the heads of their hubbies, mouthing vacuous Women's Lib lines and rudely defy all social norms and graces. Was the movement not about giving women choices, rather than having them take the same tinpot despot road that males have taken over the unchallenged centuries and run society into the ground? And between these two extremes, whatever happened to equal rights and r...

These days viewers are flood with ads steering them to the many mythologicals on TV with the tag line “ teach the kids sanskar “, especially from the Ramayan. Now, let’s get a bird’s eye view of some of what the Ramayan and the Mahabharat have to teach our kids: Those dirty old men like Dashrath and Shantanu had so little control over themselves that they went to any extent, made any promises with disastrous political impact for their countries, merely to bed the next nubile young woman who caught their fancy. The net result was that Ram spent 14 years wandering the forest, making conquest after conquest there and returned home to dump his pregnant wife so he could get on with ruling his kingdom. (Wonderful family planning since she never got pregnant during the jungle sojourn). Divorce goes a long way back in our society, does it not? So does deceit in the manner in which Ram dealt with Sigrid; and the rewards of family disloyalty with the way Ram received the brother of Ravan. In...

Recently couch potatoes were treated to public outrage on a news channel. The outrage came from viewers as well players in the drama which unfolded in Bhopal where a young bride chose the Varmala ritual in the wedding proceedings to take a stand. Bypassing her waiting groom, the young lady placed her garland around the neck of her boyfriend who had been invited to the wedding. The groom’s side and practically all the male viewers who phoned in were almost apoplectic over the bride’s perfidy in handing out such an insult to the groom, his baraat and Bharatiya Sanskriti which demands strict obedience of parental orders by girls. The outrage outrage over the bride’s INSULT to the groom and his baraat and her attack on Hindu sanskriti had to be seen to be believed. What was that all about?? Our hoary traditions prescribe a Swyambhar wherein the bride selects her groom in an open assembly by placing a garland around his neck. Over the centuries the demands of patriarchy have transfo...

THE SWING I entered with a big delighted grin on my face. " Aaj pata Maine kya kiya ?" ( you know what I did today ) Perhaps it was that grin that acted as a damper to his mood. He sat down heavily and picked up his paper " Kya ?" " Main jhoole pe baidhi ..." " kahan ?" " garden me" " Hoon ". The grump in that response effectively evaporated my grin. *********** Why, I ruminated, did women love swings ? Isn't it curious -- except for trapeze artists, you never see men on swings. It is always women and girls who are on the swings, in the gardens, the public parks, the playgrounds, the private jhoolas in homes, everywhere, all the time, in art, in literature, in song, in festivals, in the seasons, whatever. What is the special link between women and swings ? I had never given it another thought until that morning. One morning when I had walked through the almost somnolent ga...