Once upon a time , she was a gift , now gone kaput!

The past Saturday, since I had taken a leave from office for preparing for my internals , waking up late at 8 seemed to me like a dream to my phone which kept on buzzing constantly. I checked my Whatsapp and had received over some fifteen-ish messages from my friends and family wishing me for the day ; it was International Women's Day! I regard this day as important as my birthday because the kind of attention you get from your loved ones is more or less the same! On this day, poor dad is always left at the suffering end having three women in the family (my mum,sister and I) and treating each one of us separately :D . Celebrating this day for us , in fact , for everyone , is just like any other ; you go out , roam around , shop until you think you've picked up almost all the latest trends , spend time over dinner at  restaurants , get home , and retire for the day.
So why does there have to be a day every year which is dedicated to women? There's a riveting history behind this Celebration. Here you go - 
The International Women's Day (IWD) , also known as as International Working Women's Day was initially started as a socialist political event , where women were specially highly spoken of for their extraordinary contribution and participation  in the field of politics and related works. This had taken place in the countries of Europe and Russia.

Italy and Russia celebrate Women's Day of which the symbol is the mimosa or Silver Wattle

The earliest celebration of this day dates back to May 3 , 1908 in Chicago , whereas New York chose to commemorate on February 28 , 1909. In August 2010 , an International Women's Conference was conducted as a precursor to the Social Second International Meeting in Copenhagen , Denmark wherein , drawing inspiration from her American contemporaries , German Socialist Luise Zietz proposed the inception of an annual International Woman's Day (note the 'a' in woman here) who received support from fellow Clara Zetkin , who turned into a communist leader later. All the Delegates (there were a 100 odd of them) seconded the idea because it would be the best platform to promote equal rights including suffrage for women. The following year , in the month of March , the 19th day , IWD was observed by various people across Austria , Switzerland , Denmark , Germany and the like. Countless parades took place and women had an active participation. They showed their despise towards employment sex discrimination by showing the protest with the aid of hoardings and banners. But none of the parades and protests and other forms of celebrating the day was made on March 8! It was only because March 8 had fallen on a Sunday in the year 1914 that IWD has been rejoiced worldwide on this day until now. 

This is a German poster for IWD dated March 8, 1914 , the English Translation being as under :

"Give Us Women’s Suffrage. Women’s Day, March 8, 1914. Until now, prejudice and reactionary attitudes have denied full civic rights to women, who as workers, mothers, and citizens wholly fulfill their duty, who must pay their taxes to the state as well as the municipality. Fighting for this natural human right must be the firm , unwavering intention of every woman , every female worker. In this ,  no pause for rest ,  no respite is allowed. Come all ,  you women and girls, to the 9th public women’s assembly on Sunday, March 8, 1914 , at 3 pm.”

This celebration , of course , sparked a lot of controversies , the most infamous one being the Tower Hamlets Council (England) incident , whereby it closed one of its libraries for celebrating IWD ,  hence not letting the men folk enter the same , so much so that the male staff was also asked to not be there that day. A very recent skirmish took place in 2007 in Iran , wherein hundreds of men and women , who were conducting a rally as a mode of celebrating IWD , were beaten up by the Police to the extent of some of them getting arrested too. But , as fate had it , the purpose of this day couldn't last any longer and men started to celebrate this day only to show their affinity towards the fairer sex. This day was adjudged more like a Mother's or Valentine's Day.

              

Let's talk about the present milieu ; has not it taken an ugly turn already? Women are the most beautiful creatures on Earth who are a fine concoction of delicacy who hold an inexhaustible knowledge of rightly everything under the Sun and the toughest task bearers! But what is happening to the so called 'tricks by sleight of hand' lately? Some go through a terrible office phase due to harassing bosses while some are awfully stuck in the middle of their academics because their professors ask for sexual favours and hence decide to call it quits. Some undergo a routine of domestic violence without uttering a single word while some are getting openly raped in broad daylight. Isn't the entire concept of an IWD redundant because of all of this? The major problem is that the world substantiates or objectifies women. Nobody can look at any woman without those hungry , devilish and dreary eyes. Women are talked only from the point of view of a satisfying object.

Commenting about a country like India , girls are the most unfortunate of all. There is no ounce of respect shown towards them , no help offered in times of  their trying times and  no pure intentions displayed towards them. This has made the women folk firm in the belief that nobody is worthy of trusting. They are on their own and they should take good care of themselves. Making the talk more specific by talking about Mumbai , the place I stay , is a harrowing place after 7 pm where you will definitely encounter shady people in many areas and you cannot even think of stepping out. It's a sad fact for women who are out at work until late at night and they have to struggle to keep themselves safe by dressing conservatively minus jewelry. Women who are are regular local transport travellers face the most sleazy looks and comments almost everyday. Such is made apparent by touching women at various places during the busiest hours at the stations and bus stops , these days, even when there is hardly any crowding , women cannot escape those undesirable moments. Various mobile phone applications, pepper sprays and pen knives are a part of all their belongings recently. More than how they plan their office schedule and other work things , they have to spend time thinking how should they keep themselves safe and sound. A very disturbing statistics discovered by me was just some days ago was the dailies talked about safest place in India , whereby , Ahemdabad ranked the first , while Chennai and Poona followed Mumbai was kicked out at the fourth position! Mumbai's rank was lowered significantly and it was really upsetting to know about the plight of this city. 

Nevertheless , women have never showed any lack of confidence in whichever field they choose and emerge as winners. One story touched me really deep down the core; it was about Laxmi , an acid attack survivor , who was recently felicitated by US First Lady , Michelle Obama. 

Laxmi recited a poem which narrated her never ending ordeals since 2005 till present

           
The former suffered an acid attack back in 2005 at Khan Market from one of her friends' brothers only because she did not respond to his romantic advances. I have seen her pictures and believe me , she is a beautiful lady , but the acid pummels left this lass with a burnt face and permanent scars across her face making her lose everything right in front of her eyes. Only recently , she thought of not giving up and was brave enough to face the world yet again. Laxmi's life turning incident took all of us by storm and even the News Channel which has now hired her for hosting one of their shows and what more , she is already done with three shooting schedules!!! Finally , there was a regulation followed for the sale of acids , at the cost of a girl losing her identity.

Another incident which made us fall flat on our faces was the Delhi Gang rape case of the innocent Nirbhaya in 2012. Had it not been for perverts around , Nirbhaya must have been celebrating her impressive academic scores until now.

I'm looking forward to that day when women will be treated with utmost respect as was decided during the discussion of IWD's birth years ago , when a girl and woman of every age will wander around without any care and when they will start overpowering the troublesome gender at any given time. Women are not sex objects or an aid to make you feel good , they are exquisite angels who are here to make the life of their loved ones better by the day , essay the roles of a daughter , wife , mother , chaperon and many more as quick as lightning , shoulder responsibilities like it's a cakewalk for them and still finding time for themselves and making their existence apparent to them. 

            

                   Take a bow to the most amazing work of God!