Of Feminism sows and Chauvinist Pigs.

I've been accused of being a hard core feminist. I've been convicted enuf number of times to be taken away to that vaginal prison of my complex race.

Dn't go wrong. I, like others do blush beetroot red over some gallant soul who opens the door or pulls out a chair for me, and I have discovered, much to my jaw-dropping (Ally McBeal ishtyle) horror,that the xy chromosome is capable of far more than the superfluous xx variety.

Despite such such heart-breaking thruths, I am a feminist and will always be one. Not the bra-burning, head-shaving, dam-saving kind, or the more gentle, but a certain unique little kind of my own.

I don't know what you'd call us - the modest tribe of feminists. We have never made any huge statements so far. We've always been silent and honestly we don't know what great deeds we've done to deserve all this all-encompassing. But we have all agreed to wear the badges and bake inevitable cookies, and being literate, we all know what this much-spoken-of label means.

Yes, we are harmless. Animals that need not be caged.

Here's the argument that is conclusive. We don't bother to fight for our so-called rights. Only because we've always thought we were superior - or equal, except those of us with inherently low self-esteem.

Birthright.

Welcome to India. We have cows on the street, people who spit into the roads, children running naked on streets. Have we not learnt to live with it? What's more is that we take pride in it. We like to brag about our rich culture and our heritage.

Our ancestry is our country’s claim to fame. The intelligence and foresight of our predecessors.We’ve all heard tales of the Ramayana and the Mahabharatha from our teachers in school and our grandparents.

And then the other two great epics of the world come from Greek lore. The Iliad and the Odyssey, for the illiterates. They’re all tales of battle and heroes. Of massive slaughter and reconciliation. And each of them revolve, in some way or the other around women. Battles for women, battles wrought by women. Even mythology to great extents speaks of wars of impressively great in size for women.

Draupadi insisted on the Kurukshetra massacre, Sita - the epitome of virtue, pure and flawless, whose beauty enticed Ravana and caused him to abduct her. The Trojan War - waged for one all-powerful woman and finally the batte of Penelope - the faithful wife who refused to marry another man. One more battle for one more woman.

And my point is....Women who were perfect, and women who were less so. In some way or the other they have caused conflict; they were the center of it all. Womanhood – powerful and irresistible. At the end of the day, no matter what is said and done, the world revolved around them.

In some incomprehensible way, they really wrote history.

And we are still fighting for women’s rights?