Resistance

Portraying the friction a ‘woman’ of contemporary times goes through, as being seen in fragments. And somewhere in a due course of time, the realization that surfaces in a woman is, where do ‘I’ as an individual exist? I do not want to conform to the expectation of others anymore. I want to be heard for who I really am….

Rarefaction

The work ‘Circumcision’ signifies here both the strength (the strength that a women has to carry burden of all the beliefs and rituals without knowing the facts) and tradition (the tradition at times followed blindly, again without knowing the facts).

Why I?

‘Why I?’ as a singular question, denotes multiple perspectives. For most, it is about ‘Why I?’ have to go through this. ‘Why’ life has been unfair to me. But to the contrary, if we start asking, ‘Why I am not strong enough to overcome obstacles?’. It takes a lot of courage, but one can find a way. If the ‘Why’ here, is replaced by ‘How’ the pessimist attitude transforms to the optimist. As a text it is just about interchanging words, but in life the change brings a positive comparative difference.

https://labriciolasquisita.blogspot.com/2021/04/payal-chakraborty.html

‘Walking Stick: A Lesson She Learnt’

A bamboo walking stick painted in leopard strips was her favourite. Creative at the age of ten, while walking down the streets of Mall road Shimla, she urged her father to buy one for her. She hung it against the yellow wall, without realizing what was to come next.

As a brilliant child, she excelled in every sphere, from toping her class to sports and all extra-curricular activities. She was her teachers’ delight. She cherished and loved the time spent in school, rather than being at home. The school was her refuge.

Children of this age do go wrong. Like others of her age, she hid the food she disliked. But as a child, she could have been taught the significance of food, and how wasting it, is not right. But rather than doing so, she was taught a lesson, a lesson that stayed with her for life.

From a loving possession, the stick became a signifier of pain and despair. For an hour or so till the stick broke, she was hit mercilessly at the popliteal fossa and calf. Though the purple marks turned brown and like pain with time disappeared, the scar that the incident left on her psyche was damaging to her self-esteem.

As a brilliant performer, she was always made to stand and perform in the first row. The next day at school, when called by the teacher, she refused to join the practice. It was winter and the pain was enormous. The teacher took her refusal as disobedience. Without realizing the reason, the teacher made her stand last in the row to practice. The little girl danced in pain, without dropping a tear. At the age of ten, she matured into a person, who no one could see what she was going through.

Admitting that, it’s just the stick that broke, but it did break her confidence and morale. And many such experiences later had crushed her innocence too. Being hurt by the one she thought was her own, she closed herself to the outer world. With the choice of not connecting to unknowns, she learned to guard herself against being vulnerable and getting hurt.

Dominance

‘Dominance’ is practiced till a revolutionary thought and an unheard voice makes noise.

Noise for dominants,

But,

‘Voice’ for those who are being dominated,

Dominant doesn’t assess their actions, till the time they are not being questioned or their ‘existence’ is in question. Dominance is about privileging yourself to a position, of excluding the ‘other’. First excluding the included and then making reforms to include the excluded, does damage and rips off the initial bond and connection, of all being together.

The greed to control is characteristic of dominants.

A ‘Vision’ or ‘Threat’

Being ‘Rebellious’ means to bring change or to question existing beliefs that are considered ideal for decades or maybe centuries.

It is about asking ‘WHY ?’.

Why can’t I have an individualistic belief?

Why am I expected to blindly follow the pre-existing idioms which are assumed to be ideal?

The word ‘why’ in itself poses a complete question.

If ‘Why’ wasn’t there,

There wouldn’t have been any reforms and revolutions.

If there is a new invention or progression in the field of science and mathematics, it is because the scholars questioned and doubted the completeness of a theory. And thus works upon answering their doubts by finding new probabilities which lead to the evolution of new theories.

Thus,

A question mirrors possibilities.

With each passing day, new reforms are suggested to evolve society into a better place.

Are making reforms the constitutional right of the government only?

And citizens should adhere to the proposed reforms, like passive spectators.

Or,

For a prosperous Nation, it is the responsibility of the government to consider and respect citizens’ right to question.

Tax is the money with which the Government of a country functions and as the tax-payer citizens we all have the Constitutional right to pose questions to the government.

As responsible citizens are we not aware of what is appropriate for us?

As responsible citizens, is protesting peacefully for our own right and putting an opinion across, for a proposed reform or policy by the government, a ‘Crime’?

Does citizens protesting against policies and reforms proposed by the ruling government, makes them least national?

Rebellions retaliate and question the forced actions.

An action that is assumed by the authoritarians, to be easily accepted by commoners with muting their voices of concern and blindfolding their visions.

Rebellions stand against ego.

The ego of the oppressors.

Who unquestionably expects dissenters to follow and accept the dictated.

Every rebel in the start is assumed as going against the stream.

The stream here is the controlled zone, which the oppressors believe others to follow.

But rebellions resist accepting the perceived controlled zone, bringing a revolutionary change.

For them it seems like an act of trapeze or tightrope-walkers in circus, who conform to the given situation and perform to please the audience.

Thus,

For Oppressors a Rebel is a Threat,

And,

For Revolutionaries a Rebel is a Vision.

?

What for you being ‘Rebellious’ mean?

“Is it to bring a change or oppose a change?”

“Is it about going against the stream or making a new way to follow?”

“Whether differences should be spoken aloud or action taken in silence with firm determination is all it takes to be ‘Rebellious’?”

Being ‘Rebellious’ exists in many forms, differing in all age groups and gender.

Question arises:

“Is it good or bad to us or others?”

And,

“Do we need to evaluate that or just follow our instinct?”

Synonyms for ‘Rebellions‘

REBELLIOUS….

is a multifaceted term

is it being wrong or questioning the wrong

for few it is a vision

for few it is a threat

it has abstract synonyms

for each one of us who dare to ask

for a ‘child’ it is being ‘disrespectful’

for a ‘student’ it is being ‘disobedient’

for a ‘teenager’ it is being ‘stubborn’

for a ‘self assured woman’ at work it is being ‘bossy’

for a ‘wife’ it is being ‘feminist’

for a ‘citizen’ it is being ‘anti-national’