Leave us alone and we can fend for ourselves. If we irritate you all so much, then just don’t be with us.
On this occasion of Women’s day 2022, a small incident in my life comes to mind.
When I was in college, a debate erupted in our class one day. In 2nd year most probably. Most of the boys were putting forth the opinion that wives dominate over their husbands a lot. Wives are very irritating and they cannot leave their husbands at peace. They make their lives hell.
As expected, our girls became very agitated and were putting forth a lot of opinions and arguments but couldn’t make the guys quiet. Our teacher was a silent spectator and so was I. I knew that a person convinced against their will, will be of the same opinion still, hence I kept quiet.
However, my silence was taken up as surrender by the opponent party and a guy guffawed that see Gargi supports us and hence is quiet. I then drew a lot of angry stares from my girlfriends. Our teacher, who was a lady, questioned me, “Is it true Gargi?”
I very quietly asked back, “If wives are the ones who always dominate, then why are there so many dowry deaths?”
Silence!
“If wives are the ones who always dominate, then why are there so many cases of domestic abuse and consecutive deaths of the wives?”
Silence!
“And if wives make lives hell for men, why do they even marry?”
Pin drop silence!
“They can leave us alone and we can fend for ourselves very well. They can lead their easy, carefree and wife free life for themselves. Why run after us for romance and then say that we dominate over them?”
I think you all can guess which party won the debate that day and who was never again asked to argue on this topic again.
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I know many of you will argue not all men, not all women, many will say your arguments were weak, you should have said this and not that. Many of you will get offended and angry. But I said what I had to then and my words were rang true then and are still true now. I had said this way back in 2006 and now in 2022, wife bashing is still prevalent not only behind doors but also openly on stages in all the Kavi Sammelans, Comedy Shows and Stand up comedy acts that we see these days. So, my argument will still stay the same.
I absolutely agree on this✌🌸
With you on this. 👏