Ayesha and Burqa - and Indian Woman

and here I was crying about Goddesses who are not passionately loved or allowed to love passionatley! :)

Well Heads - they win tails I lose...

I say I want to wear burqa/ ghunghat/ whatever because 'I believe'. Then I am d*****d as a religious zealot. I say I do not wear burqa/ ghunghat/.... I am still dam*** for not being religious enough. It is strange that the burqa is taking the space of Christine on my blog.

But I am quiet zapped by the plight of Ayesha. Did she follow her religious inclination and make a stand for herself ( I sincerely wish this is the case)? Or is it a standoff between two opposing religions in the guise of a hapless young girl who may be caught in a war not of her own making? Where will the war take her once the media spotlight moves on to the next intersting story? What is to become of her? I am worried... for her, her family, the over all implication of the burqa ban in the college... I ask the question - where are we going?

India has had more that it share of religiously violent incidents. Is it one more fissure in the already fragile fabric of communal harmony? Will people mend it? Do we have to adapt the same identity, same dress, same language etc to prove our belonging to the country? What is the identity of India?

I have never dreamt of being in any other country other than India - have always felt proud in saying that I come from India. This is the country I call Home! I am an Indian - an Indian Woman.

Even Goddesses are bound!

I have been reading "Histroy of Early India - From Origin to AD 1300" by Romila Thapar...

In the chapter "The Peninsula: Emerging Regional Kingdom" I came across a particular portion that really tickled my brain. This was about the Tamil devotionalism and alternate religious movemnets.

I quote from the chapter "Nammalvar, in one of his poems, imagines himself as a woman in relationship with the deity who is a male. But passionate love of a male poet for a godess was not encouraged. Although godddesses were widely worshiped, they were rarely the focus in these poems."
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Now this really made me feel sorry for the umpteen goddesses in Indian Mythology. I am actually sorry for the devotees too... Goddesses are bound by rules of monoandry/ Chastity and devotees only get a chance to worship her as mother (and no other relationship)... it is quiet unfair... whereas look at the Gods ... they still get to play the feild. And this is not just a case of religions from India... but world over.

Given that the primary proponents of religion have been men and the max adherents and gullible idiots have been women... its quiet sad that Goddesses don't get a chance to be passionately loved or love passionately - even through poems or the poets! :)