International Women’s Day!

Throughout my life, it’s the women around me who have been my biggest influencers and inspired me in life. These strong women made me realize I don’t need to thank anyone for letting me live the life I choose to. It was and will always be my decision. 

We celebrate Women’s Day once every year, yet women are daily being subjected to all sorts of conscious and unconscious biases. The society has always been judging women for what they look like, how much they weigh, how loud they are.

We are so much more than all of these things. 

Women not only have the power to uplift themselves, but the entire world around them. We are the front-runners, the home-makers, the accomplishers and the fighters who wouldn’t stop until the world hears us roar! 

In a world where even today women are deprived of basic human rights just because of their gender, there are these brave hearts who stand up for their sisters all over the world. Here’s to the ones who are breaking stereotypes, fighting for a place at the table, the ones who wouldn’t accept an unjust world and continuously strive for a gender-neutral society.

Also cheers to all the men who believe in an equal world, respect and support us in all the ways they can.

Let’s celebrate women today, but also practice it everyday. 

Happy International Women’s day to all the amazing women out there!

Being a woman

Being a woman,
She is expected to put on various masks
And sacrifice herself doing everything that they ask

For she was never told, that she could even say no
Always taught to keep her voice low

So she did put on her masks this time, but only to let the world know
That she is the woman who can do anything and make the whole world bow
For a woman’s strength, grit and love
Can lift you from the ground and thrust you up above.

– Ashwini

Happy International Women’s Day!

I feel blessed everyday to be born as a woman because despite all the hardships we women go through (just because we aren’t born as men), we fight through it all and choose to make this world a better place for us and our girl tribe. A huge chunk of my life is surrounded by some spectacular women who inspire me everyday. We believe in a world where women uplift other women. It’s too easy to become cold in this harsh world, but it takes great amount of bravery to fight everyday for the things you want, places you want to be, careers you want to have.

Also a huge shoutout to the men who realize the need for an equal world for women. It’s convenient to step into a patriarchal world just because it’s been happening through ages, but change begins with at least one voice that would stand against it. Being a woman doesn’t have to mean that she’s secondary to a man. In an equal world, let the focus be on being partners.

To all the lovely ladies out there, here’s a reminder, you are so much more than your physical appearances and what the “society” says. You are what you choose to be. In this one life, don’t let others define you, you show them how you are meant to be defined. The power lies within you. All you have to do is unleash it.🔥👸🏻

P.S: This picture was taken at Wynwood Walls, Miami in Dec 2020. Hats off to the artist!

Her little book of dreams

When she was just a innocent little girl
She dreamt and wrote about things she would achieve in this world
She giggled and danced her way through adolescence
Always carrying her little book of dreams in her tiny hands

But the realities of the unjust world put her in a cage
Started tearing down her dreams page-by-page
People kept telling her how she should be holding a pan and a ladle
Or she was simply born to swing her baby’s cradle

She gathered all the tattered pieces of her broken dreams
And stuck them back together, a beautiful mosaic it seemed
She clutched the book even more closer to her heart
And stood up for all the girls whose dreams were torn apart

– Ashwini

Epilogue:

All over the world, a girl’s education is deemed optional for her growth. Because according to some, a woman’s place is in the kitchen and not in a classroom or a workplace. Historically, this has been happening since centuries. But with changing times, even the society needs to evolve.

Women have the strength and power to run a household as well as a workplace. What they need is support and encouragement. Mostly importantly, we need to remember, when you educate a girl, you are educating a child. Let’s work on that! 👸🏻

Her beauty.

This time, she chose to be her own kind of beautiful

The beauty that goes beyond the color of her skin
And unveils the shades of her attractive soul

The beauty that surpasses the length of her hair
And uncovers the width of her smile

The beauty that isn’t measured by how fat or thin she is
But it adds up the weight of the love she carries

This time, she chose not to be just like them
But to be herself and that’s how she chose to be defined

– Ashwini

Epilogue: Women are constantly put into categories of being either too thin or too fat, too dark or not fair enough, there’s never a “perfect” woman. And these judgments are passed on by men and women both. Even if you say it in the most casual way, you don’t know how deeply it might affect the other person. Rather than classifying women based on their physical appearance, I hope we get to live in a world where men and women themselves recognize that life is so much more than just having a pretty face. It’s all about being a beautiful soul. 💫

She chose to be the voice

She chose to be the voice

For all the voices of women that go unheard

For the voices that have been silenced by years of patriarchy

For all the muffled cries of help that went unnoticed

For all the shoutouts that were muted in the battle of equality

She chose to be the voice that would echo through the mountains of restraint and let all the women know that they are not alone, they never were.

– Ashwini

It’s Women’s History Month and I have decided to write posts in the ongoing week dedicated to all the amazing women out there!

For anyone wondering why we need to celebrate women? Because, they aren’t celebrated enough in the real world. For the first day, the message here is, “Voice”. A lot of women out there are suffering only because they are told that no one would listen or care about what they speak. However, it all starts with one act of courage. The courage to fight against deep-rooted sexism. If you don’t speak up against something that’s wrong, it will keep repeating. Be the change you want to see in this world. Remember, it all starts with you. 👸🏻

PS: I was thinking of ideas for this project and I came across these powerful pictures of art from @wynwoodwallsofficial in my phone which I had shot during my last trip to Miami. What an inspiration! 🎨

HER red lehenga.

Flashback:

She was 8-years-old when she first set her eyes on the most extraordinary piece of cloth in her mother’s closet. It was a crimson-red, heavily-embroidered, 5 kg heavy lehenga staring back at her. (An Indian bride usually wears a ‘lehenga’ or a ‘saree’ on her wedding day as a part of the wedding attire.) While playing with her friends, she would always insist on playing the bride. Being a tiny 8-year old, she would always imagine a fortress lit up with lights and flowers, where she would be sitting besides her Prince Charming dolled up in that red lehenga. “It’ll be a SAB-YA-CHEE lehenga”, she would say, that’s what Mom wore! (‘Sabyasachi’ is a famous bridal wear clothing brand.) All these years, every once in a while, she would longingly glance at that beautiful lehenga. Similar to the one that she will wear on her wedding day; just like a delicate piece of armor, fit for a royal princess.

Over all these years, she grew into this beautiful young lady. Talented, beautiful and a set of fiery eyes all set to burn the floor. She graduated from school with distinction and found her dream job too! All the aunties hailed her as the perfect bride to-be. With a girl who had everything at her feet, she was unstoppable. At one such party, she ran into him. They talked for hours that evening, almost inseparable. That night, she saw the red lehenga again and it seemed to shine more than usual, almost dropping her a hint. And eventually it happened. Those 3 hour-long phone calls turned into regular dates and one no sooner, they announced her marriage.

The wedding turned out to be all that she had ever dreamed of! It was indeed a royal celebration where she rejoiced standing besides her Prince Charming. And of course, that day she wore her very own red lehenga.

Today:

She opens her closet, taking out all clothes from the closet and neatly arranging them again. It was her trick to keep her mind occupied. When suddenly, something shiny caught her eye. It was her very own red lehenga! Staring deep into one of its shiny mirrors, a blackened eye stared back at her. In another one, she could almost see an imprint of two fingers left on her cheek. She sat on the floor, feeling relieved that the horrific night was finally over. But she knew, there would always be another such fight. She momentarily closed her eyes. And one by one, the tears started to trickle down those beautiful brown eyes; while she tightly clutched her fingers over HER red lehenga.

Epilogue:
An alarmingly high number of women all over the world suffer from domestic violence. It’s not only a setback for the feminine side, but firstly it’s a huge setback for the entire humanity. Marrying a woman doesn’t give you a right to abuse her, physically or mentally. Respect her for being the glue that holds your family together. When you marry a girl, their parents trust you with their greatest creation, their little princess. If at all, empower her, support her and more than anything else, love her. And to all the amazing women out there, don’t ever let anyone harm or demean you because you are a woman! 

“I would rather stand alone and engulf the fierceness, than to dwell under someone else’s shadow.”