Apologies for bringing this stale topic again but I wanted to share this with you all. Well, there is enough being talked, written and discussed about Ms Padukone and her choices! I have such a busy schedule that I didn’t even watch that video ‘My Choice’ completely – Why I didn’t watch? Undoubtedly it is my choice.
Only when this whole controversial ad campaign is dying its own death, I got a call from my Aunt who has a daughter in teens. Luckily the day being a weekend, I was delighted to see her name flashing on my mobile; she is someone who is very chatty and lights up anybody’s mood with her sane and insane chats.
‘Hello Aunty, hope doing good and so good to have you on phone’, I say with a grin that she can’t see indeed.
Aunty was in no mood to accept my greetings and jumped on to this stale topic again. She questioned, ‘Did you watch Deepika’s video about My Choice?’
I replied gloomily, ‘It must be a rage in India but not in the UK. People here have already had these choices from ages than Deepika had!’
Aunty definitely was unhappy with my answer and was boiling from within. She took a deep breath in and started, ‘Coming to the topic, your cousin Meeta who has gone insane after watching this video. Rather all those people whom I have encountered for past few days have gone insane.’
‘Please explain’, was my reaction. Aunty is just like Rajdhani Express, impossible to stop. I am not a master in Physics but moment of inertia could be related to her – you can’t stop Rajdhani express and you can’t stop Aunty, you try to stop them and you will have it on your face.
Meeta has declared that from today she is not going to the gym, will stop eating healthy and also has ordered roadside french fries and onion bhajjis! After seeing me going mad, she calmly lifts her shoulders says, ‘My Choice’! She doesn’t care about her weight anymore, who will marry her? She weighs 110 kilos! Her face is filled with ugly pimples. She then continued, ‘I wasn’t even done with Meeta, another storm jolted me. Lata our domestic help came to me with some demands; she wants a manicure per month to nourish her dry hands after doing all the household chores, a headphone to listen to music while working and a break with some snacks & tea in front of the TV. I gazed her with such anger and she tying her hair and with cold eyes said, Meri Marzi!!! Without replying, I left the room and went to the hall. Squatted in a corner and held my head with my hands.’
I hadn’t even swallowed this list of Lata’s choices, Maa came in. Usually she is calm but today she wanted to play a rocking mother-in-law. She declared that she is going trekking to the Himalayas with all middle aged women from our society, very well aware of the fact that she just had a knee replacement surgery. As she knew I wouldn’t dare to question her, she tucked her pallu and said, ‘I too have an identity and can decide’, in short – my choice!
And the cherry on the cake was Jiffy, our (female) dog didn’t want to eat her normal chapati-milk. Her friend Bruno from the neighborhood probably has chicken tikka every day. Now, how should I explain that a pure vegetarian Jain family like us cannot serve her with chicken tikka but she too has her choice now!
She then very sadly said, ‘How I wish, Hemamalini or Jeenat Aman should have done a video campaign like this that could have given some experience you see. Women from our generation feel so down-market after seeing this video, don’t we have any choices?’
I could really feel Aunty’s frustration and tried to calm her but she was inconsolable. She said, 'Trupti, I have no choice than living with these choices, only if Ms Padukone lives a day of my life, she will understand the impact of her video’.
Without expecting an answer from me, she disconnected the call. Period.
Clearing my throat, though I was a bit bored by all this, frankly what could I have done? Everyone only has taken a wrong meaning of that video without really trying to know what is right and wrong for them. Truly, one Ms Padukone cannot educate you about your choices, it is you who has to dig out the pros and cons of your decisions and be ready to handle the outcome. Some of her choices make sense but some don’t, it boils down to us if we want to follow those or have our own choices crafted.
To all of us, we first need to thoroughly know our basic rights, our limits, our strength and weaknesses, only then can we make choices rather than supporting pseudo-feminism and blindly following it.
I kept the phone on the table and was about to leave for the kitchen to make some breakfast for everyone, my phone beeped then. It was a message on whatsapp:
What does a spider entangled in its own web say?
‘Majhe web-majhi choice’, which in English means – (My web – my choice)
Phew!!! Enough of Meeta, Lata, Maa, Jiffy and now a spider…I would rather pack them all and courier them all to Ms Padukone’s address!
Please leave a comment as your comments and feedbacks help me to improve and encourage to write more :-)
Please leave a comment as your comments and feedbacks help me to improve and encourage to write more :-)
