I, me, myself – most of our thoughts and conversations begin and hover around these. The world around me, the objectives and subjective I am part of and so on. But then someone today asked me to define. Define myself – well I stammered and paused because I was not sure of the question.
I can be defined as what I came here as and I can be what I will leave here as. I have no role in previous but I have an array of choices for the second.
I came here as –
A grand daughter~ I understood what precious means.They pampered me; they made me sit in their lap and showed me the world no one else ever could~ The world or fairies and angels; gods and devils. They sowed the seeds of virtues and nurtured them with love and let them grow and flourish with time.
A daughter~ I understood what knowledge means. They gave me books to educate me and words to give me wisdom. They gave me freedom to enjoy the life and promises to stand on principles. Every victory shone in their eyes as a spark of pride. The reflection of me in their eyes made me happy from inside.
A Sister~ I understood what sharing means. They sat next to me holding a bar of chocolate offering me their share or nibbling from mine. Fighting over share and yet feeling incomplete without sharing was the charm that still makes me smile.
I chose to be –
A wife~ I understood what promises are; for better or for worse; in sickness and in health. A person who comes as a stranger in your life but overpowers all other relations that you stay with him till ‘death do us part’.
A daughter-in-law~ I understood what family is. They accepted me as their own and showed me a path to tread. The support and warmth made me stronger than before.
A sister-in-law~ I understood what bonding is. They stood with me like friends do and made me laugh on my mistakes. The taught me to let go and rise beyond. They helped me to look beyond where I could see and explore the world I could never see.
A mother~ I understood what caring is. They say ‘son becomes a father and father becomes a son’ but a mother… I discovered she would always be a daughter, a sister, a wife and much more and still she will be a mother who has to pass on everything to her children that she has learnt till now and yet she dreams that they do much more. I cared for them even before they opened their eyes in this world; I feared for the things that never existed; I smiled and cried at the things that made no sense. The word ‘love’ has a different meaning now.
I can be whatever I want to be. I can be a teacher or an astronaut; I can be a singer or a doctor but I am… a woman, like any other woman. I am the reflection of what this society is and I am the foundation stone of what this society will be. I am just a human wearing the cloak of a woman. They think they are different from us. Yes, they are different – they and we are the two sides of the same life without which it is of no value. Yes we all are… We all are different yet we connect because our existence and our choices~ are same.
