What do you want to be when you grow up?” This is a common question asked of kids in every household. But Ishita Katyal didn’t want to wait long to be someone; she wanted to make an instant impact. So she did. And how! Ishita became the youngest Indian to deliver a talk at the TEDx Youth Conference in New York. This frail girl, all of 10, was speaking to her elite audience in a clear voice, “Instead of asking children what they want to be when they grow up, you should ask them what they want to be now. We only focus on the dreams and the future but forget about the present actions”.
The metaphor she used was that of a fish aquarium. If you want the fish to grow bigger you should give a bigger aquarium to them. What kind of aquarium are you giving to girls? Will society tolerate if the girls really grow up and become big fish? So big that they need their own space and break the walls of the aquarium? What is the honest answer? Everybody is mum.
When I come across fiery girls like Ishita, my heart sinks thinking of the future that lies ahead for them when they grow up into a woman. The same people who are supporting and appreciating their brilliance will expect them to squeeze back into the aquarium and play the role of a perfect homemaker no matter how miserable they feel inside.
With all this conditioning we celebrate International Women’s Day every year as a routine, without realising that women’s liberation depends on men’s liberation. It is time we celebrate women’s day as men’s liberation day too. Osho is a great supporter of women’s liberation, not as a movement but as a fact that liberated women can liberate men. An enlightened view cannot be partial. His compassion includes the freedom of both man and woman together.
Osho says, “Man has imprisoned woman in the house at a great cost and he is suffering a lot. In fact, women’s liberation is not restricted to her alone; it will also liberate men. All intelligent men are for it, because they know if the woman really becomes free they will be free too. It is going to be freedom for both. It is one of the laws of life: either you both can be free or you both will be slaves. It is not possible that one should be the master and the other should be the slave. The law is that the master is always a slave of his own slave, because his mastery also depends on the slave. Without the slave he will not be a master at all.”
Unless man accepts his own feminine qualities like love, trust, surrender, tenderness, acceptance, and is not ashamed of his tears, allows his pain to flow, he cannot accept woman as his equal. He is living a life of imprisonment, like his counterpart. Let us hope both men and women come together and be mature enough to liberate each other.
