User:Nikita Dudani/sandbox

Nirbhaya & Others Who Dared – Can One Really Survive Abuse.

‘Nirbhaya & Others Who Dared’ has a collection of 22 stories that shows the struggles and fight of women for their identity. Every story will bring you close to the life of different women irrespective of their age or class. They are different yet they are same. It is a book, which provides you courage and strength to fight for what is your right.

Author Kusum Choppra believes that Indian girls are anyways raised with stringent rules and fear. Therefore, it is time to make them fearless, a true Nirbhaya in every sense. Kusum has a strong voice that writes from woman’s point of view, using empathy and language skills to examine issues logically. She is interested in describing people, places, and emotion encounters in her story telling that sets aside the inculcation of patriarchy to delve into the internal conversation women often have with themselves.

Even her earlier books, ‘Beyond Diamond Rings’ and ‘Mastani’ had women characters around whom novel revolved. One spoke about the lives of women in Sindhi Bhaibund communities while other was story of Mastani, second wife of Baji Rao who was referred as ‘dancing girl’ in history, respectively. And, her next book which still has to get a title is a silvers romance - a love saga between a 70 year old man and 60 year old woman. Today’s event, ‘Can one really survive abuse?’ saw many eminent personalities from various professions lending their voices and thoughts in one direction – women empowerment and their fight for survival and identity. The discussion was all about women and their struggle, no matter how modern or strong they are, everyone is struggling to survive. The basic question remains, ‘Why do not we teach them to be strong since childhood? Why do we teach them to “take it”?’

A question has to be thought about and brought into action, once the parents decide to end the differentiation between sexes. Why girls need to know housework and not boys? It is something that is not even valued while giving jobs interviews. Such thoughts needed to be considered and answers for a better India have to be sought!