Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Ishwar Chandra Vidya Sagar, Jyotiba Phulle and I can go on listing many more of such stalwarts, but hey!, did any of these names ring a bell in your ear?, if no, then they must. Well I am going to talk majorly about this only, not the stalwarts, but the need for our generation to know such stalwarts, or as I call the whole philosophy: “individual reforms”, and to those of you wondering over why am I interested in “individual reforms”, let me help you precipitate to that understanding with chain of logical reasoning.

Woman’s cause has been long fought for, well reforms for woman’s cause can be brought in through 3 channels: first, administrative reforms, second, reforms in social structure and third by bringing an awakening amongst the masses and sensitizing them about the same. Believe me, I have researched them all in depth, and pondering what change can I really impact being a 16 years old, 11th standard student. I arrived at an understanding that the bed rock, or the foundation of all these is “individual reforms”, the least and the most I could, or one could do is reform themselves to be a true human being, which inculcates all the virtues which stand tall with the woman’s cause and acts as a catalyst in bringing women at par with men so together they may not just be the cause for dawning of the golden age, but van also celebrate womanhood.

About women’s cause, which stone is left unturned to effect the thought process of the masses, all the means of mass communication is exhausted, ink is spilled and words are shouted by those seeking reform, both, in the way we see women in India as well as the laws which protect women and her cause. I sat in the silence and pondered over the missing link and could not help but find it within myself, please don’t freak out, I speak with my argument backed by great Economist Amartya Sen, who wrote a book titled “The Argumentative Indian”, and sadly so, but that has come to be the collective reality of our nation. We talk, we argue and go on lengths to study, research and expound about an issue, but the ground work is missing. Laden mostly with silence, my humble opinion is based on a calling from within, we need a solution, talking or no talking, but a solution at any cost and a solution is possible only when we all start looking within and the culture we support. We as youth, hold great power of reform, but it lays dormant until & unless we look within and experiment with ourselves, question our each act committed in thought, word or deed.

Please don’t misunderstand my message, it is based on clear logic. A solution to this issue is possible in two ways only. First, through administrative reforms and second, through reform in the socio – cultural fabric of our country, which is achievable, but only through the means of individual reforms, and hence I expound on the calling for reforms, of individual reforms. Let us all pledge to take the first small step towards a golden age of equality, fraternity and freedom and then all the principles enshrined in the Constitution of India, for a vibrant tomorrow. Let us all “be the change we wish to see in the world”. Let us all pledge to behave with every woman we meet today the way we would behave if she were to be our blood relative. Let us recall what the saint of this land have envisioned this nation to be like, a nation of service, a nation of love, a nation of common brotherhood and sisterhood of all human beings and fatherhood of God. Let us be nice, let us be kind.

As to how such a conceptual idea is not mere philosophy?, well, a pocket of mass reformed here and a pocket of masses reformed there will all grow and we will have the golden age dawn upon us all in this vary lifetime.

As to the scholarly talk on the issue, well we know, we are a patriarchal society and sadly so, but we are pacing backwards in our race for development, especially so in our societal structure, by creating social barriers of whichever nomenclature we can identify. Even our forefathers were rational enough to enshrine “EQUALITY” as one of the Fundamental Right in the Constitution of India and include it in the Basic Structure Doctrine too, then why are we as a society still so unripe to even understand the message of our forefathers, leave alone following in their footsteps?

Being rational is no rocket science, it is the minimum requirement to qualify as a human being, if you slip in this basic context, please have the courtesy to not to superimpose your being on to the society at large. Are we all not aware of the cause of a women?

Let me provide you with a glimpse into the same and please answer the same in your heart of heart and not for me. A girl is born in a societal structure of India and is celebrated for the same, right?, maybe, in some pockets of the mighty nation, not in general to my knowledge. She grows up only to meet with an unwanted horror of menstruation, only to learn managing life as usual with the shots of hormonal cycles, balancing between the extremes she is facing in her body and yet behaving at par with the expectation of the society. Well, how menstruation is looked upon in India is a totally different subject, so maybe another time. Next comes her marriage, and that is it for majority of the woman in our mighty country, I am not speaking here for only a handful of those who have the luxury to have a professional career, I am also representing those millions for whom marriage is full stop to everything else and the next natural option is only family planning. All this for what? Serving the family of her in-laws, feeding and caring for her kids and in the end, kick off.

Is that it for a woman?

To my understanding, woman is the embodiment of selfless service, deserving a lot, really a lot more than anything she is been subjected to. But as I said earlier, nothing of this is possible without individual reforms, let us all “be the change we wish to see in the world”. Let us all respect women, celebrate women and her whole being, “WOMANHOOD” and we will see the social ills disappearing themselves.

We can expect to finally drift away from the patriarchal social construct to include the needs and wants of both genders at par.