'The Patriarchal women' - Ironical it may sound. But when the reality strikes, it's in no way outlandish. A few incidents I came across recently kept resonating harder and harder with every passing day.

The girl's hostel of our Medical College had one common person to discuss... Literally, all of us were dumbfounded to listen to the story of a middle-aged lady who shed more immense tears than blood after getting to know that her fourth child, born after two In-vitro fertilization, was again a girl. She trailed from a family stricken by poverty, with the breadwinner being no more than a daily wage worker. Maybe the amok run for a male child made them feel prosperous, enabling them to donate a few gems to the 'patriarchal treasury'

Two days later an old lady approached me as I was heading down the stairs after a tiring day. She wore a wide smile through her sweat-drenched face and called me out 'Doctor..' - Sugary it sounded, being said much earlier before I graduated. But what followed next was not a matter of cheer. She said 'Thank god who blessed me with a grandson... Years of the wrath of not having a son has been sorted'. It's ridiculous that these ladies drag and brag god into their patriarchal scam!

We still have female foeticide in existence with the tender buds being choked to death by some random 'granny' of the area, who luckily survived one missed murder attempt years before.

Few mothers (definitely not all) rear their son to be a king who treats his queen as a slave, who washes his hands on his plate, and who enjoys boundless freedom at night with his queen locked up. These mothers play a pivotal role in creating the next-generation patriarchy.

This patriarchal venom should be curbed before it intoxicates the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the soil we live in. The right antidote should target all crooked people irrespective of sex. Curbing male chauvinism is not about saving women from men but saving women from all the evil clutches. It's high time that we make them realise this single Y chromosome is no more fancier than the Double X.

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