INSIDE

 

I was sitting at the terrace and and enjoying a cup of tea in the evening, when I thought arrived. A thought out of nowhere, in my meloncholic mind adding more to the gloominess.

There were 23 boys, adolscents and teenagers playing in the field but my eyes searched for at least three girls in the four directions -  playing,  gossiping,  walking , and could find none.

It's not that my locality has no girls. There are at least one in every household ( for want of a son, of course) but none of them were out of their home, typically, because girls, my bad, "good girls",  are not supported to play in the fields like boys. There is no doubt that why unlike boys, girls made only handful in the recent Olympics.  

They're supposed to be inside. Girls hardly are seen out playing Cricket or football. When I was a kid. I searched other girls and kids to play with me badminton, but either they were busy with utensils or assisting their mums in cooking. Sadly, after "searching" someone to play with,  I gave up the sport myself. It's pathetic that people discuss  Meerabai Chanu and  P. V. Sindhu, but the same ones do not allow their own daughters to play outside their own home in the fields Their philosophy of "Good Girls" comes out to play. 

The inside life of a woman of the homuseholds is despicable but normalized. They could not exercise, go for a walk or even go for grocery shopping, because they are from "good households" and should do nothing but preserve their clan's name. These insiders do "insider trading", as in,  salon, jewellery shops, branded sarees, all come at their home. They hardly have a friend circle. They live for others and not themselves, personating a "Devi". 

Their houses are like a golden cage, all the facilities are at their households with the only condition - not step out.  A funny incident comes to my mind, I talked to one woman who said that she had never seen  gate of her house, she would always come and go from her TUV and lived like a "queen".

 The condition is hardly going to change in the coming years. It shall take decades, and for this change to happen, a revolution has to take place by the women themselves and not a third party. 

" A six! ", my thought was interrupted  when a boy shouted, and I returned to my present and sighed. I myself lived in that golden cage and was a silent observer. With all the education  I had and wisdom that I learnt, I enjoyed the "tournament" without having to buy a "ticket".