Has The Depiction of Women in Indian Media Really Changed?

Media by its nature receives wide exposure. It presumably affects various activities of people including lifestyle and values. It exerts a powerful influence on the society due to its ability to shape social trends and mould personal attitudes. It plays a substantial role in the social and economic development of women.In the past, women were always patronized by men. Their modus vivendi included marriage, looking after the family, needs of the house, getting involved in household chores, lacking confidence to deal with the cosmos outside the four walls of the kitchen and being oblivious to all the political events and technological breakthroughs in the country and the world.

It would be incorrect to say that depiction of women has not changed since the dawn of media in India. We have ads like Yakult - which shows a lady looking after her family without being dependent on her husband, Stayfree- which says, “'If something irritates us so much, hume isse change karna chahiye” indicating that women today are capable of bringing about a change, Samsung Galaxy Y that shows a young girl trying to fulfil her dream of becoming a singer despite of discouragement from others, the Scooty Pep ads with the tagline, “Why Should Boys Have All The Fun?”  In earlier days, a widow in movies was depicted as a Dukhi Aatma who was chronically ill and poor. We can witness an array of movies that depicted actresses like Nirupa Roy and Kamini Kaushal as helpless, dependent widows trying to save defend themselves from being dishonoured. Whereas today, one can acknowledge the change by watching movies like Partner, where Lara Dutta plays the role of a photo journalist, who wears low waist jeans and short skirts, is the mother of a child and falls in love with a man despite of being a widow. The word “Vidhva”is a part of her life and is not dominating her life.

Regardless of these changes, some studies have found that social issues of status and opportunity related to women got less than nine percent while sensational stories relating to women which included mostly crime stories got a score around 52 in newspapers. Majority dailies portray women as victims of sexual harassment but news of serious problems that are faced by women in their daily lives is missing. The portrayal of women in advertising is an issue that has received a great deal of attention.  Some ads have been stereotyping women, failing to recognize their changing roles in the society. The Axe Dark Temptation ad shows a woman taking bites out of a man’s bottom who is coated in chocolate after using the chocolate flavoured deodorant. A Wild Stone deodorant ad shows a woman tricking her way into her brother in law’s arms due to the effect of his deodorant on her. The makers of the ads have defended themselves by saying that since males mostly groom themselves for females, they have used the theme of attraction for selling the products; however the objection here is reaction of women which states that sexual availability of a woman becomes easy after using these products. Females have been used as decorative objects by showing them in ads which are nowhere related to women, a J.K Cement ad showed a woman in bikini emerging the sea to show the strength of the cement.

Our daily saas- bahu serials depict women involved in conspiracy, premarital, extra-marital affairs leading to pregnancy (How can we ever forget the proverbial “Main Tumhare Bache Ki Maa Banne Waali Hu.” dialogue?) , wearing big ticket clothes and make-up, roaming in luxurious cars to attend parties and functions with little concern about the happenings in the outside world. In fact when I was watching an episode of a serial, I overheard my friend’s father saying, “This is the reason why girls shouldn’t be given the liberty to lead their lives the way they want!” News channels have many good looking female news readers, reporters and it evident that many of them are employed mainly because of their looks rather than potential.

All this indicates that though the lifestyles and habits of women have changed dramatically in the last few decades, media reflects a very small part of the true picture. Instead of trying to curb stereotypes and promote values, trends, attitudes that can help in strengthening the position of women in our country, media falls short in the enhancement of women’s role in our society. 

The Girl with a Peacock Feather

Mumbai’s monsoon is proverbial all over India. At one second the sky will be clear with the sun shining radiantly and at the other, it will turn inclement. People here have become accustomed to such out of the blue situations.  I woke up in the morning listening to the raindrops. Since my mom was busy with her work I didn’t choose to disturb her and decided to make something on my own for breakfast. I made myself a cup of coffee and some peanut butter sandwiches. I sat against the window and looked at the rain outside. Everything looked hazy. I could feel the cool breeze touching my face and also changing the direction of the steam coming out of my coffee. 

I heard a knock on the door. I opened it and saw our family friends Mr and Mrs Nayak (real names not revealed to conceal their identities) standing outside. They both gave me a hug and sat in the drawing room. Mom made some tea for them and we all sat together and discussed the current happenings of our lives. Mr. Nayak is one of the most adventurous people I have ever met. He has a certain kind of affinity towards bizarre stuffs. No wonder we both get along so well with each other. I often tell him that he should have been a mountaineer instead of a doctor.  Whereas Mrs.Nayak is also a doctor like her husband but they are poles apart. She has a demure nature and is a bit of an introvert. Since it was raining outside, Mr.Nayak decided to take all of us for a long drive. Mrs.Nayak was tentative but she agreed later on. Persuading her is not a cinch! Unfortunately mom couldn’t join us due to her pending work. We all fastened our seat belts and carried some snacks along with us. Mr.Nayak was driving and Mrs Nayak sat beside him. We all talked for a while and then were listening to some old melodious songs and co-incidentally the songs perfectly matched the weather! I was looking at the rain drops falling on the windowpane. Such state of affairs urge me to write some inspirational lines in my diary.  But alas, I hadn’t carried it along with me. Suddenly the car halted as the red signal was on. I saw a young girl standing near the car opposite ours. She was hardly 10 years old. She wore a yellow frock which was torn from many parts and had placed a beautiful peacock feather in her hair so elegantly that it almost looked like a hairclip. Her jet black eyes were filled with innocence. She was selling some Jasmine Gajras. The tempestuous weather didn’t seem to bother her. Although she was shivering due to the increasing frigidness, there was a precious smile on her little face. But there was something else that had caught my eye. The girl was using some kind of sign language to communicate with people. It was evident that she was a mute. Soon she came and stood near our car. Before I could say or do anything Mr. Nayak grimaced at her and started cursing the girl. I couldn’t believe my eyes and ears. I had always seen him laughing and jesting and for the first time in my life I was seeing a new Avatar of Mr.Nayak.  The girl was touching the window and pointing downwards. It seemed that she was trying to show something. Mrs Nayak opened the window and warned her to stand away from their car.  The girl kept pointing downwards. I had seen enough. I opened my window and offered her some money. I told her that I didn’t want Gajras but she can keep the money. She shook her head in disagreement and tried to hand over some Gajras to me. But before I could take them from her the signal turned green and Mr.Nayak drove the car. I could make out that my act had made them livid but I chose not to bother. There was an awkward silence between the three of us. Soon there was a red signal again. A taxi stood on our left side. The driver opened his window and knocked at the window against Mrs. Nayak. She opened hers and the driver told her that her dupatta is falling out of the car is very near to the tire. She quickly opened the door and pulled it inside. She also thanked the driver and smiled at him. I now realized why the young girl was pointing downwards. But instead of receiving gratefulness, she was being cursed. Mrs. Nayak smiled at the driver but abused and mistreated the poor girl who only wanted to help her. Although she was ill-treated by her, she kept pointing downwards. They dropped me at my colony gate, bid me goodbye and drove away. While walking back home, some questions kept ringing in my mind.

 Does being affluent give us the liberty to insult those who are underprivileged? Why do we treat them worse than trash? Aren’t they created by the same almighty? And who do you think is more civilized? Mr. and Mrs Nayak who wear big-ticket clothes, roam in their pricey car and ill-treat people who are underprivileged or the little girl with a peacock feather who wasn’t willing to accept money from people without selling them her Gajras and who tried to save Mrs. Nayak’s life and continued her attempt even after being insulted by her?

Ray of Hope

She sat there alone, spinning a yarn.

With swollen eyes and tears that encompassed shattered dreams.

Felicitous desires had taken the role of macabre reality.

A mistake had pulverized her life forever.

Uncertain of her future, she felt redundant.

How she wished she could go back and amend her greatest folly!

Of intrusting a traitor and bringing dishonor to her family.

She had surrendered her body, mind and soul to him.

She looked out of the window and gazed the moon.

Alone in the dark sky, she found it solitary and despondent like her.

She kept her hand on the protruding belly.

The thought of her child’s somber future raised her trepidation.

She shut her eyelids and found a ray of hope subsisting in her.

Her child would be her moonlight, she thought.

And render her life with light whenever darkness took over.

Notwithstanding the anguish, there was a smile on her face,

And her amber eyes were desirous of embarking on a new journey.

I had written the following article as a part of my assignment. I hope you like it..:) Nd I request you to give me your honest feedback after reading it.. Thanks...:)

INCIPIENT OF A NEW DAWN

-Vaishali Sharma

The hardest profession to take in life is being a girl child. Starting from her presence into her mother’s womb to infancy, childhood and finally to adulthood, she faces many difficulties in this world. It is said that God created mothers because He could not be present everywhere. In a country like India where we worship goddesses like Durga and Parvati, it is opprobrious to see a God’s representative killing someone beautiful and impeccant even before she can enter the world and see the beauty of nature. Atrocities like female feticide and child marriages are still carried out in our country. Why can’t they see innocence in the eyes of their daughters before slaying them remorselessly? Is being born as a girl child a sin in our land?

Despite of these problems there is still something that doesn’t let us breakdown and leave the hand of hope. Suresh More, a farmer who lives in Mahalunge( a small village in Maharashtra) reckons that if we want our country to develop we must make sure that our girls are educated. He has two daughters and he wants them to attend school regularly and be sincere with their studies. He is also very much against child marriage. “The people who commit crimes like female feticide and child marriages should be apprehended. I’m a farmer and a poor man but I didn’t kill my daughters due to the fear of dowry. I’m very well cognizant that dowry is illegal and I’m a law abiding citizen. I want my daughters to be literate and stand on their own feet. I want to die in peace and that won’t happen unless my daughters are independent and living blithely.” Suresh More’s words are a slap on the faces of those people who think that a female child is nothing but a burden. His views are much more modern than those who live in urban areas, wear big –ticket clothes but discriminate between girls and boys and then call themselves ‘Modern’. 

People like Suresh More are the only ones who can make this country free from such abhorrent atrocities. We have numerous social awareness campaigns that are trying to make people aware of the eyesores that persist in our society but still some people fail to fathom their significance. On one hand we try to show that our country is progressing and on the other we kill our own daughters. Isn’t this nothing but hypocrisy? People like Suresh More give us hope that a new dawn will definitely arise where no girl child in this country will be tormented and excruciated.

We live in a world where everything is resplendent and unique. From a petite caterpillar to the breathtaking rainbows we see during monsoon. God has made each one of us with great exertion and love. We all are born with different talents and capabilities which differentiate us from each other and therefore make us one of a kind. There can never be someone who thinks and feels exactly the same way you do. The sparks in your eyes, tears, and the sound of your heartbeat makes you stand out from others. 

Sometimes people feel extremely diffident because they don’t have a talent/ability that others posses. It can be beauty, flourishing business or something else. They create an inferiority complex and start detaching themselves from the rest of the society. They become intrigued with the personalities of others & start imitating them but they don’t realize that by becoming someone they aren’t will only sabotage their own talents and make things much more byzantine. Why do we fail to acknowledge that beauty lies beneath the skin? We may apply loads of makeup & endure big-ticket surgeries to make ourselves look bewitching but it all will be worthless if we don’t have a magnanimous heart big enough to hold no grudges. We can always try to become successful at any point of time in our lives as it is never too late to try. We weren’t born to accept failure and become no-hopers but to triumph over miseries. How can we expect others to love & respect us when we ourselves don’t? We often complaint about lurking for our Mr. /Ms Perfect and intricacies of facing solitude. Why do you want someone else’s love when the person who can love you the most in this world is “YOU”? “YOU” are the only person who will be with you every moment on the path of life. "YOU" are the only person who will be there for you when no one else is. I’m not saying that one should be self-centered and behave like a selfish brat. There is a vast difference between being self-centered and loving and appreciating yourself.

Praise and think positive about yourself every morning and to your surprise you will find yourself doing the same for others. Start your day by saying, “I’m happy, confident and blessed “and enjoy experiencing the spirits of a gleeful life for the rest of your day!!!!

So, we live in a democratic country that says, “For the people, by the people”. We also have a right to freedom of expression & speech in our country which says that freedom of Speech and expression means the right to express one's own convictions and opinions freely by words of mouth, writing, printing, pictures or any other mode. But do we enjoy this kind of a right in our country?

There are numerous examples where the Indian government has tried to curb free speech. For instance, the screening of the movie Dam 999 was banned as it was set against the backdrop of the Mullaperiyar Dam Controversy on the ground that it might lead to public order problems in the state. We were the first country to ban Salman Rushdie's book The Satanic Verses. The Indian-born British writer had to cancel his visit to the Jaipur Lit fest due to life threats and protests made by people. Although he then came up with an idea of attending the fest via video link, but unfortunately it was later proved to be abortive as well. Rohinton Mistry's Such A Long Journey was dropped by the Mumbai University from its syllabus as it contained abusive and derogatory statements from the perspective of a character in the book against Bal Thackeray; Delhi University did the same with A.K. Ramanujan's essay Three Hundred Ramayanas; makers of the movie Rockstar were forced to blur the Tibetan flag in the “Sadda Haq” song; and movies like Deshdrohi, Bandit Queen, Da Vinci Code, Fire and many others have been banned by State governments. And now we have a new fresh case of the Kolkata Book Fair cancelling Taslima Nasrin’s book launch. Arundhati Roy’s expression of support for the independence of Kashmir was excoriated by the BJP and INC. Prashant Bhushan was thrashed by two activists for his view that the Indian army should be withdrawn from Jammu and Kashmir and if the Kashmiri people did not want to live in India, they should be permitted to vote for separation.

We belong to a country where people think it is possible to burn ideas by burning books. This has created mentalities that by making ideas invisible, we can kill them. All these things engender a question: Are we becoming too touchy over religion and region? Whether it is Salman Rushdie’s book or Jay leno’s satirical comments on the Golden Temple, we Indians always take up the role of a grievant. Our Cinema displays a parade of self-sacrificing mothers, virtuous wives, garrulous sisters and chivalrous men. Why can’t they come up with films that discuss such issues and change the mindset of fanatics present in our nation? Perhaps, they too are apprehensive that such acts might prove to be detrimental to them. Our government also fears taking an austere action against such people to avoid losing vote banks. Many fail to express outrageous opinions as they fear isolation. We live in a society where predominant ideas always prevail. Is thrashing and not allowing people to attend prominent fests justified? Have we become so intolerable to exorbitant ideas that we are willing to slay people? On one hand we say that books should be worshipped as it is Saraswati and on the other hand we burn books just because we disapprove of certain ideas? Is humanity evanescing amidst such insensate actions? It’s HIGH TIME we stop THINKING and start DOING something.

Today I'm sharing one of my favorite short stories. This one was told by my teacher when I was in grade 5. I hope you enjoy reading it :)

Once Buddha was en route to some place with a few of his disciples. On their journey, they happened to pass a lake. Buddha stopped and asked one of his disciples to fetch water for him as he was feeling thirsty.

 The disciple walked up to the lake. When he reached it, he noticed that some people were washing clothes in the water and a bullock cart was crossing through the lake. Hence, the water was muddy and very turbid. The disciple thought, “How can I give this muddy water to my Lord!” So he came back and told Buddha that the water was unfit for him to drink it.

After about half an hour, Buddha asked the same disciple to go back to the lake and get him some water to drink. The disciple yieldingly went back to the lake. This time to his surprise, he found that the lake had absolutely clear water in it. The mud had settled down and the water above it looked crystal clear. So he collected some water in a pot and brought it to Buddha.

Buddha looked at the water, and then he looked up at the disciple and said, “See what you did to make the water clean? You let it be and the mud settled down on its own and so you could get some clear water for me. Your mind is also like that. When it is disturbed, just let it be. Refrain yourself from giving any advices or suggestions to it. Give it a little time. It will settle down on its own. You don’t have to put in any effort to calm it down. It will happen. It is effortless.”

What did Buddha emphasize here? He said, “It is effortless.” Having 'peace of mind' is not an arduous task; it is a facile process. When there is peace inside you, that peace permeates to the outside. It spreads around you and in the environment, such that people around start feeling that peace and grace.