Darjeeling and International Women's Day

Today is the 8th of March and is International Women's Day. Today we celebrate the power and the glory of women and make them feel like queens. A lot of us are busy preparing for dinners and speeches to be held during the day. Racking our brains in order to find the most beautiful and politically apt word to describe women. Well, just for today. Tomorrow, we are back, treating them like dirt and doormats...

Darjeeling is no different when it comes to women you would say. But there is something different here, in this place. Although I cannot say that we treat our women in the best manner possible, I still feel there is a lot of respect for our women folks in this town. We are more liberal with our wives and out daughters compared to the rest of India I would feel. In Darjeeling, there is no difference between a boy or a girl and we celebrate the birth of a daughter with as much gusto as that of a son. A lot of parents have even started believing that a daughter is more valuable than a son these days! What with guys getting into alcohol and substance abuse...

There are instances of wife beating and there is also a "Women's Cell" under the Darjeeling Police in order to serve and protect women. But these are much less compared to the rest of India. We dont burn women for dowry and neither do we believe in killing a baby girl in the womb. Daughter and sisters are encouraged to go to college and work towards a career. Perhaps the change lies in the education in the Darjeeling Hills. There are a lot of co-educational institutions here and boys are exposed to girls at an early age. We never treated our girl friends in college with disrespect and it has never occurred to me or my friends to treat girls or women any other way.

Some of my best friends are women whom I've known ever since my higher secondary days and the love of my life are my wife, my daughter, my sister and my mother! Ofcourse, I love my son too, but he's turning out to be such a brat...