She is admired for being strong and loved for being frail and helpless; she can rave and rant, and the next minute melt into a puddle of helpless love — She can enjoy her many moods without having to abide by adages or the need to be strong all the time…
They say the qualities of both a man and a woman dwell within all of us. Ardhanarishwara, a composite of the masculine and feminine energies in the world — Purusha and Prakriti, the root and womb of all creation – is ours to tap! But while men live in denial of the feminine within, women embrace the masculine in themselves with pride and confidence. The yin and the yang – the competing and complementary forces of nature that come together to create reality. And that is what makes women more complete than men can ever hope to be. And yes, it also makes a woman the contradictory being that men are forever trying, and failing to decode…
If a woman revels in her sheer femininity, she equally exults in her absolute power too. Both are two sides of the same coin – Shakti, the divine, feminine, creative power! A woman at her peak, if in charge of and responsible for her own happiness, feels a great sense of empowerment and well-being. If a woman is allowed to grow unfettered, exercising her own free will, she is bound to ‘walk in beauty’ as Lord Byron famously said. The power a woman carries to nurture, create and heal endows her with a unique capability and positions her unquestionably as the centre of all existence and change around her. Her strength goes beyond the physical and is a deep emotional investment – an unfathomable, unending source.
I don’t know what it is like to be a man – at least not in this birth. But I totally love being a woman. And while I stride the world defying the worst stereotypes and taking my rightful place in the sun, there are bits of me that revel in some things you may consider stereotypical womanly stuff as well! For instance, I love to cook for my family. I love to dress up in all the jingle-jangle, the twinkly-trinkety stuff… I love red lipstick, tottering heels, saris and swirling skirts…and yet I also love driving, riding a horse, parasailing and my drink too! I love a woman’s ability to revel in her power, as much as the freedom to indulge her weakness. I feel deeply and I love fiercely; I laugh out loud and cry hot tears when upset. I am soft, I am powerful. I am physical, I am spiritual.
I deeply inhale the sensuous, intoxicating power of the feminine, but also exhale the power and control traditionally ascribed to the male. Never ever have I felt apologetic about any aspect of my womanhood or my womanliness. I revel in it totally and take pleasure in the power a woman wields over men. The wily politician Chanakya did say, “The world’s biggest power is the youth and beauty of a woman!”
I can rave and rant when angry, and yet the next minute melt into a puddle of helpless love. I can enjoy my many moods and feminine aspects without having to abide by adages or the need to be strong all the time. A woman’s intuitive understanding of life and relationships, her resilience and survival, and her role as the great bonding factor in a family are unique strengths.
