0
0
I am a Bong girl. I am loud, bold, sensual, angry. I don’t tolerate injustice. I don’t bow down; I am not timid. I fight for all the right things. I have the spirit of a kshatriya, always at war, fighting for the right thing. There’s too much fire in our souls. We seek softness, warmth, a listener perhaps. Someone who says, “I get you even when nobody does, and I love you nevertheless.” We are powerful strong women, daughters of Durga and Kali. Matriarchy is in our blood. Our God is a woman. We often leave others wondering, “How on earth do we handle her?” They freeze. And we burn in fury. Dissatisfied. Angry. Alone. Nobody knows what to do with us strong women. They fear us. They forget they came out of one.
We are deep like the ocean. We contemplate, analyse, write stories, sing songs. We tend to dig deeper into the why’s of things. Why is the Earth round? Why am I alive? What is the purpose of it all? If we did not question things, how would we ever grow? Why do we need to grow? so many questions. We seek. We travel. We ponder. Our minds always on a quest, just like how our spirits are always on fire.
Our culture is a celebration of life. Our men are soft, kind and vulnerable. They take on tasks of the household, if need be, without pointing at gender roles. They don’t exist for us. We work together as teams, stepping up whenever needed. When a woman is at war, the man protects the family. Our men showcase true strength by being their most truthful self, drawing power from being real. We are real. We are bare. We are love. Unapologetically.
Sometimes, unaccepted. Relentless, nevertheless. We eat fish. Ileesh maach our favourite. The groom must gift it to us on our wedding as a ritual. I didn’t get mine. My husband comes from a Brahmin household. They do not touch fish or any meat. Pure vegetarians. I wonder how elite they must think they are. Okay I will take plants instead. Send my favourites — aloo, bhindi, … and… palak? meh, plants are boring. Kali drinks blood. So, I will have some meat instead. Husband, go fetch me some Kosha Mangsho, please? If you can’t, you can marry someone else, sorry! Sh… don’t tell your parents. Okay good.
We are bold. We are shameless. We ask for what we want. We are women you have not seen before. A living dancing Fire. We dance in private — the most sensual dance. One that only the lucky will ever get to see. Mostly we are alone, in front of a mirror, or with our sakhis, moving our bodies like butter. We don’t dance to songs, we become it. If a song became a dance, it would look like us. Oneness. We don’t speak hours about it. We just do it. We live it. We are. I am. One. with the Universe. And just like that, we are Everything.
Written by Nayanika Das
Author
Views: 0