Effect of Desert Flower

I am in one of my self righteous, idealistic phases again.... and am constantly pondering over ways in which to try to change the world. Normally these phases come and go very quickly (even before i start writing a blog over it.) This one has however continued for a relatively longer period ( 5.25 days to be exact). Let me try to explain what triggered it off..

Recently i happened to watch this movie called "desert flower" . Its about this girl from an african country who goes on to become a vogue magazine cover girl. The movie was good in a very disturbing way. It basically dealt with the issue of female circumcision or FGM ( female genital mutilation). According to the movie this horrendous practice is compulsory for the female members of that tribe and is responsible for the untimely death of approximately 1/3rd of them. Extremely shocked to know this, and being the curious girl that i am... i immediately googled it up and to my surprise it was true. Refer to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Female_genital_cutting for more details. For a few hours i was in this strange trance like disturbed state as i struggled to comprehend the amazingly cruel things which people do to each other... It was not the first time that i heard of such atrocities against women and it definitely would not be the last. However Circumcision like honour killings had a peculiar charecteristic... it was done by the victim's own family members... or people who sincerely believed that they were doing it for the better future life of their family. A better life in terms of a respectable standing in their society and adherance to the norms which rule their collective lives. The norms which dictate that a woman's "purity" be considered more precious than her life. Purity in this case means "absence of premarital sex". When i thought of this more deeply i realized the origin of almost all such practices like Sati, honor killings, rape etc stem from the supposed premium placed on the female's virginity. It is not the individual solutions to these specific crimes that have to be tackled but this belief that the moment a woman has sex( even if it is against her will) before/ outside her marriage her worth as a human being diminishes to an extent that her own family members think of destroying her.

India's first Quadriplegic Mom :)

This is Moupee Prashant Jhadav…a professional writer who manages www.wewritecontent. She also happens to be a quadriplegic…paralysed from waist down. I first came across her as a client who ran her own content writing business in my initial years as a freelance writer. Now many years later she has become “my moupee di”…a friend, elder sister and a role model for all the qualities that a woman should stand for.
At the age 24, her cervical vertebrae were fractured badly during a road accident and the broken bones settled on her spinal cord impinging it disastrously...and permanently complicating her life. The doctors told her that her spinal cord was almost severed. Because of the severed cord her brain is unable to send signals to the rest of her body which is why she is paralyzed chest-downward. Even after a highly costly and long drawn recovery ...The injury caused complete immobility in the lower half of her body, drastically reduced capacity for sensation, frequent attacks which sent her reeling with pain or knocked her unconscious.
Life moved on for her...And finally one day she married Prashant Jhadhav…also a differently abled person whom she met through a matrimonial site. Their grit and determination to lead a financially independent life and to help others urged them to open their own content writing firm which employs differently abled people.
(Check out http://www.wewritecontent.in/ for details).

Moupee wanted to experience life in all it's shades and this motivated her to take a seemingly insurmountable task...Become a mother!! She struggled against the shocked expressions of society, negative medical evidence, her own fears and the insecurities of her family to make her dream come true. Near the completion of the term of her highly complicated pregnancy...Most doctors washed their hands of the case saying it was too complicated!! Finally her case was accepted at Dhakuria AMRI and a beautiful baby girl….Anayah.... was born!!

I have seen her using a prosthetic arm for typing. I have also known of her pain and sudden seizures and bouts of unconsciousness that she suffers from…obviously all these issues intensified during her pregnancy. But I have also never known her without her signature bright smile… Till date she hasn't used her limited physical ability as an excuse for anything and that’s something that I love about her.
Di….. you inspire me and I thank God for our random professional association that matured into a beautiful relationship. I am writing this today because I want hundreds of other people who are struggling with seemingly insurmountable problems to know that with a little (and sometimes a lot of) faith, hope, sweat and grit….dreams do damned well come true !!! Cheers to you and your journey 