All Rounder

All rounder

My second cousins’ wife called and talked with me this afternoon.  There is nothing special about her. But she is a typical Indian mother and a woman who faces the challenges of life more courageously.  Particularly, though rich and have their own business, the way the entire family underwent so many challenges is too much for an ordinary family to face.  Apart from health issues (my cousin almost had a second life after a major liver operation in which his own daughter donated part of her liver to her father to save him), so many other problems related to life came one after the another.  When they are recovering from one challenge, another will come ready to stand in their door step.  Though the entire family stood united and co-operated, it was she who almost single handedly managed so many issues (she has to look after three generation—her mother-in-law to grandchildren) is remarkable.  In her talk she said, ‘this is the reality of life.  We came only to face it’ is the strength of Indian women.  Though they were down sometimes, yet they never accepted defeat. In this area, most of the time men won’t withstand all such pressures at the same time.  Of course, they will handle and manage all the outside challenges but when it comes to handling both the home and outside it is not their art of living. It is women who alone manage it not only in India, but almost in the entire world. There may be some exceptions, but in general the mental courage and inner strength which women have is remarkable and without them human life on earth will be miserable.

That is why The Mahabharata (12.144.66) echoes the same thought: “The home is not the house, they say, but the housewife”—na grham grham ity  aahu grhinii grham ucyate.— Patrick Olivelle, The Asrama system  The History and Hermeneutics of a Religious Institution  New York, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1993, Fn. 32, p.41

As I often say, women are the shock observers of the family, while family is the sock observer of the society.  Every wounded individual can find solace only in home and no other place.  We need to salute such women and this [Secular Song 479] poem is dedicated to them.  No doubt a woman is an allrounder whereas a man can play one kind of game [either as a bowler or a batsman].  He can be even the captain of the team, but the woman is the allrounder in a home.

3-10-2028

Mathigiri