Lately I have pondered a lot on - Why are flying birds such a favourite theme of paintings and poetry...or be in any form of expression? I know the answer is quite easy - We all want to be free like birds , soaring in the sky and enjoying life.
A loosely linked question emerged from some half buried memories - In class 11th, my political science teacher, asked this question while we were discussing about women liberation - What do you think, a woman needs liberation from? Does she really want to be free from her emotional ties and their burdens? The teenagers that we were, the answers came out an unanimous yes, especially from the passionate girls. Our teacher smiled and said - " Time will give you the correct answer". Ma'am, time gave me the answer you were directing us towards, years ago. So, why am I talking about it here - Well flying high and liberation are connecting issues - the underlying idea is freedom though the important issue is freedom from what ? This 'what' had been a recurring line in my thoughts for a long time.
I found the answer to my teacher's question while undergoing a maturing process (Yes, even I have had my moments). A woman needs liberation but not from the emotional ties or her duties, she needs to be free from stereotyping her role in the family and society. She needs the freedom to exercise her choices whether being at home or working and being respected for the decisions she makes. She needs to be understood and given space as a human being and not just a relation(wife, mother, daughter, sister...). She needs the freedom to be herself and a woman being the core of the life , if she is happy and growing ...so is the society. A shackled and tied woman means a decaying society and that needs a clean up.
So, yes, a woman needs freedom/liberation not from her ties and duties but to be
herself and take her own decisions.
Now coming to the birds - yesterday I read somewhere - leave your baggage behind and fly high like birds. The baggage it said was - your expectations, plans, disappointments, failures, success and so on. It said, how can you fly if your baggage is so heavy? Look at the birds , they fly so high because they do not carry any baggage. When I thought about it - I termed it as " Emotional Gravity ". We are tied down with so many things like worries, future plans, past, some long lost memories and our fears so that our soul feels heavy and unable to feel freedom. It is the freedom of soul which is more about feeling free even when surrounded with ties than leaving everything and feel free from ties. Coming back to woman liberation - I think most of us would agree to the fact that a woman ties herself with more things than she can handle and this slowly starts eating away her soul's inbuilt freedom which makes her feel shackled. Therefore, you find so many women, standing in their balconies or window looking out longingly at those flying birds, that is a real poignant moment.
Flying high to me is - Being free from whatever baggage is unnecessary (the airlines charge for the extra luggage even when you fly for a short distance and here we are talking about life). It is when your soul feels free and not just your body - that would be when you would really fly high.
To all my female friends and foes - May you all have many moments of true freedom because you can spread happiness in your family, only when you are truly happy.
