On women's day, I thought....

As my auto traveled towards office, the chirpy RJ at Radio city FM 91 called upon women around the city to join the Radio City gang for coffee.

9 to 9 blazed the RJ in her chirpy best. Meaning : morning 9 to evening 9; any angel could drop by the Radio City office at Residency Road, sip coffee with the gang and celebrate the day.

All fair, all good. Great going! Hopefully by the end of the day, Radio city would have
humungous number of women visiting the office and celebrating the spirit of womanhood.

Fair enough. I smiled.

The auto took a left turn from Jayanagar 7th Block towards Jayanagar 4th T Block.
Fresh morning, fresh air and equally clean roads! Couldn’t have asked for more to start off a day!

Nearing office, as I was exploring the street outside, my eyes fell upon a lady clad in green shirt, pushing the garbage cart in one hand and picking up wastes from the road on the other.

For the uninitiated, here in Bangalore, we have the concept of Pourakarmikas (this is the name the government has given to these people), who make sure that they meticulously collect the wastes from our houses each morning and also make sure that they keep the city streets clean.

My head started spinning. Suddenly Radio City seemed so dull to me. (No complaints thought to the RJ who was making the show as exciting as it could be).

Does this lady know that today is Women’s day? Even if she does, so what? Does it mean anything to her. The same work, starting 4.30 a.m., the same dirt, the same hassles of people littering places across the city; the responsibility of cleaning it lying in her small but sturdy shoulders.

Why did there no invitations for people like her by the Radio city gang, to have a cup of coffee with the team? Why should only people who SMS get the privilege of celebrating? Why could women’s day not encompass these professionals too, who have been working hard to make ends meet, thereby proving their worth in the society they live in.

Who knows they might be the sole bread winner for the house with husband either a drunkard or a spoilt brat. (This gives them much more reason to celebrate womanhood) Why is the spirit of being a woman not being shared with them?

Likewise construction workers, daily wage owners, bus conductors, the lady who sells lunch in the interiors of Electronic city, the Dhobi walli who makes sure that our clothes are washed and ironed spick and span, the juice seller, the lady who sells tea-coffee in her small angdi…the list goes on and on and on….

Do they not belong to the celebration called womanhood? I am sure they do.

Some of them more belonging than our Page 3 celebs who splurge in these celebrations in their better half’s wealth!

I think we should give it a thought, what say?

In the meanwhile, happy women’s day to the better part of men’s existence:)