xxx Envy

"If a woman says she never had penis envy then probably she had never travelled in a bus for 12 hours with desperate need to pee", wrote a woman in an newspaper article. I can imagine her ordeal. Getting down from a bus on such a occasions I have thanked God for not making me a woman in India. Forget about 12 hours, I have the luxury of not waiting even for minutes.

I was travelling in a bus while reading this article. Reading it made me uncomfortable. I once again asked driver to stop the bus. Relieved, I returned to my seat, feeling comfortable. I started thinking. And the first thing my mind stumbled upon was irony. A gender, with its anatomy and type of dressing, can actually relieve with no exposure waits for hours to find a toilet, howmuch unclean or stinking. While the gender, with its anatomy and type of clothing he wears, goes about doing anywhere and howsoever he wants to.

So the problem obviously not in the lower part of body but somewhere in upper parts, in hearts and minds. Problem is not in the location of organs that developed in evolution, but the problem is in the way the 'evolved' human is perceiving those organs and those locations. Its not only genitals but whole perception of genders.

Lets look at the other side of this coin talk of pride instead of envy. Feeling envious for years and years hasn’t helped much, so why not try feeling proud! Its not enough that a woman here or a woman there feeling proud. Many many women need to feel pride in themselves, they need to come together help each to overcome anxiety and feel good with their own selves. Pride is not something that should be begged for but it’s a thing to be felt and proclaimed. They need to stand up and demand. Demand be it dignity, be it product or whatever. In today's world overflowing with technology and products and gadgets, women have not demanded a single product that would enable them to respond to nature's call in time and with privacy and dignity their present mind set-up requires. Not a single woman designer has found it worthwhile to design such a product, speaks for itself. It explains why envy and not pride.

Talking so much about what women feel and what they should feel, I should also be talking of what men feel. Maybe I will write about 'breast envy' or 'motherhood envy' and may also about 'breast pride' and 'motherhood pride'

Amen