Recently I have been reading a Bengali novel: Subarnalata,written by eminent novelist Ashapurna Devi. I don't have the capacity to review or criticize such a great work,but there is certainly something which raised a series of questions and doubts in me. To describe it well,I have to summarize the story.

The central character, the protagonist,Subarnalata was forcibly married off at the age of 9 to a person aged more than twice of her. This marriage took place against the will of her mother,who abandoned the family to protest such an ill-practice. The rest of her life,Subarna had to carry the misfortune of this incident. She was looked down in her family,everybody criticized her each and every action. But the most horrible incident happened to her is,the total isolation from the outer world. Being a married lady,that also in a Brahmin family was considered to be the most straining job those days. Moreover,her husband,who had a suspecting nature,just made her life hell. Ladies were considered as working and reproducing machineries. They didn't have any right to talk, to protest, to express opinions,or to entertain themselves. They were deprived from education,from social respect, even from the basic needs like relaxation or rest. They were unavoidable parts of these families,but always received the treatment of a slave from their husbands and in-laws. They didn't even have the control on their decisions of bearing children. Our protagonist, Subarnalata was a rebel,she didn't hesitate to protest. As a result,she got the most horrible treatment throughout her life. Her all efforts to get the light of education and social life was crushed under the superstitious social systems. She was marked as a bad influence to other family members. Even her own children also never realized her true nature,they also turned their back at her. This patriotic,self conscious, huge hearted personality breathed her last at total rejection,negligence and humiliation.

I was reading this and was being shaken to the core. How come the novelist wrote this?! Even after 100 years has the picture changed totally? Isn't it a burning problem even in this so-called modern society? Yes,the severity has been reduced to a great amount. But,the core values of people,the mindset at the root really didn't change. If we go into the root-cause of most of the social problems like adultery,rape, beating the wife and dowry -harassment,we will be able to see that all these behaviors are based on the age-old belief that men are superior to women. Yes,that's true up to certain extent. Physical capacity of men are really higher than women. But apart from this, both are almost same where the intellectual capabilities are needed. But.......the primitive mind-set works here again. If one lady is the boss at the office,her subordinates feel much humiliated when they receive annoyance from her end. It is more, compared to the same situation with a male boss. Quite surprisingly,it's not otherwise in case of female employees also. Is that out of jealousy? Or is it the regular mindset? Whatever it is, the social mindset twists the situation quite a lot.

If a lady is driving a scooty and a man is sitting at the back,what people generally do? How many of them take the thing straight? Our social beliefs made this unspoken rule that men will lead the work and women will follow. In spite of calling ourselves "Civilized", "Modern", "Cultured", we just cling to those stone-aged belief and behave accordingly. When I was buying my car and getting the delivery,very surprisingly I observed,The salesmen were pestering my hubby to get the car in his name and asking him to be there at the time of delivery!!!!!!!!!!! Why? Being a lady,am I not entitled to take a decision? Where I was inferior?Or, am I not eligible to do things according to my planning? Was it mentioned somewhere in the brochure that ladies can't book a car or take the delivery? No......Then? Does his presence make all the differences? I felt humiliated,even my hubby protested. After coming out of that shop,I realized,nothing could be done. It's not easy to change the mindset of general people. People with average social condition, average education,and from patriarchal backgrounds are never free from this kind of social beliefs. Altering their mindset is,no doubt,the biggest challenge not only to the modern society,but to the entire mankind.