Whore.

Not everyone gets how life in India is- people from the West have stereotyped India as the land of snake charmers. They’ve also accused us of aping them. The picture that comes to their head when they talk of India is the one Slumdog Millionaire painted- the land of poor people, chai and a really weird TV Host. They think we have it bad. No. We have it worse.

One of the worst things in India is the mentality of the people. Their thoughts and judgements (which nobody really cares for) on various things. Here, nobody wants to hear your side of the story- they would have already judged you by your clothes, shoes, the amount of make-up that you put. Things that are nobody’s business in general, is every padosi’s business in India. What you wear, how many friends of opposite sex you have, at what time do you get in and out of house… you get the drift. And boys have it easy in this aspect at least. Nobody points a finger at them; us girls- we are treated differently.

I wish I could say that the difference in treatment is a small one, but unfortunately, mostly for us girls, it’s not like that. Things that are usually considered ‘normal’ for boys are looked down upon, when it comes to the fairer sex. And it begins at home- have you ever noticed your parents going easy on your brother and not you, when it comes to late night parties? Or your dad sharing a mug of beer with the younger male of the house but not the 25 year old you? What is this- if not bias? I get that it’s unsafe for women to step out of the house late night, specially in some cities, but shouldn’t you be doing something about it rather than propagating the idea? Isn’t the underlying idea of stopping women to step out while allowing men of the house to, encouraging more and more people to take it for granted that ‘is waqt ghar se bahar hogi toh yahi hoga’, whenever something unfortunate happens to women?

On that note, why is it that a man who’s dating multiple women appreciated in his gang and the girl is labelled a whore? And have you ever noticed- more often than not, these ugly labels are mostly given by fellow women? Instead of standing up for each other, specially in a society that marginalises women even when it comes to temples, a holy place meant for everyone, why is it that we’re still trying to pull each other down? The ‘bro code’ even the women have started sporting so enthusiastically- do they even know what they mean? Most boys wouldn’t stab their ‘bro’ in the back, specially for the opposite sex, while most women would do it without thinking twice about it. Maybe this is exactly why the term Bro Code itself is gender biased.

Why are rules different for men and women?