Rallying for Women

Devi Pakshya (देवी पक्ष) has dawned. The Goddess has begun the journey to her home, and is earthward bound. In another week, she will arrive and the whole world (well at least Bengal) will be immersed in her worship and in celebrations. Everything for those five days will be about her, the Devi; the prayers, the food, the dress, the song, the festivity, everything. For those few days, a woman will be in ascendant. That's a good thought, even if she is only a Goddess, just an idol of made of clay and dried grass.

It has just so happened that over the last few days, I've been working very closely with women. With Devi Pakshya arriving, I felt that this was kind of apt too. 

My work sphere is ordinarily, very very male dominated and at time it so happens that I am the only woman in a sea of men. This is a tiring situation and believe me, quite, quite unenviable. I get fed up of the hyper-inflated egos, the misplaced sense self worth, the unending crassness, the astounding lack of sensitivity, of empathy, of finesse, of beauty and of course the invariable BO, the BB (bad breath), the BW (bad words) and the exasperating sight of much surreptitious cradling of the nether regions of their bodies. This overdose of the Y chromosome really gets to me at times and I often find myself craving some refined feminine company.

So it was a real pleasant experience for me to interact with a rare breed, women of my profession in high places, women of note in my worksphere.

The first thing that struck me and very pleasantly too was the air of gentleness that women bring in with them to the workplace. With men, it is as if being gentle takes away their masculinity and therefore they make it a point to be rough, in all their dealings, especially with those inferior to them in station. With women, I found, it is quite the opposite. They are soft spoken and courteous, to all without exception and consequently the atmosphere around them changes to one of facilitation, rather than intimidation.

Women are born empaths, without an iota of doubt. They can sense what boosts you, what hurts you, what gladdens you, what brings you down. And they act upon their intuition and therefore have much better interpersonal work relationships.

They are upright too, with honesty of aim and purpose and procedure and it is straightforward business working for them and with them.

It was therefore a real delight to interact with a few women, as I said previously, women in high places, women who are successful professionals in my field of work and who, I found, have become so without sacrificing their femininity and their essence as women.

A perfectly draped sari, a thin gold band on the finger and a thinner one on the wrist, a mellifluous voice that never raised itself without cause, a kind smile, a faint fragrance of an exotic perfume, a lilting laugh, a patient ear, a kind word of genuine concern............. I watched with increasing vindication of my respect for women as professionals, as the huge, burly, brusque and very masculine male colleagues and staff were turned into “eager-to-please” mush around these elegant and accomplished women.

And it is not that these women are all colourful butterflies without substance. Not at all. If you spent time with them a while, you might get dazzled by the glare of the tempered steel beneath the surface, tough and sharp and driven.

I know all women professionals are not as wonderful as the ones I have described just as all male professionals are not as awful as I have painted them out to be. It is never correct nor just, to fit  human beings into narrow, watertight categories. We are all gray, never black or white. I know that. Yet, I remain of the opinion that women make much better professionals, in most fields.

It may be that it was a coincidence that I got to interact with this particularly great set of women over the past few days. Or that I was so jaded with my daily interaction with men, men and more men that my judgement is coloured and I am consequently, going overboard with my assessment. Perhaps.

But whatever it may be, I would still vote for women professionals. I personally may have reached a murky professional dead-end and am prone to being hounded by pangs of disillusionment; yet, I’d always rally behind women, any day. Like the Goddess and unlike her too for her days are limited to ten a year, I will pray that they always remain in ascendant.

Everywhere.

At all times.

And that it is Devi Pakshya always, forever!