THE UNTOLD STORY OF MEN
“The Man knocks on the door twice, but there’s no answer. He is exhausted, looking pale. His laptop bag feels heavier than it did in the morning and his eyes reflect anxiety, open but seemingly seeing nothing.
Growing restless and frustrated, he slams the door this time. The Woman opens the door. She seems tired herself. The disarray of her messy bun tells a tale of long hours of household chores and weariness. Lost in her thoughts, she moves from room to room, mentally planning the next steps. Her hopeless eyes look even darker than her dark circles. Seems like she hasn’t slept in ages. The entire house appears upside down after celebrating their child’s Annprashan ceremony left in disarray by departing relatives and their children.
The man sits in a chair, contemplating whether to tell his family about his job situation. The woman asks for water, but the man can’t hear anything beyond the echoes of his manager’s last sentence: ‘We have to fire a few employees to compensate for company’s financial loss. Unfortunately you are one of them!’
The piercing cry of their six-month-old child snaps him back to reality. Keeping Man’s unfortunate tradition alive, he decides not to burden his family with the job issue.
As he looks at his Wife he adored, a flicker of anger surfaces. Annoyed by the privilege women possess — escaping the harsh realities of providing — he questions the uneven distribution of life’s burdens. He thinks about Women’s lives.
‘Women don’t have real burdens. They can just stay home and relax after doing some laundry while Men play hunger games in the battlefield to keep their family well-fed.’
Just the thought of being a Woman in his next life soothes his existence for a second.
Unaware of her Man’s sudden destruction, The woman is lost in her own world. Tired of feeling stuck, she chooses to focus on the past rather than the future. She rewinds the day in her head when she got accepted for a leading MNC position as a Research Specialist. She gathered the courage to tell her father, still in dilemma about the verdict. The verdict came out instantly with a storming voice:-
‘First, I make money to pay your dowry and now I have to pay for your living in an unsafe, costly city. Just get a government job or get married!’ Father ordered.
The woman blames her father for treating her like a burden when she could have provided a good living for herself as well as her family within a couple of years. All this for a family who taunts her for not bringing a 4-wheeler in Dahej. Her father sold his pustaini zamin — the only source of agricultural income — to pay 7 lacs for a marriage where his daughter will work forever, make a baby and run the whole household on whatever pocket money she gets from her husband.
Just last night, when she served all the Buas and Chachis and their children dinner, washed all the utensils, made their beds, calculated expense of rest of the the month and finally went to breastfeed her hungry child, she couldn’t- because her fully functional father-in-law started shouting for a glass of water and he started passing comments on her upbringing.
Yes, she was loved by her Man, but she could feel the distance between them lately. Not getting emotional support from her Husband, her in-laws’ taunts felt more painful now, her migraines felt more intensified.
To avoid the helplessness:-
Woman chooses to blame her father for ruining her life because blaming is easier than feeling guilty of making her poor father poorer. “
If only she could have taken that job and told her Man today, ‘It’s okay! I have a job; we can get through this together.’
I wrote this piece inspired by a Man’s version. After having insight on both the sides, my thoughts on Man vs. Woman have shifted to an entirely new subject: Old generation vs. New generation.
It’s ironic how Men from the old generation (in satisfying their superiority complex) messed up with their own gender, leading to their demise in this new generation where the cost of living is borne by men’s zombie-like routine, with no life left.
Yes, men are burdened with enormous pressure to provide for the family. It’s unjust and inhuman.
— Why should men pay all the bills?
— Why should men handle all the burden alone?
More importantly, what could we do to change it?
Well, for starters,
— We could make our Women financially independent so they can take care of themselves and their families when the Men fall down or simply want to take a break.
— We could encourage our Men to speak about their problems and support them with during their struggle.
— We could NOT shame them if they believe that today’s 120000 CTC job will lead him to tomorrow’s 1400000 CTC.
https://medium.com/@madhumitacontentwriter
I would like to sign off with expressing my appreciation towards
RINKU: For unknowingly inspiring me to write this piece.
DEEPIKA : For helping me with the interview.
RITESH VERMA : For sitting through the interview and sharing the artistic version
