I Will Start

"This job isn't meant for women," said the old lady who was at the reception.

How would you guys react if you heard this exact line for the job you are dreaming since you were born?

My sister who had this goal of becoming the very first lady Indian navy officer from our village had an encounter with this lady on the reception of her new college, T.S. Chanakya (Indian maritime university Navi Mumbai campus). 

When my sister was five, she had watched this movie where the lady became an IPS officer.

That's when she knew she had to become a navy officer. In a village where surrounding was full of orthodox and stereotypical people she had a hard time growing up. She had to keep herself to the ground. The place where she was growing up, women and girls had no voice of their own, married women were dependent of their husbands and girls were dependent on the men of their house. My sister wasn't the one who would bide by these cliched rules. If she had something to say or an opinion on the topic, she would speak up without minding the stares given by old people or elders. She didn't mind at all because she knew she was correct. Our mother would tell her that these etiquettes isn't accepted by our people and our society, she would always reply, "then I will start these etiquettes". She always thought that if she starts, the girls and the women will get some courage and would try to speak up. 

She was the first girl to continue her studies even after 12th, the girls in our village would usually would study upto 12th and then were removed by their family. They were then kept at home and were taught household works and were usually married at the age of eighteen. I had seen her work hard through the stereotypical people and all the taunts had she got from the people of our village but that didn't stop her from achieving her goal. After striving for years untold, she was finally able to get into her dream college.

After hearing the old lady saying that this job wasn't meant for women. She just smiled remembering how many people have told her that before, remembering the struggles she had been through and finally how hard it was being a woman from a small village yet having a dream which seemed so far, tough and unachievable. She smiled and replied, "okay then I will start"