I have been crazily busy this past week. I just did not get time to come online.
Every year, annually our family meets ( my parents and my brother’s family) . Food and Socialising takes centre-stage. Usually I go to my brother’s place. But this time everyone met at my place.
Hence, life went topsy-turvy. It was fun . It is always fun to be with parents. But I did not know whether I was coming or going ! 😃
And to top it off, I have some art commitments to fulfil.
So please forgive me for the absence. And forgive me for my erratic presence here.
In India, and in many cultures of the Indian sub-continent, there is a custom which I quite dislike. It reeks of gender discrimination.
After marriage, the girl child is socially considered a stranger to her own home. The husband’s family becomes her first family. And she relinquishes all ties and rights with regard to her own family.
Of course, the laws and the modern perspectives have tackled this insensitive social custom to a large extent. There are laws to provide the girl child with all the rights. Yet this inherent socio-cultural thread of gender discrimination, makes a girl a stranger in her own home !
Indian girls have two homes. One is their father’s home ( Maika) . The other is their husband’s home ( Sasural ) . I wonder where is “Her” home ! 😊
In my opinion, the way the society is structured, a woman should first have financial independence and her own home, before she embarks on the journey of relationships and marriage.
Without financial independence, it is a life of subjugation in a patriarchal society. Intolerable for an intelligent, thinking human being - man or woman !
Money is not everything. But money brings financial freedom and empowerment that gives a voice to your soul. And to have the right to breathe free and unshackled is everything.
A shackled soul is a dark place. A free soul is full of light !
My personal life is not exactly smooth. I have always been a bohemian in my soul.
I often tell my son that I give you advice not because I am intelligent or wise. But because I have made more stupid mistakes than you ! 😁
Yet I regret nothing. I see everything. And I feel and I remember !
But there are days when I miss the cocoon of my carefree childhood days. I miss my family. My father specially.
So, annually, when the family meets, for a few days, I revisit my girlhood and the sense of security that only parents provide !
I share a few pics of our family time, January, year 2018 .
😊
Life is made up of memories.
Memories are made up of moments.
The soul forgets dates but remembers the fragrance of moments.....
Papa, Mamma, my Son & Me
My mad-hatter son trying to take a selfie of us !
My Parents, my Brother and my Nephew. Tippy is sneaking into the photo :D
The Ladies - My Neice, Sister-in-Law, Me & Mamma
My Son, My Neice & Me
My Father & Me. My father is 81. He has survived almost decade of changes. I have always been very close to him.
My father and my son are pillars of sanity in a mad world for me :D
And both are horrible photographers ! :D :D
Thank you for viewing & reading. I will hopefully begin my art blogs soon.
Have a great day . Success and happiness to all :) @nehab / Neha Bisht
Good times with the fam!
Neha! I was wondering why you are choosing the %100 power up option when you post here. Because at the current rate of Steem you are actually loosing money by doing that. You should use the 50 50 option and just convert your SBD into steem and then power up.
https://steemit.com/steem-help/@sykochica/answering-common-questions-how-is-my-post-s-payout-calculated-into-steem-power-and-steem-dollars
Oh! someone advised me to do a 100% power up on my post. I am a little confused on the calculations here.
I read your link. It makes a lot of sense to me. Thank you so much for your advise and help. I think I will follow your advise :) . Thank you so much, @angrysage for your appreciation and support :)
No problem I wish I notice earlier. They might have given you that advice when Steem was below $1.
that is Ok @angrysage ... Better late than never :). It is a long journey . And constructive advise is of great value :)
Hi dear @nehab.. I too was silent on the platform since last 2 days, as I was with my parents... :)
It's very nice to see you with your family. You look great in the last photo, so cute... :)
:) :) ... How sweet. That we both were with our parents :) ... Great to hear from you, @geetharao . And my greetings to your parents.
In the last photo, my son was clicking and as usual , he was up to his nonsense ! :D :D :D . He needs to learn some photography skills from you :) . Thank you so much for the appreciation, @geetharao :)
Glad to see you back after long time and it was wonderful to see your amazing happy moments with your family.
Your 'erratic presence' is regularly required :)
You are very sweet and kind, @bluemist .
Yeah . it is a happy time with family and parents always. Crazy, Busy and Happy. And then life moves on :) .
I am happy to have a friend in you @bluemist to share the happy moments with :) ...😊
Life is made up of memories. Memories are made up of moments. :) 💕
Thanks for sharing your story. I feel you. My culture is like that too. But I'm glad you are back and with so many wonderful pictures of your family. It definitely looked like everyone had a great time and I'm glad the weather was fair down there, not disrupting vacation time.
It is a patriarchal world. But it is changing, I guess, in many respects. :)
Yes Delhi has a good winter weather. Nice and cold and sunny :). Family time is truly vacation time :).
I too am happy to share my world and art with you @kanoe :)
You have a lovely family Neha many blessing to all of you. Thank you for sharing with us your life story.
thank you for the kind wishes, @mihail.tsvetkov. I wish you and @kanoe and all your friends and family joy and prosperity. May the blessings of god always be with you :)
Thank you Mihail.
Welcome back to steemit! :) We have missed you!
I am glad to see that the old fashioned ways are changing, I think in this day and age, women should be entitled to as much freedom as any man. I am sad to hear about the family ties being broken in your culture, it is a shame as we only have one set of parents and we should treasure them always, it is great to see that you still do this :) Culture is amazing, but not the detriment of any one person. Well done for being a strong minded independent woman :) I admire your strength
Great to hear from you, @beautifulbullies ... "Culture is amazing, but not at the detriment of any one person". I totally agree with this. A perception has to change world over. A balance of masculine and feminine energies has to come about. An atmosphere of mutual respect and compassion for all needs to prevail. and so it will. Amen ! :) .
Thank you for your appreciation @beautifulbullies . Your words are of great value to me :)
Oh yes, customs can be quite weird. How about sati or suttee?
I am surprised ! You know about Sati ? :)
India is a heavily patriarchal society. :) . Yes, customs can be weird. :)
Patriarchal customs everywhere in the world are oppressive and egoistic.
The aim of patriarch philosophy is to subjugate. They are in my opinion, against the laws of the Universe.
Patriarchal Customs based on control, conquering, enslavement, oppression, appeasement of ego, objectification and abuse, has created the disharmony, imbalance and chaos we see around at micro and macro levels .
Great to hear from you, @photo-deja-vu . And it is intriguing that you know so much about India :)
Good to have a big family.
Yes... It is very noisy and entertaining too, in a big family :D :D
Great to fear from you , @rajskij-sad :)
Thank you :)
family time is always good memory and we like to enjoy it lot and when we meet again we remind it and be happy.
So it is :) .... great to hear from you. Thank you for your appreciation. Have a great day, @rebelstar :)
I have missed you. For all these times, I thought you're from Indonesia or Malaysia. This is also my first time hearing this Indian culture you have mentioned above. Wow. Cultural differences. I am happy to know more about you, @nehab Much love to you and your family <3
:D :D ... People ( in real and virtual world ) have tagged me with every nationality on this planet. From Japanese , Chinese to European. They just somehow skip the Indian subcontinent ! :D :D ....
Yes Indian culture is a complete planet in its own-self :) . Very different ...
Great to hear from you, @bloghound . I too missed you :)
Lots of love to your daughter and love and regards to your family, @bloghound :)
Happy family! give my regards to them :)
thank you, @matajingga. Regards to your family too and best wishes to you :)
Its nice time always with family and great to see you with your family as in some places some girls still facing problems even to meet their families.
Thank you, @birjudanak . Yes , I am fortunate that I am able to freely meet my family :)
Such a happy family. Awesome
thank you... all families are awesome. Thank you for your appreciation 😊
Hope you enjoying your family time there ! Happy Valentine !!
happy Valentine to you too @akkha :)
Nice post. i like your family @nehab
thank you.... It is a pleasure you like my family.
Regards and best wishes to you and your family, @safriadi98
Your welcome @nehab
if there is time to visit my blog
i will :)