Tradition has been reversed this Raksha Bandhan. A day where traditionally sisters all over India receive gifts from their brothers – Sakshi Malik has given the unforgettable gift of an Olympic medal to an entire nation of brothers and sisters.

India stands united in cheering the grit and strength of its mighty daughters & sisters like Sakshi Malik, Dipa Karmakar, P V Sindhu and others.

The girls of India have consistently been doing their country and families proud in almost all spheres of life, in the meanest of works in the worst of environments. Sakshi’s wrestling medal is proof.

But all this praise and regards is at best very transient in nature. It is like an ephemeral bubble – the recognition and respect vanishes with nary a puff of air when it comes to practising the same in our daily lives. An average Indian is quite apathetic to the sufferings their own mothers, daughters, sisters and wives go through almost on a daily basis. And we are downright cruel and shameless in our apathy towards women who are not our family. We, as a rule, fail to understand that men alone do not a society make. Women are our equal or mayhap even a tad better than us. After all, only a mother can give birth to us, never a father.

And that is why all this trumpet blowing and chest puffing with pride is meaningless in real terms. It is hypocrisy at its best. The pride we shower on our girl power on social media is nowhere near the concern and mercy we feel and show on our womenfolk. The bias which starts against a girl child even before her birth takes on humongous proportions as this girl progresses in life – that is if we are magnanimous enough to let her live in a first place. Else foeticide puts an end to that too. In the respect we show to our womenfolk lies our ultimate survival and salvation. Because we don’t know it yet – even they haven’t realised it yet – our girls and women can very well go it alone. Sakshi’s medal in wrestling on Raksha Bandhan day is just a small proof!!