Changing With Pride- Femina

VERY often I meet men who read Femina. It happened only yesterday. I met the HRD chief of an august organisation who told me that he had been reading Femina for 10 years now. No shame or worry over being overheard, in fact pride, in the fact that he saw that as the mark of an enlightened man.

THE point I’m getting to is that our efforts at making men and women partners by talking to both sexes in the home and in the work place are beginning to show signs of working. More and more men read Femina, knowing it is a women’s magazine that talks to them in their roles as husbands, boyfriends, fathers of girls, colleagues of women, brothers who have a share in the lives of their women. Which means, more and more, subtly but surely, women’s lives and needs are shaping the attitudes of men.

I SEE it as a symbol of the power of ‘stree shakti’. And Dussehra is a good time to think deeply about this. ‘Stree Shakti’, not as a means of destroying the power of men, or seeing them as the demons in a woman’s life, but as the strength that awakens them to understand the women in their lives, and empower themselves in the process.

WHICH is why I do believe that much of what we as women had to fight for or dream of just a few decades ago, has come to be taken for granted by at least a significant section of Indian womanhood today. Going to work, for example, which was something, “a ‘bahu’ or ‘beti’ of our household did not do”. Having men help in the home, another big step, which was unheard of a generation ago, except in some exemplary homes (do I hear wishful sighs still from readers?). Having children respect their mothers as much as they do their mostly absent father... another big step to show that economic independence and education can make miracles happen.

AT a more basic level, today, I can listen and even chant along with the Gayatri Mantra as I drive to work, while not so long ago, it was the exclusive right of my cousin brothers to hear it whispered in their ear, as they donned the sacred thread for the first time.

The invocation to a Goddess, considered the most powerful of Hindu mantras, was denied to women! How times have changed.

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SEPTEMBER is a great month for us. For the first time in history, India has been invited to show at the Milan Fashion Week, and Femina has collaborated in getting an India focus in Italy during the Week when all eyes in the glamour world are turned to Milan.

WORKING with the Indo Italian Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Mumbai, Femina has helped the Fashion Council in Italy zero in on the Indian designer they want to showcase, and to complement the event, have put together a week of Indian experiences to feed all the senses. Thus, there will be a food festival where the Oberoi Hotels will collaborate with the prestigious Four Seasons in Milan to put Indian food exclusively on the menu of their fine dining restaurant, a film festival that will showcase films as varied as ‘Devdas’ and ‘Everybody Says I’m Fine’, seminars on tourism and textiles, and India on the ramp in the avatar of our very own Tarun Tahiliani. A jewellery showing by Amrapalli, and a crafts and handlooms bazaar are also part of the plan, as well as a gala evening where the guest list should include the likes of Mssrs Armani and Ms Versace, besides India’s own glitterati, thanks to the fact that India has been invited to launch the Fashion Week proceedings with this dinner.

IT’S a huge feather in our cap, and we are wearing it proudly. And you shall hear more as the event gets into swing. Till then, stay tuned.

GOT COMMENTS OR QUESTIONS? E-MAIL US AT femina@timesgroup.com WITH ‘ME TO YOU — CHANGING WITH PRIDE’ IN THE SUBJECT LINE