“ You must never let them put out the fire of your soul and always strive to burn brighter than ever.
I have remained in co-ed schools throughout my school life. I was too young to understand the bias between genders up until I reached Grade V. I changed schools in Grade VI. The new school was much better than the previous one, but an element of inequality was still everywhere, whether it was about discipline, sports or school leadership positions. Knowingly or unknowingly, teachers favoured the boys in most cases.
Academically, I was an average student. This only added to the discrimination I had to face in class. But, my academic trajectory took a 180-degree turn in Grade IX due to an incident with my Hindi Teacher. He had given us a lesson to learn. Sir asked everyone questions but no one could answer them. His ‘ethics’ disallowed him from punishing the girls though. Thus, only the boys were punished. They objected to it, only for him to justify his actions by narrating a story about a horse and a donkey. Both the animals had made the same mistake but their king only punished the horse and let the donkey feel humiliated in front of all the villagers. I was completely outraged! The story didn’t make any sense! How could he even consider humiliation as a means of chastising us girls, let alone comparing us to a stereotypically ‘dumb’ animal?
After school ended, I realised that it wasn’t the teachers alone – others also had humiliated us in such condescending ways – however, none of us had realised it during those times. But, this incident was the last straw for me! I know that many of my classmates don’t even remember this because it was just one incident out of a thousand similar ones. It impacted me and turned out to be the catalyst for changing me. Ever since that episode, there hasn’t been a day when I didn’t complete my work. I worked hard to transform my grades. Honestly, teachers’ behaviour towards me changed visibly just because I started studying. But the culture of gender-based prejudices still remained. My parents were the only support that kept me going.
My mom always tells me to never let others suppress me. My parents never discriminated between me and my brother. Maybe this is why I never understood the reason for gender inequality. According to my classmates, I was a spoiled girl because I didn’t tolerate the patriarchal society and its oppressive thoughts.
During high school, I was criticised many times just because I didn’t fit into the gender norms. Their judgement hasn’t changed my attitude. I have always taken a stand for myself. Sometimes, it was too hard to be on one side while the whole class was against me. But I knew one thing – if I gave up once I would lose the battle forever. Even today I don’t let anyone make me feel low just because of a difference in opinion. I am not what happened to me. I am what I choose to become.
Believe me, you belong only to yourself, not to this world. ”
Sakshi is a second-year student of Economics at Indraprastha College for Women.
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