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It is now a tradition that when a new poetess' work is printed in regional
language magazines, it becomes an object of gossip for the literary
circle, even if it is very good. People talk about it in such derogatory
terms and ridiculing remarks like, "do you really believe this to be
the work of a woman?" answered by "how is this this must be a
man using the name of a woman to get some preference in the magazines, as
they prefers girls. The poetry of such calibre can hardly be the work of a
lady." Then if that poetess makes an appearance in public at some
function or a mushaira, her presence is recognised, but still the barrage
of gossip continues. 'Her brother who is so and so is writing for her, her
father or husband who's is this and that is doing the job for her,' and if
nothing of the sort works or is found to be true, she's rumoured to have
an affair with some recognised poet, only to prove that a woman can't
write good poetry. It
is a difficult task for a poetess to first gain recognition, for only then
can she get her literary potential recognised. Even at the tailend of the
20th century, the news of a girl in a village or city writing good poetry
is still a news‑worthy item. Once it is established that the poetry
is actually the work of a girl, than instead of her work she herself
becomes an object of curiosity for the magazine editor and even for the
reader. With a minor contribution or even after a singular publication,
the regional language magazine editors and other men throng the poetess'
place for an interview or to get acquainted with the poetess. As a
consequence many upcoming and genuine girls either quit or are prohibited
by their parents. Many girls are apprehensive about the atmosphere found
in male dominated circles. To give vent to their creativity a majority of
them turn to women's pages in magazines, especially those magazines which
are being edited by women. The so‑called progressive critics then
question the need for a separate women's section. While
editing the women's pages I came across a lot of criticism from these
'progressive' intellectuals. Of the many letters I received during my
tenure with the women's pages almost fifty percent were sent by men. They
questioned the existence of a separate world for women, which they
believed I was creating by encouraging only women writers to contribute.
Apart from the women's pages and some other magazines very few carry the
work of these poetesses. Many of the magazine editors argue about the
standard of poetry by women. Art
and literature are God gifted, but they also require indepth knowledge,
study and observation. Within the four walls of their houses, the creative
instincts of the women of our biased society are left with little choice
on their part. Not only the poetesses of small town and villages suffers
this fate, even the women of metropolitan cities who are mostly
economically self‑sufficient suffer the same sexual dicrimination
and prejudice. Morality and respect is a purely 'feminine problem' in our
society. Women
are simply not considered as thinking human beings. Poetesses are also
women, wary about their selfrespect and cautious regarding their image. So
far many have made a place for themselves, forging ahead, at each and
every step, by either changing their names, or by using a psuedonym. Yet
they continued to create and contribute like our senior poetesses, but
sadly many have stopped writing poetry without assigning any reason. They
simply argue that they don't get inspiration and are disheartened. Women
writers and poetesses choose to stay aloof and don't even socialise in the
literary circles. To participate in male dominated literary circles is
difficult for them or is made difficult. The
need of the hour is to create women's literary circles to tap the latent
talent and motivate writers from far‑flung areas and urban writers
to come forward and create an atmosphere for more women to join in the
movement. The women associated with NG0s can do better than others in this
regard by motivating the women sitting at home, by contacting them
individually no matter how small these literary circles may be. Let the
movement take root and more will follow. Translated
by Salman A.Ansari DAWN,
Tuesday Review, Mar 12 - 18, 1996 |
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