Indian women who are successful & empowered subdue Indian society's rules for women

The video of Sunny aka Sunita Williams, who is half Indian, floating around inside the International Space Station, ISS, telling us how astronauts live and work in space is one of the most astounding videos I've ever seen.



In the video, Sunita Williams is wearing shorts and has no duppatta (shawl of the traditional Punjabi suits for women Tamil Taliban lentils insist to be created to cover the breasts) on. And, no Tamil Taliban culture guardian lentils who keep harping for women to 'dress properly,' said anything about Sunita William's dressing. That's because she's an astronaut - she has done impressive things. Her qualification intimidates these Tamil Talibans so much so, they don't question the choices she makes.

This is so true because I've seen the women in my family, my cousin sisters, who are so accomplished and in a different league altogether, they get no bugging from our aunts and mothers to marry and do what good girls should do. They also don't dare to impose superstition and culture on these sisters of mine.

One of my cousin sisters is a conservation biologist. She went to a university in Canada and then London, UK and she was sent to back to Malaysia, the west Malaysian state of Sabah to study orangutans. She is almost always off the grid and spends months in a stretch in the jungles of Borneo, doing her job. One time, I met her at our cousin sister's wedding. She was wearing a black saree. I love the colour black but for my mom, black is 'dharidhiram' (colour of all things bad). So I told my mom that her niece is wearing black for an auspicious function and she was like, "She's too educated and well off. For her all these beliefs don't matter. She and the way your uncle raised his kids is different, we are different." Do you see the magic here? And, yes, I gotta mention about my uncle. He's a feminist and he always encouraged his daughters to pursue far-reaching academia and never told them, "Don't be over-ambitious, it will be hard to find you a husband."

The sister of my biologist cousin is a PhD research scholar in environmental science - she's a scientist. She studied in Helsinki University, Finland and is now affiliated with Keele University. Her university sends her around the globe for research - she had gone to Peru, Spain, Canada, the US, UK, etc. Her fellow scientist boyfriend is Welsh and they went to India and other places together. They also live together. They are unmarried. Yet, not even one relative of ours dares to judge or question her choice of a partner and the decision of living together. I mean they would covertly but not overtly. Why? It's because of my cousin sister's meteoric repertoire.

The girls had told their parents that marriage isn't in their to-do list. And, no nosy aunty dares to approach them with the line, "There's a good boy I know, you should meet him and see if things work out for you!" I guess nothing says "Fuck off," better than a woman's terrific qualifications. Perhaps out of the Indian dejection of not seeing their daughters become blushing brides, their mother match-makes yuppies and the girls plainly call that out, "Why you do mama vela (marriage broker tasks) ma?"

These cousin sisters of mine wear tank and spaghetti strap tops, leggings, bare back outfits, dresses with plunging necklines and post the pictures on Facebook. No one says a thing. I guess when you see a girl of Indian descent not wearing duppatta at the Empire State Building, Grand Canyon, NASA, Machu Picchu or in 0 gravity space, you are taken with the place she's at, not what she's wearing or not wearing.

But, you see, educated or not, scientist or roadside sweeper, politician or actress, a woman has the right to decide what she wants to do in her life. Her dressing, marital status, preferences are her business, not yours. Apply this pearl of wisdom and everyone's life will get infinitely better.