Dreaming Jane Austen

My dream was to be a Jane Austen - or a Virginia Woolfe, whose novel, "Mrs. Dalloway" rocked the world, or Kadambari - the muse who inspired the Bard in Bengali Literature. a few fearless women - Debjani, and Gandhari, and Draupadi, from Indian classics, but before anyone else, I want to be the woman who appears in my dream! never went to school, she was not allowed, picked up any paper when sweeping the floor, and read - she was warned - women became widows if they read, she was unstoppable! she had ten kids - two still-births, she cooked for thirty people each day, ate her meals after she fed everyone, she hand-knitted blankets, to keep children warm, prayed every day for well-being of her family, and for the universe. my grandmother, and many women of the world of yesteryear, started a revolution, carried the torch, without realizing the legacy they left for us, the burden they lifted! The love of learning, the spiritualism, the kindness - we imbibed as blessings... did they see us - the women of today in the horizon? the modern, liberated, emancipated women, we are today, we attend school and choose our path, we decide to marry or not, who to marry, we raise our children with confidence. we don't ask for money, we earn money, we lead, we invent, we do miracles. sorry Jane Austen, I would rather be my Grandma's granddaughter, before anyone else! March 8, 2022