औरत

बढ़ाती हूँ क़दम
फ़ौरन ही पीछे खींच लेती हूँ
ये अंदेशा मुझे आगे कभी बढ़ने नहीं देता
न-जाने लोग क्या सोचें
न-जाने लोग क्या बोलें
इसी इक ख़ौफ़ के घेरे में जीती और मरती हूँ
मगर कब तक

Read more

Lives Under Construction: Women Road Builders at 13500ft

In the distant, dusty valleys of Ladakh, there sits a 2-year-old boy all alone with a dry & grubby face covered with a bedsheet tent along with a dupatta tied to his waist that prevents him from falling off the ridge & also from crawling to the middle of the Leh-Kargil highway, where on the other side, works his middle-aged mother as a construction laborer.

Read more

सोनम वांगचुक की ‘दिल्ली चलो पदयात्रा’ के महत्वपूर्ण पहलू

लद्दाख की मांगों को लेकर पर्यावरणविद सोनम वांगचुक लेह से दिल्ली तक पैदल यात्रा पर निकले हैं। लेह के पहाड़ों से राजधानी नई दिल्ली तक लगभग 1000 किमी की दूरी तय करते हुए, रेमन मैग्सेसे पुरस्कार विजेता ने 75 से अधिक लद्दाख निवासियों के साथ 2 अक्टूबर, 2024 तक दिल्ली पहुंचने का संकल्प लिया है। लाहौल में ‘द वॉम्ब’ के साथ एक साक्षात्कार में जब श्री वांगचुक से रास्ते में आने वाली कठिनाइयों के बारे में पूछा गया तो उन्होंने उत्तर दिया ‘यह सब मन पर निर्भर करता है’ अर्थात दुर्गम रास्ते की कठिनाई उनके मनोबल को कमज़ोर नहीं कर सकती । “दिल्ली चलो पदयात्रा” के 15वें दिन पर्यावरणविद् सोनम वांगचुक जब पैदल चल रहे थे तो उनके नीले रेनकोट पर मूसलाधार बारिश होने लगी। पारंपरिक हिमाचली टोपी और सफेद दुपट्टा पहने हुए, वह मार्च के दौरान आने वाली कठिनाइयां जैसे बारिश, बर्फबारी, कड़ी सर्दी भी उनके इरादों को कमज़ोर कर पाने में असफल है।

Read more

Menstrual Leaves Should No Longer Be Up for Debate

The Karnataka government’s proposal to allocate 6 days of menstrual leave per year for women in the public and private sector will reopen debate and discussions on its requirement in the workplace. The absence of National Legislation in India that provides for menstrual leaves to working women is a pivotal indicator of the status accorded to women’s issues and needs in parliament. 77 years after independence, we have three other states- Bihar, Kerala, and Orissa, and a handful of private companies such as Swiggy, Zomato, Magzter, etc, which have taken steps to acknowledge and extend support for this universal biological phenomenon.

Read more

Delhi Chalo Padyatra, From Ladakh To Delhi With Mr. Sonam Wangchuk

Torrential rain poured over his blue raincoat as environmentalist Sonam Wangchuk walked on the 15th day of the Delhi Chalo Padyatra. Spanning nearly 1000 km from the mountains of Leh to the capital city of New Delhi, the Ramon Magsaysay Award winner led over 75 Ladakh residents through the unrelenting terrains of Himachal Pradesh to reach Delhi by 2nd October, 2024. “It’s all in the mind”, Mr. Wangchuk declared in an exclusive interview with The Womb in Lahaul, when asked of the difficulties they are facing while on the way. Adorning a traditional Himachali topi and a white scarf, he was not fazed by the hardships they encountered during the march.

Read more

“To Be Or Not To Be A Mother- I Had To Decide”

I had conceived, as a single unmarried girl in an act of love. I was with a person I had fallen in love with and it happened. In the moment, he decided he wanted to be a father, though we hadn’t discussed it before. Let me confine to my side of the story without getting into the details that will necessarily include elaborating on his view.

Read more