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When Sachin Tendulkar owed his success to Dr Anjali Tendulkar.


“The most beautiful thing happened to me in 1990 when I met my wife Anjali. Those were special years and it has continued and it will always continue that way. I know Anjali being a doctor, there was a wonderful career in front of her. When we decided to have a family .Anjali took the initiative to step back and say that ‘you continue with your cricket and I will take the responsibility of the family’.
Without that I don’t think I would have been able to play cricket freely and without stress .thanks for bearing with all my fuss and all my frustrations and all sorts of rubbish that I have spoken. Thanks for bearing with me and always standing by my side through all my ups and downs .you are the best partnership I’ve ever had in my life.”
The excerpt says it all.
For me as a feminist this part was the piece-De resistance of the speech.
As it is the homemaker’s story. A homemaker who is always taken for granted. A homemaker who is considered substandard in a man’s world, whose dreams and identity are diluted when her family becomes her priority. She can make or break man’s world and ego too. That’s her power that nobody notices.
Had Dr Anjali Tendulkar  pursued her career, would Sachin be able to achieve this glory? Frankly speaking. NO.
His words remind us, the kind of social fabric we are woven in and how benighted is society’s approach towards a homemaker. Men who boast of their achievements would fall from fortunes of patriarchy if a homemaker withdrew her services.
For Sachin came publicly and acknowledged Ms Tendulkar’s role but most Indian males fail to. If their wives are working, they somehow curtail their dominance, ego and power. But when she happens to be a homemaker, they look down upon them. They regard her as down market. Often it is the matter of embarrassment for them, if their wives are mere homemakers .and if she aspires to be financially and economically independent, most of the times their male ego bursts.
Her youth and her beauty are lost cleaning the floors, cooking and bringing up kids. Constant contact with water corrodes her skin. Her dreams die out the day she becomes someone’s mistress.
Her partner sees her beauty and to him she is admirable for those two basic physiological needs, she provides her free of cost. One good food and second good sex.
English vinglish narrates the tale of so many women who stay home and are harassed without the thought of being harassed.
I chose to write this, to appeal to young girls and women, please be bit individualistic . It’s important to look for family, but not at cost of one’s dreams and self respect. Your contribution is as important to society and economy as your male counterparts.
Men should value woman who keeps house –because it’s the toughest thing to do. If your partner has sacrificed her career to bring up family, which is your responsibility as well, respect her for that. Value her for her contribution and if necessary nurture her dreams that are caged in chores, her identity has smothered inside the four walls.
An appeal to girls- get education, be economically independent so that you do not become slave like. Let your man be your partner, not master.
Be substantive so that you are being loved and admired for your priceless contribution and not when you churn down your bones inside your flesh to satisfy someone’s greed for flesh.
Let feminism prevail in every mind and every home
 And just in books and lecture tomes.
Thank you Sachin for acknowledging Anjali for her contribution.

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