“GETTING CAT CALLED IS SCARY BUT IT CANT LIMIT MY FREEDOM”, INSPIRED STORY OF INDIAN STREET ARTIST SNEHA CHAKRABORTY
Could life become difficult just because you are associated to a certain gender that is stereotypically considered as the inferior and weaker one?
Certainly it could. Being women comes with all the complications and challenges and they are more visible in countries like India and Pakistan where illiteracy and poverty rates are high, feminist movements are still in the first wave (while in west fourth wave is in progress and debates on identity politics and micro aggression are arising), but in Asian regions, women are still considered either a liability or a commodity. From being a victim of infanticide to being a victim of sexual assault and harassment, from acquiring education to making careers and right to choose one’s life partner, not one step is easily achievable.
Take a glance at the story of Sneha Chakraborty who is a passionate street artist in India and highlights the challenges and awkward situations she has to face on daily basis, and exactly what is her fault? She is a woman who works outside her house, yes THAT’S IT!
Talking about the kind of situations in which her passion and her gender gets her while working on the streets of India, she tells in an interview to an Indian blog “We The Young India” that in a country where cat-calling, street harassment and rape cases are hiked, she feels more vulnerable because while she creates art on the walls, she has to stay on the streets for a long time. She can’t even run away immediately while sensing the danger along with all of her painting stuff. At times, guys just stop by and keep on asking awkward questions that weren’t related to her art at all and terrified by this breach of personal space, she started packing up before sunset every day. Although it scared her, but it never shattered her dreams and limited her freedom, she kept on working enthusiastically and bravely on the very same streets.
“This is just an unnecessary bit that I didn’t choose and I don’t want it because all I am doing is painting for the community”, she says, but sadly, this tiny bit of harassment comes along the moment a woman steps out of her house. Comprehending Sneha’s passion to paint in streets for a living is one thing, comprehending that a girl has chosen her own path is difficult in the first place for societies like India as to this date, it is a matter of “being allowed” rather than an individual’s right to of choice.
No doubt Sneha has inspired a lot of young women in India and in the region, and according to her even if one girl would get encouraged and motivated to follow her passions and dreams by the work of Sneha despite of all the hurdles even as grave as hers as she is constantly at the risk of being harassed, vulnerably working on the streets, it will be Sneha’s achievement.
“The point is we don’t stop, we don’t get scared, we keep on pursuing what you really love and this will make the people questioning you really exhausted, we will win anyway”, she concluded with a spark of determination in her eyes.
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