As India and many other countries gradually lift or relax lockdown conditions in their towns and villages, no one would welcome this more than the women who suffer domestic violence and abuse in their homes. They will finally have a chance to breathe free. At least for most of the working hours that they or their husbands will be away at work, and that must be some respite.
While the rest of us have the luxury of pondering over the benefits of staying home and working from home, these women must have been counting the days to the end of lockdown. It is for all these women around the world that I have created this message: Spring 2020 is unusual in that while we still have Covid in our midst, the end of lockdown brings a whiff of fresh air, of freedom, and of solidarity with friends and well-wishers.
In a previous post, I had shared a poem I wrote about these women in which I used the metaphor of pressed flowers. Here, I have gathered these flowers on my walks in Goa in the Spring of 2020 – as you can see in the images below – with the idea of sharing the beauty and charm that even pressed flowers possess.
I would like all the oppressed women around the world to think of themselves as the Forever Spring Women, women who just cannot be put down. Women who blossom like wildflowers; each time one is cut, another springs up in its place.
