Our country is renowned the world over for its rich diversity. With millions of people and hundreds of languages spoken in this country, what’s common is the love for the nation. Every home in the country values the concept of family. The head of the family has the ultimate command over the family, primarily playing the role of a breadwinner, while the female is the nurturer and a homemaker.
In times when running a house is not so easy and more than one family member has to work to support their nuclear or joint families, it is common to see that women are constantly struggling to be of value to their family and do their best. They are shouldering their responsibilities with their male family members be it father, brother or husbands and are working as successful professionals; multi-tasking and balancing their responsibilities at home and work with equal passion and dedication.
But on the other hand, stressful men find it easy to vent out their frustration on women around them be it at home, at work or amongst their friend circle. Women are often made scapegoats to a volley of verbal abuses in the form of gaalis.
During instances when stress seems to be engulfing the peace of many a marriages, what comes most easy for most male counterparts is to vent out their frustrations, tensions and angst on to their wives using gaalis, curse words and dirty verbal abuses. Decent conversations have taken a backseat, respect for women has gone out of the window, sense of responsibility and chivalry seems to be a thing of the past. In a country when centuries ago women were respected as goddesses are now treated as doormats. They are greeted, taunted and teased with filthy double entendre curse words. It’s not just at home that they have to bear gaalis; very often they get to hear through their peers at work and friends in their circle and sometimes through their own children as well. And it only gets worse with time.
“Is this the way to cope up with stress? For how long will women be treated as punch bags to vent out one’s frustrations?” With this thought lingering in her mind, Vandana Sethhi, the dynamic entrepreneur of Water Communications set out to initiate Gaali Free India – Swachh Bhasa drive as a Social campaign to bring back the respect for Indian languages and women.
Gaali Free India (Swachh Bhasha) is an attempt to inspire people to re-look at their vocabulary, filter words and stop using gaalis. She says, “It’s a wakeup call to respect the diction, the language and bring back respect into a woman’s life. It’s time to work towards a Gaali Free India.”
All you need to do is support this drive by logging on to www.gaalifreeindia.org. Be a Gaali Free India Ambassador and inspire others to live a life devoid of gaalis. Your one step can work wonders for your loved ones. Pledge to never use gaalis in front of women, children, at work, with friends or in your surroundings.”