Women
need literacy
To
run the household.
They
ought to be educated
To
bring up children well.
Women
should acquire knowledge
To
guard the world
Learning
helps women
Widen
the arc of scholarship.
Illiterate
women
Are
barren land! Grass may grow
On
this surface:
But
not ideal children.
The
educated woman
Is
a field well prepared.
Wise
progeny spring up here:
I
need not repeat this truth.
Remember,
it is common skill
For
man and woman
To
pilot an aeroplane,
Survey
the vast ocean.
Male
chauvenism
Has
weakened the globe today.
No
wonder then,
Women
find their freedom gone.
Come
forward to execute
With
a golden hand
The
jobs assigned to you.
At
the same time
Press
forward to gain freedom
With
the other flower-like hand.
Such
is my conviction:
The
illiterate woman will never glow.
It
is wrong to say
That
women alone should drudge
As
cooks at home
And
cleaners all day.
That
would be a happy day
When
men too take up such tasks.
Is
it shameful to cook?
The
cook creates enjoyment!
Cooking
food is Indeed
The
nurturing of precious life.
Life
is not mere money;
Nor
is it martial prowess.
Stoking;
the stove fire
And
creating taste in the pot.
They
serve food with love.
Such
food is vital to existence.
There
is an unwritten law
In
Tamil Nadu that cookery
Is
the inalienable duty
Of
the poor housewife.
Alas,
that such drudgery
Is
fit only for mothers.
Universal
women’s education
Alone
can remove this unfair rule.
Translated
by Prema Nandakumar
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