Slow buds the pink dawn like a rose
From out night’s gray and cloudy sheath;
Softly and still it grows and grows,
Petal by petal, leaf by leaf.
- Susan Coolidge

Most important revolutions or empires have been associated with some color or the other. Over decades, pink has been associated with women and their femininity; it has been man’s strongest weapon to take advantage of women’s emotional and physical delicacy. For ages, male chauvinists have bogged down women. Now, it is one of the most courageous acts for women to come up and fight for their cause, all clad in pink, too. Pink is no more the color of delicacy but strength, courage and justice. The budding Gulabi gang in Banda, Uttar Pradesh, India, is now ready to fight back.

Sampat Pal Devi is the leader of the Gulabi gang, who not only conceived the idea of the gang but also defined the rules for it. According to her, this gang fights for rights of women and the poor. It’s not that the gang’s moral is to knock down men but to seek harmony. After all ‘women need men to live with’ Sampat Devi states.

The gang operates with their volunteers who fight to search for an identity in the hard world of men, after years of suppression, poverty, illiteracy, and feudalism. Looking at their actions one can realize they are not after getting publicity or getting political acclaim. What they want is a world where they are not taken for granted. Where the harmony of a household is ruled by mutual affection and respect.

The gang not only fights for women but also for the untouchables and the poor who can’t afford to fight for justice. They shun the lousy officials, corrupt politicians, and even the lecherous and money hungry husbands who take the wife to be a commodity.
Sampat Pal Devi says, ‘Sometimes we have to take the law in our hands’. Why it has come to the extent when women take to violence? The seeds of this can be traced back to the imperial ages. The suppressed screams have now become a roar. Can the world help not to take notice of it?

Three cheers for women’s spirit!

Via: BBC