Rashmi Bajaj’s Swayamsidha: A Call for Change

Pages:184-187
Sonia (Assistant Professor, Hindu College, Sonepat)

The lines above in the beginning part of Bajaj’s poetic collection Swayamsidha (2013) are the absolutely right implication of her purpose of this writing. These lines refer to the very questionable identity of woman in the male dominated society as here she is recognized only as a daughter, sister, wife, mother and so on. Rashmi Bajaj is a bilingual (Hindi, English) writer, critic, poet, an intellectual speaker and an academician with four poetic collections in her hand and all of them are dedicated to female voice against victimization and exploitation in patriarchal society. Swayamsidha written in Hindi is a call for a woman that is awakened at all levels i.e physically, psychologically, politically and economically. In these poems Bajaj attacks on gender biased mentality. She does not spare even our so called Hindu Gods, Religious preachers, social workers for their neglecting and discriminative behavior against women. She even criticizes Khap Panchayats for their strict rules regarding women.