LIFE AS IT IS

I asked around, I asked Bengali-speaking female friends and acquaintances from Bangladesh and India what they understand by the word, Freedom.  The Daily Star link When asked what freedom means to her, Ranita Ghosh Chakrabarti, an Indian American working in higher education, said, “To me, freedom is my ability to make my life’s decisions by myself. Although I will welcome suggestions and advice from family and friends, I should be able to make my own decisions without hesitation or regret. I should be the driver of my own car.”  Photo credit: Tithi Living without the fear of men eve-teasing, staring with lustful eyes, or sexually assaulting them is what many modern women understand by the word, freedom. However, “My body is mine” or “No means no” only exists in a utopian world.  Angira Nandi, who works for a Business Processing Outsourcing company in Kolkata, India, believes that financial independence is what makes a woman free. “But when her very right to safety is at stake, how can

PART I When Fahmida left her home that morning, she was not feeling very well. She was not only a little feverish, her migraine had also returned. With a throbbing head she lay in her bed the night before, rewinding events of the last two years. Fahmida's face broke into a smile from time to time as she visualised her journey to the present. Her biggest dream was finally taking shape -- she would attend her first class at the Law Department of Dhaka University in just less than two months.  But that morning, she wished she could stay home, and spend the day arranging the clothes in her wardrobe, washing the dirty laundry, and tidying up her reading table, which had not been dusted in a week. In dusty Dhaka, where furnishings needed to be wiped daily, a week without dusting meant an accumulation of the grey, powdery city dirt on everything -- from beds, chairs and tables to candles, plants, and picture frames. However, Fahmida could in no way afford the luxury of being at h