WordsByEkta🌿

The Wedding Where Our Ancestors Demanded a Seat We were mid-breakfast when the knock came — sharp, hesitant, urgent. It was our neighbour, a woman whose face was etched with equal parts worry and hope. Our small house had a perfect square courtyard — a pristine angan we rarely used. Her own home was too small for her daughter's wedding, and she came to my elders with a simple, humbling request. "I have no other place," she said, her voice soft with a mix of shame and desperation. "Would you let us have the wedding in your angan? It would mean everything to us." My elders didn't hesitate. One of them smiled and said, "The angan is for everyone. A wedding is a good omen. Consider it our blessing to the bride." They often said this is exactly what Dadi would've said if she were still with us. "You'll need to keep the sacred corner undisturbed," my uncle added, pointing to the raised platform near the neem tree. "...

The Unseen Strings: Why the World You Know is a Carefully Curated Lie We like to believe we live in an age of information — that truth is just a click away. We pride ourselves on our ability to discern, to question, to think critically. But what if the very fabric of our understanding is not merely biased, but deliberately shaped? What if the information reaching you was never meant to set you free — only to keep you comfortable enough not to look further? This isn't a conspiracy theory. It's a question worth sitting with. The world you know might be a performance — learn to read the unseen strings The Echo Chamber of History: A Grand Illusion Our understanding of the past is not a window to objective truth — it's a mirror reflecting the biases of those who held the pen. The heroes we venerate, the villains we condemn, the pivotal moments we celebrate: all filtered, amplified, or silenced by the victors. Take Gandhi and Nehru — two names that car...

She Expected Basic Self Sufficiency. They Called It Disrespect. Imagine a simple request: an elderly man, wanting almonds in the morning, is asked to soak them himself the night before. Or perhaps, to take his own plate from the kitchen. Or, after his bath, to wipe the floor he just wet. These are trivial acts of personal responsibility. Yet, in many households, when these requests come from a woman, they don't just spark disagreement — they ignite outrage, character assassination, and accusations of disrespect. This isn't about almonds; it's about a deeply entrenched system where basic self-care becomes a woman's "duty," and asking for fairness is deemed a social crime. 🙏 A note before we begin: This post is about able-bodied individuals who are fully capable of basic self-care but are culturally exempt from it. It is not directed at anyone — male or female, young or old — who genuinely cannot perform these tasks due to illness, disability, or phys...

When Parents Criticize: Learning to Respect Without Losing Yourself We're often told that parents are always right, that their experience justifies their behavior. But what happens when advice crosses the line into constant criticism? When your career, your choices, even your lifestyle becomes a source of judgment rather than guidance? It's hard to cope when they undermine your confidence, belittle your work, or question the way you live your life. The challenge is subtle: you want to honor them, but you also need to protect your own sense of self. Respect is not a right granted by years — it's earned through behavior. Honouring your parents — without losing yourself in the process Respect is often assumed to be automatic with age. But the truth is: wisdom, kindness, and understanding earn admiration; constant criticism, control, or belittling earns only tension and resentment. In many cultures, adult children are expected to absorb parental a...

Why We Still Confuse Life Partners with Housekeepers Sometimes the biggest lessons about equality don't come from books or debates — they come from a simple phone call with your mom. Old patterns have a way of sneaking in, often unnoticed. A Phone Call That Made Me Pause Recently, my mom and I were talking about an acquaintance — a man whose wife had passed away a few months ago. She mentioned his family was pressuring him to remarry. Two generations. One phone call. An old script, quietly playing. I was surprised. "Maybe he just needs time to recover," I said. "His wife died not long ago." Her reply was instant: "But his mother can't handle the house at this age. After the lady is gone, the whole place feels closed. He must get married." I paused. Then I said: "Then hire a maid. She'll handle the house chores." "But what about food? His mother is too old to cook," she argued. I repe...

Witching Hour: How Do I Teach Her? It's 2:14 a.m. The house is quiet. Too quiet. The kind of silence that amplifies everything inside your head. 2:14 a.m. — stitching herself back together without letting anyone see the seams She's sitting on the bathroom floor again, hugging her knees, the cold tiles pressing into her skin. The baby is asleep — finally. Her husband is in the other room, maybe asleep, maybe scrolling, maybe wondering what version of his wife will greet him in the morning. This version? She doesn't even know who she is. She feels like a visitor in her own life. Her reflection in the mirror is no longer a familiar friend but someone she observes cautiously — pale skin, tired eyes, hair thinned from post-pregnancy. The body that once walked confidently into client meetings and led presentations now winces from fissures, fatigue, and the fog of overwhelm. The body that once earned applause now just... endures. And this endurance...

"As You Are, So Am I": Why Women Refuse to Live by Double Standards "A man joins a adult chat app out of 'curiosity.' No big deal — he's a man, after all. But when a woman does the same thing, she is 'shameless.'" This one line, and the double standard it represents, perfectly captures a hypocrisy that millions of women live with. The very same act that society excuses for men becomes a mark of shame when a woman does it. And what's worse? This judgment often comes from men who call themselves liberal, open-minded, or sophisticated. The film Aap Jaisa Koi brilliantly exposes this double standard by showing it in two different forms. The "Open-Minded" Younger Brother He is the personification of modern hypocrisy. He joins a adult chat app, telling himself it's nothing serious — just a man being a man. He ends up talking to a woman on the app. Later, he gets engaged. "Who are you to forgive me...