An empress in-deed

 Let us begin with the title of our blog. Have you noticed that I have chosen the word 'empress', and not a 'queen'. Why so ? There are two reasons. The first one is that these days the term 'queen' is used rather loosely. A diva with a successful album or two becomes a music queen. A starlet with a roaring success of a film, even when manipulated and full of sleaze, can be a movie queen, for instance. Given the 'fifteen seconds' of fame-n-glory model dominant now, queens are crowned and dethroned daily.  

The 'empress' sure carries echoes of the concept called 'empire', an absolute no-no in the post-colonial context. Well, empires need hard work to build, including even those made by cruel Chengiz Khan's or the colonisers or the dictators. A sensitive and just ruler can weed out such negative connotations. On the contrary, a queen is just born or made by marriage. Hence 'empress' is a slightly better term.

Why 'in-deed'? It means 'indeed', that is, truly. Much more than that it means ' in-deed', that is through deeds, activities, actions, which are just, sincere, honest. A queen, if the extant ones are any proof, is more a decorative piece, unlike an empress.

In my opinion then, who is an 'empress in-deed' is that your question? Well, let me quote a few examples. I feel, Ahilyabai Holkar or Zashichi Rani can be an 'empress in-deed'. Neither was born to power. That is to say, they came from non-royal families. Once they were destined to be the rulers, they changed the very prototype. Every which way, they were better than male rulers, and yet they never rescinded on their womanly 'roles' or duties.

In contemporary times, who can be an 'empress in-deed'? Let me begin with rather well-known examples. Women scientists who made the Chandrayan-III or the Indian brand of the anti-Covid vaccine are 'empresses in-deed' in my opinion even when they never got the 'World Cup' kind of celebratory reception.

In other words, an 'empress in-deed' is a woman excellent at her chosen field, is true to her ideals, principles, goals despite conscious harassment and 'leg-pulling' of all varieties. She is open to criticism, yet knows how to deal with conscious viciousness without losing one's own grace and dignity. Neither does she belittle another women out of competition of all sorts, nor does she demean men in a superficially feminist way. And, yes, she is a nurturing presence par excellence . SHE is an 'empress in-deed', even without any throne!

Pratima@ She triumphed against everything consciously crafted to destroy her.