It’s 4 a.m “Oh, how I wish for that old rooster to be slaughtered,” she says to herself. The neighbor’s rooster gives a loud shrill. “It’s time for me to wake up, I do not want to be late for work.”
The housewife wakes up for a long wishy-washy day. No she isn’t going to her office. She is not going to sit on a chair from nine to four. She is busy all day working at home.
She has to prepare breakfast for the entire family. The family expects her to gather firewood to make fire in the kitchen. It takes a lot of time and energy to prepare the fire. Unknowingly, she inhales all those toxic gases, and waits for hours. If that’s not enough, it is mandatory that she take a visit to the family farm to pick up some veggies.
Then it comes down to walking for an hour to get to the nearest water source. After her outing, she has to prepare dinner for the family and finally prepare for the next day.
**
It’s 4 a.m. But this time it is the mechanical rooster that rants.
“Oh, how I wish for the clock to remain silent.” But the urban housewife pushes a button to pacify it and waits for it to rave again. Finally after two cozy hours in bed, she remembers an early appointment with a client. She wakes up to a new challenging day.
She has to prepare a morning meal for the family. The family expects her to operate all the fancy culinary gadgets in the kitchen. With a press of a button, all machines go into action. With a turn of a knob, water starts flowing from the tap.
The vegetable vendor arrives and she tosses the veggies into her refrigerator. She has a hearty meal and leaves for work. Her family members just warm up the food in their microwave oven and enjoy the food. These anecdotes are not of people living in different planets or different historical eras. They are of two kitchens that are only a few hundred kilometers apart. But the difference is astounding. A kitchen in the urban areas is slim, sleek and efficient. On the other hand, the rural kitchens pump out every bit of energy present in a person.
But there is one resounding predicament in both the kitchens: In this age of gender equality, we still expect women to be the lone peasant in the kitchen!
The kitchen is not just an example of a gender stereotype in almost all societies, but the contrast in the culinary is an example of how people in different patches of the world are moving on with their lives. We may be proud of the scientific achievements made by man, but have our achievements percolated to every individual living in this world? This question remains unanswered.
***
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