Women Wearing White

London, United Kingdom : The Princess

A young woman stepped out of a quaint horse drawn carriage, engulfed in a cloud of crumpledwhite. And in doing so gave seed to millions of wanna-be princesses around the world. This was the complete package. Royal pomp and ceremony, tradition, stately old courtiers, soldiers on horses, a Queen, a King, several Princes and Princesses, in a church that inspired as much as it awed. 

She walked on a red carpet, a 25-foot-long swath of white taffeta flowing like a riverbehind her. The crinoline dress spread  out like a balloon around. It had taken thecollective strength of a  three coachmen to coax it and the train into the carriage that had been built more than a hundred years earlier and had been designed to accommodate the more modest outfits of gentlemen.

Her diamond crusted tiara winked and twinkled atop her golden hair. A family heirloom, each jewel had an impressive story and had been handed down through generations of aristocratic ancestors. That tiara would be returned to her father after the ceremony. 

Under the silk dress covered in lace, sequins and more than ten thousand pearls she wore an eighteen karat gold horseshoe. It had been sown in there for good luck. 

Would it be enough?

Banaras, India: - The Widow

At the exact same moment, in Banaras, India, another woman stands on the Manikarnika ghat by the river Ganges. She too is dressed in white. 

Her scalp twinkles in theafternoon sun. As required by tradition, her once beautiful long hair has been tonsured. She stands there dressed in a plain white cotton sari, her bangles,necklaces, and earrings, nose rings, toe rings all surrendered to God. The proud red mark on her forehead has been wiped out to broadcast her widowhood.

The flames of the funeral pyre dance in the afternoon sun. She breathes in the acrid smell of burning flesh, tears roll down her face. Soon her husband's corpse will be reduced to a pile of white ash. When the ashes have cooled, they will offer them up to Mother Ganges so that her husband’s soul can achieve Moksha or eternal peace and float away like a cloud.

She does not worry about the future. She will live out the rest of her life quietly and in the shadows. Her son would now shelter and provide for her just as her husband and father had done at different stages of her life.

Washington DC USA, The Lawmakers

The President is delivering the State of the Union address. He sees before him an ocean of dark blues, greys and black, with a blinding big white cloud in the middle. Itis a group of women lawmakers who have chosen this occasion to make a statement.

More than a hundred years ago, a group of women had looked into the darkness of a world designed by privileged men and had chosen to fight against it. These women chose to wear white to symbolize the purity of their purpose. The Suffragettes had worked to reverse the law that denied women the right to vote. 

The lawmakers were honouring the Suffragette and committing to continue to work for a bright future for women, this time with a seat at the legislative table. In a dark world, they were offering hope for a future in which women can take back agency over their bodies, minds and hearts.