"In spite of being a woman..."

Celebrating Sharmila! | & ‘Gender’ing!

Well, it’s celebration time for yet another vibrant achiever!

In Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu to be precise!

Sharmila started working as a bus driver from 31st March 2023, for a private agency, and her bus route is between Gandhipuram and Somanur in Coimbatore.

Says Sharmila - 

The happiest day of my entire life, was when my dream came through! My dream of sitting in the driver’s seat, and taking full control of the 12-metre-long passenger bus,

the 24-year-old vibrant young lady who is making us all proud every passing day.

Although she has a diploma in pharmacy, she confesses that she’s always been passionate about driving.

I don’t know if many would get such a loving dad like I’ve got! That way, I’m so lucky,

says Sharmila, heaping a lot of praise and accolades on her father, who has nourished and nurtured her dreams all along.

More than a dad, he’s a friend to me, with whom I share everything – both good and bad,

says a proud Sharmila, and adds on say,

Dad doesn’t like it when I quarrel or get angry with anyone. He’s an embodiment of patience and he’s always advocated patience as the primary quality for a person in public service.

Well, in this particular ‘liberative’ post, what makes me regard Sharmila so highly, and connect her with social feminism is the fact that, never once does she utter a word anywhere that, she’s happy to sit ‘like a man’, or ‘browbeat’ a man, or ‘overtake’ a man, or ‘usurp’ the seat of a man, or ‘attempt’ to be like a man.

On yet another occasion, speaking to The Hindu, she says,

Driving heavy vehicles has always been my ambition. I got a license for heavy vehicles six months ago. I applied at this private agency and was assigned bus duty. I felt ecstatic on my first day on March 31.

Never once does she say anywhere that, it feels so nice to sit in a ‘man’s place’!

She’s always taken care to emphasize only on her own sweet aspirations, her noble longings, her vibrant dreams to sit at the driver’s seat.

Not because she wanted to overtake a man, or usurp a man’s place, but only because she wanted to realise her dreams.

Many in the media, have admired and appreciated her as having ‘broken the glass ceiling’, and for having ‘stormed her way into a male bastion’.

Many others have also appreciated her, saying, ‘Despite being a woman, she has achieved this great feat!’ 

That’s good for the appreciation part!

Indeed, Ms. Sharmila, the first female bus driver from Coimbatore has done the unthinkable!

But I personally feel that it’s really kinda unjust to say that Sharmila has achieved this great feat, despite being a woman!

It’s akin to saying, ‘In spite of being dark, you look beautiful’,

Or

‘In spite of being physically challenged, you have scored high marks’.

Or

‘In spite of being from this community, you have achieved this far!’.

All these compliments, although well-intended, are also spiteful at the same time!

In Disability Studies, there’s a tagline that advocates, ‘People-first language’.

I quote,

The disability rights movement has promoted a move away from a language of handicap towards a more empowering language that emphasises self-determination and personhood.

This people-first language approach has given rise to the use of the term ‘person with disabilities’, instead of using the term, a ‘disabled’ person.

That’s because, it’s tantamount to micro-aggression when you deny the personhood of an individual, and use some tag to promote them, which deprives them of their innate power and their unique sense of agency.

As regards Sharmila, she just wants to celebrate her life in her own sweet, unique ways!

Let’s celebrate Sharmila for what she has achieved!

Let’s give the achiever in Sharmila her rightful due! 

On this occasion, I was so elated to receive a lovely quote from Sai kiddo, that runs thus –

“Girls are a personification of celebration.”

How beautiful and how true!

Yes! Celebration! Not Comparison... in any form whatsoever!

So yes! What we need today, then, is a feminism, that ain’t radical, or westocentric, or targeted at men, but a feminism that allows women to be women, realizing that, a woman’s distinctive nature lies in her exceptional uniqueness, in her exceptional strength, and in her exceptional phenomenality!

A strength that doesn’t lie in imitations or comparisons! 

A strength that’s based on her own innate, phenomenal values!

But sadly, a woman’s uniqueness and her aura, her self-confidence and her prowess are conveniently subsumed, sidelined or denied when she is portrayed as ‘usurping’ or ‘aspiring’ or ‘attempting’ to be like their male counterparts.

We do have a study that deals with such issues, and which goes by the label, social feminism!

In short, social feminism envisages a distinctive style of feminism that celebrates the innate aura and the strength of a woman for who she is, by expanding the role of the woman in society, not by ‘imitating’ men or ‘aspiring’ to be like men, but in complementing their men folk, at the same time, without compromising in any way whatsoever - on their ‘individuality’, their ‘autonomy’ or their ‘agency’.

That’s because, social feminism believes that, even a small attempt at ‘imitation’ might result in comicality or absurdity.

As Samuel Johnson observes, “Almost all absurdity of conduct arises from the imitation of those whom we cannot resemble.”

In the insightful words of Orhan Pamuk, “As much as I live I shall not imitate them or hate myself for being different to them”.

Social feminism hence, gets along well with this quote –

“An original writer is not one who imitates nobody, but one whom nobody can imitate.”

That’s being original!

That’s being unique!

That’s being authentic!

That’s being phenomenal!

And yes! Therein lies the originality, the uniqueness, the authenticity and the phenomenality of Sharmila, the vibrant young lady from Coimbatore.

She is beyond imitation! 

To conclude then, well, it’s time we stop portraying Sharmila as ‘breaking the glass ceiling’, and ‘invading’ the territory or the domain of ‘men’, or ‘in spite of the fact that she is a woman’ etc and celebrate a woman for who she is!

Let’s give Sharmila the honour that she rightfully deserves as a woman!

Let’s not belittle her achievements by saying that, she’s ventured boldly into men’s territory.

Well, that’s because, ‘driving’ is NOT the domain of men!

It is only our subverted ‘patriarchal structures’ that are responsible for ‘portraying’ and ‘representing’ some of these professions as the ‘bastions’ of men! In reality they ARE NOT!

It’s also time we make the issue of women’s empowerment available to the masses, through the trump card of social feminism, the way 24-year old Sharmila has done, with her zeal and resolve, by having Sharmila’s rise to fame prescribed at least in one small part in our syllabi, using her own words as the liberating, textual framework. 

More power to the phenomenal Sharmila!

Interview & Picture courtesy: Media Mines – You Tube Channel

& The Hindu, dt 3rd April 2023