The Empowered Men of Women Island…..!

The Empowered Men of Women Island…..!

I was flying solo across the Atlantic. It was a pleasant Monday morning when I took off from the Lajes airport, an Island airbase of Portugal located around 1500km west of Lisbon. The tail speed was perfect, the air traffic control cleared me to fly at an altitude of 3000 Mts.  Shifting to auto pilot mode, I pulled out my favorite family photo frame to have a look at my two little daughters, my wife, ma, my niece and my two elder sisters. These wonderful women are the source of my energy.

Within an hour I was into the blues, below the sky above the sea. The saffron, white and green tricolor logo on the wings were the only other colour which gave me company.

Ever since I started my trip, I followed a daily ritual of practicing running commentary describing the ambience. It was a self-imposed practice to improve my communication skills. The dreamer inside me was visualizing that once I complete my solo trip across the globe, I may be invited to deliver lectures in B-schools, seminars, and corporate forums across our country. But, then again I had this phobia of public speaking. What, If I can’t communicate, I will be considered a dumb even if I have achieved something extraordinary.

That Monday morning was my 21st day of solo flying and self-lecturing. One of the statement I made was “Had the world been like the Atlantic Ocean, without any shopping malls it would have been a wonderful place to live. Least our wives would have disturbed us”. I was mastering the skill, except that there were no well-dressed audiences to applaud my speech.

When I regained my senses, I was surrounded by a large audience. The only difference was that they were not wearing ties and blazers and nor was I delivering any lecture. I was in severe pain and the audience did not understood my language. Their attire was not like ours. The women were tall, athletic and beautiful like the models in the ramp and the men were equally tall, slightly bulky and had more smiling faces. One such good looking man helped me to drink some coconut water. All the men and women were wearing similar kind of dresses made of jute like fabric. Most of them had fair complexion.

It took me sometime to realize that I survived an air crash. I was lying on a sea beach, my head facing towards a hill full of tiny colorful houses and trees. Before I realized what was happening, they brought a stretcher made of fresh green creepers tied to bamboo. A pair of men and women carried me to one of the most beautiful and cleanest house in the hill. Inside the house they shifted me to a hanging bed made of similar creepers. It was almost dark by the time I was inside the Intensive Care Unit of the city. A male nurse was assigned to take care of me. He was muscular, bald and had a super pleasing personality.

In the evening I saw through the window, families gathered near the beach and lighting fires. They were having a fest, dancing to the tune of the drums. Lying on the bed I recall the statement I made in the morning that day of Atlantic Ocean…Shopping malls ….. Disturbing wives. Suddenly I realized, why was I blaming my wife, after all she spends only few hours in the malls,  on the other hand I was away touring the world for days while she was taking care of our family. Am I biased? or is it always that  husband thinks good of wives only when they are in pain! Thought I.    

15000 kilometer away, a worried wife was waiting outside the office of Sq Commander at Hindon Airbase, Ghaziabad. It was more than 24 hours without any news of her Husband. As per the reports last received from Indian Embassy at  Portugal , the aircraft lost contact with the Air Traffic Control Lajes,  71 min after take-off at around 7.36AM local time. Two Naval vessels and an army choppers of Portugal were engaged in the search operation, precisely at the location were the aircraft lost control with ATC. The Sq Commander assuring of all possible help requested my worried wife to go home and take some sleep.

Back in the Island, two women boarded a small boat and sailed out into the sea in the early hours of the morning. It was an empty boat without any fishing net. The boat returned back in the afternoon accompanied by an officer in uniform. The officer was summoned to communicate with me. He was of dark complexion, tall and spoke broken English. He introduced himself as Mr Auto Von, a German officer on special duty based at St Sulious. He enquired me of my port of origin, my purpose of being in the sea and few other relevant question. He further, informed me that the Male Nurse attending to me had allowed me to stay in the island for seven more days. Before he left, he instructed me on few do’s and don’ts of staying in the Island and assured me to make arrangement for my safe return through the Indian Embassy in Germany. On the evening of 23rd day since I left home, my wife received a call from Ministry of External Affairs, informing her of my whereabouts.

My experience of next seven days in the Island changed the way I used to perceive things in life.

Later I came to know that, in 1941, seven Jews family managed to embark on a small boat to escape from their home country France. Their Country was under attack from Germany. There were 27 members on the boat. The boat collapsed near a virgin Island. 23 survived to reach the island, 3 men and a child died in the mishap. The families escaped the ruthless aggression of Hitler only to land in tougher, terrifying and   challenging condition. For the next few months, it was a fight for survival for the families. Overcoming hunger, thirst, wild animal, pain and disease were an everyday challenges.

Five months later there was the first celebration in the island when a baby boy was born to one of the women. The man whose right leg was lost in the boat mishap took to babysitting of the new born child. A grown up child who was a champion swimmer at her school took to fishing. From wood cutting to hunting women & men shared their responsibility. In three year the Island looked like a village. In course of time more children were born. The responsibility of bringing up the new babies were equally shared by all. The grown up boys and girls were taught all kinds of survival skills and responsibility were shared based on capabilities not gender.

Twenty years later an American Journalist landed in the Island, who was once a decorated war hero.  He was surprise to see the people of the Island happily sharing their responsibility. Like me, he too stayed in this Island for a week and went back with wonderful memories. When the article on his experience of staying in the island was first published in New York Times, people across the world hailed the bravery of these women and the unique country they have created. Later a common conscience was created to save the identity of the island and a resolution was passed by the United Nation to let the Island maintain its status quo without any interference from other nation.

A week later Auto Von, came to take me back. My wounds were yet to be heeled but my experience of staying with these wonderful people heeled my soul. In this Island women are never complimented for climbing a tree nor a men is looked down for babysitting a child. Among many good practices, one  things which I especially liked about the Island is that every male prior to starting a family has to attend a compulsory pre and post pregnancy care training program. This training helps a man to understand the complete physiological and behavioral changes a women goes through during the process of child birth. The husbands takes all care of their partner. By doing so, the bonding and mutual respect for each other becomes stronger and also happy and healthy babies were born.

Finally I was given a grand farewell by the beautiful people. My wife came to Frankfort airport to personally receive me. During our return journey I shared my experiences with her. I told her that, I had a feeling that our goddesses like Ma Durga, Saraswati, and Lakshmi must have originated from this island, after all women are so much valued and respected. She smiled without responding to my statement. After a while she counter questioned me “Do you think the one who gave birth to you, need to prove her strength in front of you?”  Later she answered to her own question “Only an empowered soul can understand and respect the strength of a women, probable the men of the Island are empowered souls”  

Back home, I tried sharing responsibilities with my wife like the people of the Island. My mobility was restricted, so I prefer to stay at home. Most of the time I remained busy with my two little daughters. While my wife had to manage the home, I made it a point to share some of her work and was finding pleasure in swapping responsibilities. The fact that I am swapping responsibility also made me realized that household work like arranging cloths in the cupboard which usually is not considered as work is actually a tough duty. My wife complimented me for doing a good job for arranging the cloths in the almira. I too learned the art of compliment and felt that it played a major role in maintaining a happy relationship.   

Now, I feel I would have remained deprived had I only restricted myself to flying and going on adventurous trip, assuming that these are only men thing. Somehow I started thinking good of my wife even when I am not in pain. I am fortunate that, I am empowered to share more responsibilities and the best part is, in return I started feeling good.

My public speaking skills mastered during the solo trip, was never been practically tested. After all I could not achieved anything extraordinary. But, recently I got a safe opportunity to share my experience with a group of ladies in a kitty party. Knowing that I will get 100% acceptance, I gave my maiden speech on “Empowered Men of Women Island”. As expected my speech was applauded by all, more because I dared to implement my learnings.

Few days ago, during our old boy’s school reunion party, I was at the receiving end of my friend’s humour, not for sharing my story with the ladies but for practically implementing my learnings. I smiled because I knew, till now my friends are only empowering others. Once they get the opportunity to empower themselves by sharing responsibilities they will experience the ultimate bliss in life.

Story conceived by

Abhijit Bhattacharya

ongc.abhijit@gmail.com