BENGALURU: Hola my good people! As an ‘emancipated woman’ ( a term I find archaic and annoying), the month of March seems to be the one in which I am the most in demand as a speaker. Men wanting to ‘empower’ us poor ladies crawl out of the woodwork, hoping to add a blue tick to their company’s profile, reiterating that they were ‘women conscious work places’ (whatever that means!).
I must admit that I too, fall into line by mouthing platitudes like; “every day is woman’s day. Right ladies” I wait for the applause to die-down and launch into a quasi-humorous talk on creating an even playing field in the work-place and equal opportunities for women. Every year I ardently hope that all this hoopla will materialize into something concrete and things will not eventually blow over till the next Women’s Day approaches. It’s a roller coaster ride with having to pick my battles and turn hostile discussions into amiable ones.
Sometimes it looks like a very steep uphill battle but when I see a slow but positive change in the newer generation I feel there is hope! As a person I too have learned to measure and the wisdom of credentialing my words so as to receive a response rather than a reaction from my target audience. The aim is to try and create an equal and level playing field between ‘humans,’ only taking into account their talent, grit and hard-work so as to have an unbiased playground to work and play. I have been very inspired with many fabulous orators who have altered my way of being.
Instead of being a rebel and a fighter (which can only take you thus far) one can become an adept enroller who highly developed oratory skills can be used to make a succinct and valid point. Whew! Now that was a mouthful. I was happy to attend an event called ‘Shefs at The Leela,’ a brainchild of good friend and GM Madhav Sehgal, who is an equal opportunity cheerleader.
He took an idea that was very close to his heart and animatedly went about creating a tribune in conjunction with food-writer Rupali Dean, to showcase a power-house of women known for their talent and hard work. No set rules or excuses for either men or women. It was real dichotomy that a woman’s seat of power was always the humble kitchen, but in a hotel set-up the kitchen is the male bastion. It is very difficult for women chefs to enter or shine in that environment and the ones that have, haven’t really reached their full potential. That is where the germination of this idea fructified.
The concept of ‘Shefs at The Leela’ was born where women from all over the world who excelled at their craft and were willing to share, empower and inspire others through this magical culinary journey of food, were given the right opportunity to shine and garner the right ‘eyeballs’! And boy, did they! The week ended nicely with a fabulous Pan-Asian dinner and cocktails at their LGBTQ friendly lounge Kitty Ko, at The Lalit Ashok. I loved the idea that genderfluidity is now more a norm than an anomaly…