_ISHQININK28_
I don't know yet," Veer admitted. "Now tell me, Dr. Shekhawat, what do you want?"
She answered immediately, her voice taking on a deeper, more serious tone.
"Someone who doesn't turn me into a Goddess. I want someone who looks at me like a flawed, breathing, normal human."
Veer looked puzzled. "What? Isn't it the highest respect if a man treats you like a Goddess?"
"No, Veer. It's a trap," Rashi said, looking him dead in the eye. "When you put a woman on a pedestal and call her a Goddess, you aren't honoring her-you're imprisoning her. You're telling her she's not allowed to fail, not allowed to be angry, and certainly not allowed to be herself. Men use that 'Goddess' title to control us. They tell us we are the 'izzat' of the house so they can dictate how we dress and how we speak. They turn our sacrifices into a 'divine duty' just so we never complain about the burden."
She leaned back, her gaze cold. "Look at our stories. The 'good' woman is the one who bears abuse with a smile, wears the traditional clothes you approve of, and stays silent. The minute a woman has an opinion, the minute she puts herself first or stops taking someone's shit, you label her the villain. You don't see movies where a man in jeans is a villain just because he isn't in a dhoti, right? But for us, our clothes and our 'tone' decide our character."
She sighed, her voice softening but remaining firm.
"I don't want to be worshipped. I want a partner who knows I am going to make mistakes-and that those mistakes don't make me a 'bad woman.' I want someone who realizes that my life doesn't revolve around being his moral compass. I just want to be human, Veer. Not a symbol, not a goddess, and definitely not someone's property."