Optics are great for “women’s empowerment”. For the euphoria, the hope and the promise they bring. Like a self-reflecting selfie, they become a commitment, a nation makes to its people. The euphoria will deflate, like tricolour R-Day balloons. But the image will stubbornly live on: on mobile phone screens, on “vote-for-me” hoardings, on 8th March TV show montages, on Memes!  Banking on the stickiness of optics, I stick my neck out: 2015 is going to be a great year to be an Indian Woman. “How dare I!” you rightly scoff. And I respond – with a Listicle. Wing Commander Pooja Thakur led the Guard of Honour at the Rashtrapati Bhavan for Obama and I sat proudly straight. As the all-women contingents marched smartly past – their air no nonsense – I pranced in front of the mirror to see if I still had the spring in my step. Modi’s ‘BetiBachao, Beti Padhao’, the ‘Sukanya Samridhi Account’ can potentially hold these dreams by the hand and teleport the little girls to the Rajpath – tossing  their heads in crisp salutes – raring to do-or-die, for the nation. 

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