Should study well, get a job, stand on one’s feet / We are not ready to lose our spirits over what people say / It’s my choice what to eat and what to wear / We too have a thousand dreams and wings to fly / No need to cover us with gold or wrap us around with silk, it’s enough you see us as us.
These are some of the words of a new song called ‘Angane Venam’ – That’s how it should be – released by the Department of Woman and Child Development (WCD), Government of Kerala, as part of its ‘Ini Venda Vittuveezcha’ (No more compromise) campaign. The original song is in Malayalam, sung and composed by Arya Dhayal, a young singer from Kerala. The catchy poetry is the work of Sasikala V Menon.
The Woman and Child Department has been, for the past several months, giving out a series of inspirational messages in support of gender equality and against gender discrimination. From promoting girls' education to women's freedom of choosing what to wear and abortion rights, the campaign addresses the many injustices towards women, practised through generations.
The new song was introduced as "a musical dialogue that corrects anti-woman thoughts." It also said, “We [women] decide how [our] lives should be.”
Here are the original lyrics of the stanza mentioned above -
Nannai padikanam joliyum nedanam swantham kaalil thanne ninnedanam
Naatukar chollunnathokkeyum ketitu mood off aakan njangal ille
Enthu kazhikanam enthu dharikanam ennulathokkeyum ente ishtam
mohangal aayiram njangalkum unde paariparakan chirakumunde
ponnil pothiyanda pattum chuttanda njangale njanalayi kandal mathi
In the video, you see Arya roaming about in western clothes, through beautiful landscapes and unused rails and city roads, joined by other young women, all singing in chorus and dancing to the song. The chorus goes: “angane venam / kaalam maari kolam maari njangalum angu maari.” Meaning, that’s how it should be, times have changed, forms have changed, we too have changed.
Watch: The Song ‘Angane Venam’