Defying stereotypes…
I’ve just finished a trip through Rajasthan with a lovely group of women. Sitting on the rooftop of The Raas in Jodhpur at sunset, knowing what sort of life was going on around us, I was aware of how rare it is to have time to soak up such atmosphere in the company of like-minded women.
It makes my heart sing. We stayed the last few days at the Lake Palace in Udaipur. We had to reach the hotel by boat. On one journey, I got into the boat with 10 muslim women from Kuwait. They were traveling in a group of 27. No men. They were laughing, singing and looked so free.
They even sung a song to me including my name, saying basically viva USA and viva Peggy. Sweet, head covered women in western clothing, happy as clams. Not at all what we imagine. It broke a stereotype. Muslim women from the middle east travel? Together? They laugh and have fun in foreign countries, taking pictures on their cell phones just like us. They blog. Not all of them are living a life portrayed on the news.
Women like getting together to do purposeful things and share their stories. We have fun together. I’m not saying that men don’t. We do it differently.
I was thinking for instance, why men don’t usually like to shop. They are not often fashion conscious, but more importantly, they are not thinking multi-dimentionally. We shop for ourselves, our loved ones, the house, etc. We like to feel the material and look at beauty. Our world is big.
We live in a world of propaganda and I believe it’s a move towards peace every time we get out of our own country and see what’s really going on.
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