No, I Do Not Conform....
To survive, we humans have created communities or social groups amongst us in which we follow common habits, behavior, norms, beliefs, values, language, customs, to have a sense of belongingness and much more. And we are more or less governed by them under a common roof called "culture". Culture is a choice- of how we live, what we want, what we wear, how we behave, our likes- dislikes, beliefs, ideas, values, and such other elements. While it has some universal aspects, it also varies from region to region and person to person. On one hand, it can be a force for oppression, control, and domination while on the other, it can also be a force for creativity, protection, and liberation.
We tend to make a choice, based on how our culture and identitiy is perceived by us and not by others.
Being born in Bihar and then growing up in Delhi- living away from my extended family never made me get much connected to mine. I feel society over there is not so liberal in thought and mindset (maybe because of its past culture) and is a bit patriarchal as well as deeply rooted in casteism. I'm a lot different in views and opinions and I do rebel often. I oppose their ideology, their norms, their beliefs and this is how I've grown up so far. For me, it has been always difficult to do or accept the things that I can't relate to or follow either. They consider me to be very different from them. Even, I've experienced a huge difference in the way I and my family (Mom, Dad & my Brother) thinks while living under the same roof. This is one of the reasons that after joining college I decided to stay away from my home since I can't follow every norm or do things according to them.
In this process of growing up, I created a very isolated life for myself and that became my room since a very young age. I'm always at a clash with my parents when they think about society as well as their culture and I don't. I've always tried to do be the way I felt like instead of being the way my parents thought - like their notion of a girl living according to the norms of the society.
If I were given a chance to change reality, then I would like to emphasise upon the concept of individuality, remove any system that brings discrimination/biases, and incorporate a greater acceptance towards freedom of choice. I feel people need to accept an individual without any prejudices. I've been an ambivert all my life. Though people around me, as well as my family, think that I'm an introvert person since I don't communicate much always, but I take my own time to open up to a certain people as it's not easy for me. I've always liked being by myself for a very long time keeping a lot inside me but then there has always been a balance toward the introvert and extrovert sides of mine with people whom I'm close enough. I have as well as I know a lot of people but I'm close to very few of them.
Lastly, I know I could never be the ideal that my parents/my family want me to be but I'm okay being the way I am. Although my parents never imposed any restrictions as such or maybe I just did what I wanted to by doing it my way and I'll continue to do so. Living away from my community made me more open-minded and gave me the liberation to choose my paths and make my own decisions broadly- I do whatever I feel like, I wear what I like and I'm pursuing what I aspired to.
Concept (: and illustrations <3