“The Greatest Change Has To Be Made In Mindsets”: Aruna Menon, Author Of The Month, November 2017

As a gynaecologist, Aruna Menon often comes across many women’s personal stories, and articulates her thoughts and feelings into words that touch a reader.

Every month, we celebrate 3 of our many wonderful contributors, who share their ideas, experiences and dreams with thousands of readers. This month, Aruna Menon is one of our 3 featured authors of the month.

A Gynecologist by profession, Aruna Menon is a wordsmith who writes stories and poetry that touch the woman in a reader. She also comes across as a strong supporter of women’s empowerment, and passionate about writing about relationships and gender related issues. You can find Aruna’s writing on Women’s Web here, and also on her own blog.

Writing, to me, is the best and most beautiful way of expressing my thoughts and communicating with others. It’s an outlet as well as an enriching experience. Writing makes my own thoughts clearer to me. The response I get from readers is a great motivation.

Writing is also an indelible way of creating, preserving and sharing memories. It is also a powerful medium to start and sustain change. The written word is magical – it conveys emotions and sometimes even explain actions  more eloquently than anything else including saying them. Words freeze time and are a way of preserving the impressions feelings and experiences for us as well as whoever reads the words back to a certain point in time, which otherwise may have  been lost to time forever.

What do you enjoy reading? Does any of it help your writing?

I’ve been accused of being a bookworm from childhood. I loved and still love reading. I read fiction, non fiction as well as self help books. I love reading blogs and articles. A friend of mine once said that to write 5 words, one must read at least 500.

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I do read voraciously but largely when I write, I feel I draw on my own experiences, memories and interactions with people. No doubt my reading would be influencing my writing style but my thoughts are my own.

When it comes to writing on/for/about women, what questions and issues drive you the most?

As far as women’s issues are concerned, being a Gynecologist, I’m greatly pained by female infanticide. But when I write, it’s more about emotions, relationships and gender equality. I feel the greatest change has to be made in the mindset to usher in the basic gender equality where a woman can choose a career and work towards success without feeling guilty about it.

I firmly believe that as individuals we can make a change in the community and through it, the world. Women have the power to shape the future as they tend to shape children s futures.

Do you consider yourself a feminist? Why/Why not?

I am a feminist insofar as to firmly believe in equal opportunities and rights for women in every sphere – at home workplace and personal spaces. However I do not subscribe to the supremacy of the female gender. I also feel certain gender roles are not  possible to be changed because of the physical limitations, for example the obvious ones like birth and lactation!

But yes I would give my daughter the same freedom to choose her path in life as I would give my son. I feel I have done it too in actual practice. I am fiercely independent and take most of the decisions pertaining to me on my own, within the gambit of keeping my family intact and comfortable. I feel once we define what is the “ALL” we want, We Can Have it All, with a little dexterous multitasking.

Name 3 other writers or bloggers on Women’s Web whose writing you enjoy reading.

The writers I like on Womens Web : Thats a difficult question because I echo and see reflections of my own thoughts in almost every writer I read on your forum. However as  I have been asked to name them … here they are: Tanvi Sinha, Bijaya Biswal Seema Taneja.

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