Prickly Peers
Have you ever wondered why some brown women can stand up to norms and stereotypes more easily than the rest of us? We call them prickly women! Is prickliness inherent or inherited, can you build the prickly muscle to be able to achieve your goals more easily, where do you lie on the prickly meter? Join Ankita and Nalini, your prickly peers, as they talk to uninhibited brown women all over the world in a quest to find the secret brown sauce for their courage, success and happiness.
Don’t forget to follow us on Instagram and X @thepricklypeers. Or write to us at thepricklypeers@gmail.com.
See less
Prickly Peers
The "Part 2 Order": Discovering myself while transitioning from Aboli to Mrs Praful to the war widow of (Late) Major Praful Moharkar
When 17 year old Aboli fell in love for the first time, she couldn't have begun to imagine what life had in store for the both of them. Praful and Aboli didn't get to choose if and when to marry, because of the rules around Part 2 Order in the Indian Defence forces. Armed forces personnel are only allowed to cohabitate with a legally married heterosexual spouse. So, they obliged. At 23, she got married, quit her investment banking career temporarily, moved to a remote location in Jammu and Kashmir to be with the love of her life.. Then life unfolded.
In her thirties now, Aboli Moharkar lives in Pune by herself, has pivoted her career to mental health and grief coaching along with being a certified mountaineer. She defines love on a new spectrum now. She looks back at the few years of being married and has zero regrets. She has also come around to accepting the dual reality of Indian society - one where they shower her with flowers on a stage for giving the ultimate sacrifice for the nation (her spouse) and the one where she's subtly expected to maintain distance from religious ceremonies because widows bring bad luck, as per Hindu beliefs.
No matter who you are, from Aboli's story, we hope you learn to be a little more grateful & mindful about the present, a tad bit more resilient about the past, a little less demanding of war and a lot more patient towards grief - which is different for each and every person.
Love,
Your Prickly peers
Find Aboli's grief and mental health support group here and her amazing research article, on the realities and struggles of Indian war widows here.