Ludhiana Man Breaks Barriers By Naming His Shop “Gupta And Daughters”
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We live in a country where no matter how far we progress, the male child is always seen as superior. “ABC and Sons” or “XYZ and Brothers” have always been something that has graced shop signboards across the country. Whether you are from Kashmir or Kanyakumari, this has been a common sight for every Indian. However, it looks like 2020 is bringing a progressive new spin to this age-old trend. A contractor named Manoj Kumar Gupta decided to name his pharmacy after his daughters with the title “Gupta and Daughters” after his daughter, Akanksha.
An Inspiring Change
Manoj Gupta won praise for his forward-thinking endeavor and his story of gender equality went viral all over social media. The contractor also has a company called “Gupta and Sons” that deals with the construction business. However, he sought to venture into pharmacy three years ago. With that came the idea of dedicating and naming a shop after his beloved daughter. He gave the proprietorship to his daughter, who is studying to be a lawyer. When asked about his family’s reaction to his decision, he had said, “It’s a symbol of gender equality. When I told my family about it, they were all happy despite some initial reservations about a different sounding name. But I had made up my mind.”
His daughter Akanksha has spoken about how she is extremely proud of her parents for taking this initiative and for setting examples for society by breaking gender stereotypes. Her older brother, Roshan Gupta chimed in and said “In India at least, we have not seen or read about anything like our father’s initiative,” He added that in his family, he was taught to treat women equally. Roshan is an MBA graduate. The reason Major Gupta started his second venture was also to give back to charity. Gupta and daughters have a tie-up with the group, Sikh Welfare Council, and provide free medicines for those who are less fortunate. Talk about good samaritans!
Unsurprisingly… Not The First Ones!
While you may think that “Gupta and Daughters” is the first business to loudly proclaim the stance that women are equal to men, they aren’t! After the original post went viral on Twitter, many took to the website to share some of their own instances of spotting this interesting twist on names. Many users shared images from their own neighborhoods and towns where this phenomenon has been observed. It’s nice to see everyone from various backgrounds like a rickshawala to a tour and travel company displaying their ways of breaking the stereotype.
A Twitter user shared the image above and wrote, “Breaking the stereotypes… Felt good to see that common people have started having faith and confidence in their daughters, that too in a place like Haryana! :) Kudos to goyal & daughters!!!”
Entire Village Named After Daughters
An entire village in Himachal Pradesh named Mawa Kohlan has residents that have stepped up and named their business establishments after the women in their families. During a village function that was devised by the panchayat of the village, police distributed cards that would entitle parents of only girl children to some benefits to encourage gender equality. Unfortunately, this particular district has one of the worst sex ratios in the entire country and the panchayat is looking to implement certain schemes to fix that. Earlier the deputy commissioner, Rakesh Prajapati, had announced that regardless of a family’s financial status, the district administration would assist the girl’s families by providing an amount of around fifty-one thousand rupees around the time of the girl’s marriage. Prajapati has been going out of his way to improve the status of women in this village and the neighboring villages. Earlier, he had honored around sixteen girls from nearby panchayats for performing remarkably well in their respective fields.
It’s beautiful to see the society change and evolve as we go further into the 21st century. While most of us are in gloom due to the ongoing pandemic, it’s lovely to hear a heartwarming piece of news every now and then. We hope this interesting trend spreads to other parts of the country and gets adopted in some of our big cities as well. After all, we’re should all be equal in life. Do let us know your thoughts in the comment section below.
