Karwachauth is a beautiful festival observed by married women in North India to celebrate conjugal bliss. The word Karwa means mud pot and Chauth means the fourth day. The festival falls on the fourth day of the Kartik month, which this year is on October 10. On this day, married women offer arghya (water in a mud pot) to the moon and pray for marital blessings.

My generation—and those before us—celebrate this festival with aplomb. The younger generation, however, sometimes feels it places women in a position of inferiority to men. I differ.

The very fact that a woman can fast from sunrise to moonrise and pray for her husband’s long life and good health makes her stronger and dearer. I often hear murmurs about why men should not fast for their wives. Today’s world is about equal rights f

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