Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Feminism and reservations :


Inspired my good friends blog …

Congress in its election manifesto, promises job reservations for women. They promise one third of all central government jobs for women.

A bill for 33% reservations for women in elections is still dilly dallying in both houses of parliament.

But the actual fact is in the 2004 general elections, only 45 women were elected to the 543-strong Lok Sabha

Now I'm a strong opponent of any kind of reservations. Be it a seat in the bus or a seat in lok sabha.

Will reserving jobs for women or seats for elections, solve their problems?

Studies say, over 10 million female fetuses have been aborted in the last 2 decades in India. Every other day we come across cases of hospitals dumping female foetus. It happens in the open. Why don’t these parties, declare in their manifesto, that capital punishment would be given to all parties involved in a female foeticide ?

As high as 42% girls drop out from school at primary level. Every manifesto mentions these figures. In last two decades of modern India, nothing has changed. Girls still drop out.

We as a political system fail to address the root cause. Why because, foetus do not vote, neither do the primary school girl who drops out to be a house maid.

We have the so called feminist groups and womens rights group advocating day and night for equality and women power. With half of India being women, why don’t they propogate for a women candidate in every constituency and campaign for them. Men don’t stand a chance. But for that, they need to leave the delicacy of 5star cuisines, TV talk shows and Page3 status.


Sarojini Naidu had said – “Why do you want to make women realize that they are not at par with men? Why reservation for them when they can do equally well or even better than men in many spheres of life? Why this discrimination of reservation against women, yes discrimination. Let them gain confidence and allow them to be proud of their achievements. Let them feel that what they are today is only because they deserved it and not because they were given any special treatment or they enjoyed any special privileges.”

Saturday, March 28, 2009

Double standards by media and cops ???

We are coming across Police busting parties often, in bangalore and in mumbai.
The media end up celebrating this as if the cops have managed to bust a terror cell who would have blasted a nuclear bomb here.

The "culprits" are paraded in front of herds of mediamen, and their hungry lenses capture these people to be shown to a national audience. The so called rave party busted in bangalore, and the party in Mumbai were televised like national events.


This when, the poice provides masks for culprits in rape/murder and even terrorists .

It irritates to see young college students paraded in front of TV sleuths as if they were culprits, at the same time covering up faces of terrorists...

What rule is this ???

The guilty should be punished... My point is on the media exposure being given to such cases.

Most of them were treated by police and media like convicts, and were being paraded..

Where as they police themselves issued face masks to dreaded terrorists even when they were taken after being convicted.

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

NOSTALGIA - what we were and what u miss

Got it as a forward ,but made me nostalgic..Sharing here...


How did one survive growing up in the 70's, 80's and 90's? We had no seatbelts, no airbags and sitting in the back of a truck was a treat…

Our baby prams had the most gorgeous lead based colours… No such thing as tamper proof bottle tops… Opening kitchen cupboards was a breeze… as safety locks were unheard off…

Cycling was like a breath of fresh air… No safety helmets, knee pads or elbow pads, with plenty of cardboards between spokes to make it sound like a motorbike…

When thirsty we only drank tap water, bottled water was still a mystery…

We kept busy collecting bits & pieces so we could build all sort of things … and we were fearless on our bikes even when the brakes failed going downhill…

We were showing off how tough we are, by how high we could climb trees & then jumping down….It was great fun….

We could stay out to play for hours, as long as we got back before dark, in time for dinner…

We walked to school, or sometimes we even rode our bike.

We had no mobile phones, but we always managed to find each other…. How? No one knows…

We lost teeth, broke arms & legs, we got cuts and bruises and bloody noses…. nobody complained as we had so much fun, it wasn't anybody's fault, only ours

We ate everything in sight, cakes, bread, chocolate, ice-cream, sweet sugary drinks, yet, we stayed skinny by fooling around.

And if one of us was lucky to find a 1 litre coca cola bottle we all had a swig from it & guess what? Nobody picked up any germs...

We did not have Play Stations, MP3, Nintendo's, I-Pods, Video games, 99 Cable TV channels, DVD's, Home Cinema, Mobile phones, Home Computers, Laptops, Chat-rooms, Internet, etc ...

BUT, we had REAL FRIENDS!!!!

We called on friends to come out to play, never rang the doorbell, just went around the back…

We loved being let loose in the big bad world…without bodyguards…

We played with sticks and stones, played cowboys and Indians, doctors and nurses, hide and seek, soccer games, over and over again…

When we failed our exams we were given a second chance by simply repeating the same grade…without visiting psychiatrists, psychologists or counselors…

Such were the days… We had freedom, success, disappointments and responsibilities. ..

Most of all, we learned to respect others…

Are YOU from that generation??

Else sorry , you missed it...

Friday, March 20, 2009

Why not death for Rapists?

Josef Fritzl, raped his daugher 3000 times, after confining her to a bunker for 24 years. She had 7 childern from him, one on who he killed . He confessed to his crimes, and says he feels sorry !!!He gets life behind prison !!!Why wasnt his head chopped off ???

Yesterday a 55 year old man was arrested for alledgedly raping his daughters. His lawyer says on national TV, that the daughters are lying.He questions, how can such a thing happen for 2/3 years with no one knowing ? Matter is subjudice, let the law decide. Worry is when ???

Another case in Shimla, teachers rape their students and are arrested. Medical examinations prove the rape.

2 and 3 year old girls get raped by maniacs whislt they are sleeping and get thrown into the gutter. Media covers it for a day, and they forget this. The poor girl sadly was not story material.

An excerpt from Times, which I read few months back, where the court asked the rapist, why he shouldnt be given death sentence?

Resorting to an unprecedented interpretation of criminal law to ensure "true justice" in the rape-murder of a six-year-old girl, whose body too was subjected to conscience-jolting treatment, the Punjab and Haryana High Court on Tuesday asked a man, convicted for life for the heinous crime, why his life sentence should not be enhanced to death. The post-mortem of six-year-old girl, who was raped and murdered by Ibrahimin 2001, revealed that a 10 cm-long piece of sugarcane was found thrust through her vagina into the lower abdominal cavity.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Chandigarh/Why_not_death_HC_to_rape-murder_convict/articleshow/3625783.cms

Child abuse being treated like another petty crime is a shame on our rich tradition and culture . The same culture which is quoted for everything necessary and irrelevant . But when it comes to such a dastardly crime, our law makers take the cover of giving him a chance to repent, or may be his is a maniac, so treat him and what not.

Why should he be spared??

Would we still argue, capital punishment is cruel ??

Would we still say, he is mentally not sound and should be treated and brought back to society??

Why shouldnt the parents of that 6 yr old girl be allowed to shove a sugar cane piece up his *** and leave him to bleed to death ?

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Our Birthday !!!

Me and ammu are seperated by a day .. Im born on March 16th, and she on March 15th.

I have hardly celebrated my birthday as a child, except for the privilege of going to school in color dress and distributing chocolates to neighbors. And college life gave me the luxury of waiting for birthday cards, and mine-o-mine , what a wait that was... The sight of the post man would send chills down me. Reading through those cards were like having recieved a billion dollar treasure.


Much has changed. Started being part of Ammus birthday celebrations ever since she was born. Last year we celebrated our birthday in an old age home. This year I wanted it to be in an orphanage. I had my doubts on how the kids may take it. They live a life of bare necessities, and would they be able to accept a child of their age coming in and celebrating her birthday? We decided to go ahead with it, by making it a party mode for the kids.


We had a cake cutting, lunch and then gifts for the kids. They were given enough balloons to blow and burst, which seemed to be the best fun they had. Ammu also seemed to be in her wits with the kids, mingling well with them, posing for snaps and bringing out smiles.


My birthday is shared with some very special friends. Whoever that said online gives you fake relations, was an idiot. Come and see my friends. My twins ...born on the same day and who care to share for each other ..The levels of which cannot be interpreted.


I was away from my dear one on my birthday, that guilt still pricks. Had plans for having a great day in bangalore. I had over 100 wishes on my orkut scrap book. A good number additional in FB . A very sizable number in my mobile. What more does a hungry for care person need ? I was so happy .. The icing on the cake was that we got the best vendor award from TATA tele in kerala.

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Why cant we party ????

Bangalore works 24 hours..

We earn the most foreign money for India..

We are the IT capital ..

Why does banglore gets a differential treatment when it gets to unwinding ???Its not even about partying...

Hyd is open till 1 am.. Mumbai goes till 1.30 - 2.00 am..

The cops dont throw you out ..Travel across the globe and u see night life starting at 12 mid night..

In bangalore, we get thrown out at 11.30 and then they treat u as if u were some anti social elements..I have had my share of such experiences, where cops havent let guests finish their food, and forcefully made them leave, using abusive language ..

Bangaloreans are much better in terms of civic responsibilties and our records on crime and hooliganism are much much low compared to most Indian cities..still..!!!

Now on Sunday morn party was busted and 110 people taken in to custody and paraded in front of TV cameras as if they were terrorists from across the border.The allegations against them,

a)Its a Rave party - crime and judgement before the medical tests came out, not to mention no drugs were discovered at the venue

b)Thinly clad girls - Since when did short skirts and nodle straps become a crime ?

c)Obsene dance - Is there a secetion to punish someone dancing ? Then all doing salsa and jive on TV should be behind bars.

d) Loud noise- To borrow words from a friend in a social forum "How about the neighbourhood orchestras that are organised by the local rowdies with the bahana of Ganesh chaturti that doesnt disturb you ? Even with those C grade artists who will sing for 200 bucks and who sounds like he just got mothered by his wife and vice versa ?And jobless neighbours who burst crackers when the great 11 men in blue win a match over war torn Sri Lanka doesnt disturb you ? "

What wrong have bangaloreans done to deserve such a bad treatment ??

Friday, March 6, 2009

Possessiveness ... Good/bad/ugly ?

How possessive can one get ???
Started writing on this and i got stuck...

have not been a person, who is too possesive..

But at times, i have noticed that part in me, which turns and twists from being possessive to protective and then defensive/offensive..

Is being possessive good ??

Is it an invasion into the other persons privacy?

Is protectiveness good/bad?

Should we be possessive at all ?

Will await some thoughts ...

Cheers to Vijay Mallya

I'm so happy that Vijay Mallya bought the Gandhi souvenirs and is bringing them back to India. At a whopping $ 1.8 million or Rs 9 crore, he didn’t hesitate to buy back what deserves to be in India.

Still amuses me why did the government not interfere in Gandhi’s heritage being sold like Madonna’s wardrobe under the hammer??

Isn’t something that belongs to the Father of the Nation not prestigious to us ,that it was left to be sold by a James Otis in New York?

I had a strange feeling that an Indian business tycoon would step in to save the day .We after all have 3 Indians in the top 5 or 6 in the Forbes list of richest people. No one seemed to have paid interest, but for few rich American desis like Sant Singh Chatwal. Vijay Mallya deserves the credit for stepping in at the right time.

Though it’s a matter of Irony, how much different Vijay Mallya is from Gandhi and his schools of thoughts.

Where as Mallya lives out on a life of sheer luxury, a play boy image, calendar shoots, designer wears, and what not …and Gandhi’s life in itself an example on how simple one can be.

More ironic that Mallya made his fortunes selling liquor and Gandhi stood for its abolition.

Would Gandhi be happy to know that his memorabilia is being brought back by paying dollars from a liquor tycoon’s chest?

No guesses…

But Cheers, Mr. Mallya.