Stay creative...

There was this conversation with a dear friend on phone . Recently married, she was narrating her experience with the change in life. Then the conversation turned to how marriage slows down a woman's career. She gave the example of another friend who has just stepped into motherhood .How she is dealing with the mental conflict of her sphere of influence shrinking down to the baby and the home chores complexed with the husband's lack of cooperation.

I  listened to her and said 'perhaps those professional women who have some creative outlet cope up better in such professional breaks. Creativity could be in general such a wonderful channelizer of all negative energy and frustration into something absolutely marvelous.'

I had slept over the thought  and perhaps would have forgotten about it completely had a fantastic article  not been shared on my FB wall.

Reading it I realized that even people who are creative face deep frustrating rejection of their work. This could perhaps blunt their creativity and make them give up.

 But a truly creative spirit turns the table around and makes a rejection a trigger for creating something awesome .

This is exactly  what two Irish designers Mark Shanley and Paddy Treacy  did by Turning worst client comments into Posters! (Click on the link and have a look at the posters ) . The posters were exhibited and they became so popular that within 5 days of exhibition they raised thousands of Euros and donated it to a Children's Hospital.

So hold on to whatever creative tools you posses you never know when it would turn your life around. Ok! if thats a bit exaggerating it might just turn around your mood or outlook . Not a bad deal at all!

Stop making rapists at home !

I am a regular reader of the IHM's blog  " Life and Times of an Indian Homemaker". I came across a post on her blog titled Mera Tharki India : Can we have more such music please!  which was awesome .

I watched the music video on Youtube. As expected there were only 5000 and odd likes for the video while silly and obscene ones become viral in no time. Even though my blog doesn't have a great traffic yet I would repost this one here and share it in my limited sphere.

The  sexist item numbers camouflaged in catchy rhythms and music  are proliferating and I yearn for sensible lyrics . Songs that are not designed to demean  and malign 50 percent of the species and what more creating a competition among bollywood divas to dance to such tunes. Badmaash Babli !! what crap.

This video is a positive attempt to point out that rapists don't come from anywhere else they are nurtured and produced in our very own homes.

Mera Tharki India!!!

What should be the age limit for being called Juvenile?

Juvenile . This word had left me raging as it covered up for the 17 year old rapist of the Delhi gangrape case. The reports made it evident that he was the most brutal and perverted of them all and yet his age made him escape punishment.

Today I read about the verdict in the Steubenville rape case and in days I felt good. I am proud of the parents you stood by their daughter .

That said I am really worried about the word juvenile. While they are arguing over reducing the age of consent I am wondering about the age bar for being a juvenile. The Steubenville case was scary considering the complete lack of morality and humanity and was  stunning cos they were all teens . Though we can't dismiss it saying that happened in US . A recent gang rape case involving all juveniles (victim and the rapists included) makes it evident that Indian teens ain't far behind.

WHO defines child as every human being  who is below the age of 18 years ,unless under the law applicable majority is attained earlier. 

Children!!! I am rethinking over where to put the limit tag to think that innocence and purity of heart is still alive ... 

who is a juvenile??? I keep wondering still .

More than that I wonder to what limit are we pushing our children that they cross over the bridge without crossing the age.

I read this poem by W.H. Auden ' The shield of Achilles'  when I was 17 . These words had shook me then and now they almost sound like a prophecy.

                       A ragged urchin, aimless and alone, 

                          Loitered about that vacancy;

            a bird Flew up to safety from his well-aimed stone:

             That girls are raped, that two boys knife a third,

                                      Were axioms to him, 

                           who'd never heard Of any world

                              where promises were kept, 

                    Or one could weep because another wept. 

What do you think should be the age limit for being called juvenile??

The Dark Truth

I am really excited after watching the first episode of Satyamev Jayate. It not only has great substance but covers an issue in a wholesome manner. I am so glad that it started with an issue that is immensely close to my heart. I wanted to write on the issue of female infanticide and foeticide but all I could scribble was a story titled Dear daughter. I would like to congratulate Aamir Khan and the team of Satayamev Jayate to have lived upto it's promotion and airing a talk show on national television that touches the soul of India and brings out the real face of our society.

The first time I got the whole picture of the issue (despite being a doctor and more so an obstetrician in making I  wasn’t aware of what heinous crimes my fellow doctors were capable of) when randomly I bought a book named “Dissappearing daughters “ at the airport while waiting for my  flight. The book has a Prologue by Dr. Abdul Kalam  and written by Gita Arvamudan , a journalist.

 It starts from the authors journey to a village in Tamil Nadu where female infanticide was so rampant that there was news of  tiny skeletons being found. That was back in 90s . Today of course with technology at hand and portable ultrasound machines  foeticide is more common. There is a whole list of facts in this bookthat took me aback... some of which surfaced in the show Satyamev Jayate

1.      I always thought South Indian population was better educated and it was the North Indian poor states with rampant practice of  dowry  where this crime happened.

Correction: Some South Indian states  have a very deeply embedded dowry system and infanticides were pretty common. Though the dark truth was fiercely guarded.The law if enforced usually caught the  mother who at the end of the day had no claim on her own body and was already a victim.

          2.The doctors involved work in a nexus as a business and were untouched despite the relevant punishable laws. I knew this one but I had no clue about how deeply set this trend was and how easily someone trained to save lives could indulge in  murdering humans in utero. May be I am naive

but it was the hardest fact to digest. Makes me really sad.

3.       I thought that such things would happen in case of uneducated people with lesser means to support a living as they can’t afford dowries in the future.

Correction: These incidences were more among educated people with good standard of living. It is more problem of a patriarchal mindset rather than education level. Besided the technology is more easily available to the ‘educated ‘class.                                                                                                                                

4.       I thought women of lower socio-economic status suffered from this injustice.

        

Correction- Women of higher social strata are no exception. I was shocked to know that NRI women were brought to India for sex determined abortions as it was not easily available in other parts of the world.

Satyamev Jayate interviewed Dr. Mitu who was forced and then tricked to determine the sex of her babies . Then she was forced to abort the twin girls she was pregnant with. She is a doctor . Her husband is an orthopaedic surgeon and there is a long list of well educated people with Phd’s and what not in her in-laws. This is unbelievable.

5.       The fact that sex ratio per thousand when converted into absolute numbers could be such scary monster figure. Aamir gave the latest stats that with the present rate of foeticide there would be over 2 crore men without women to marry.  This is horrifying even to imagine. No wonder we are witnessing a rise in crime against women. Are you still surprised at the frequency of gang rapes these days ?

6.       Human trafficking , polygamy and pattern of migration. This was new to me 4 years back but that very year The Hindu did publish the story of this startling aspect of the declining sex ratio.

When DIMARU states ( daughter maru states : Punjab, Haryana , Rajasthan, UP, MP) had a scarcity of women a new trend started emerging. The worst aspect of female foeticide. Women from poorer states like Bihar, Jharkhand , Orissa and southern states were purchased and migrated to these states to function as ‘wives’ without status. In a family of 4-5 men a woman would be bought and first act as a wife to the eldest and after a son was born she would be shared by other men of the family. Polyandry began to become a trend. As specified by a Protection Officer on Satyamev Jayate show these women have no status , their children are neglected... they are always at the risk of being abandoned , tortured and sold again. A lot of then face language problems and have no way out of the situation.

Some states practice exchange marriages where a brother and a sister are married into a family only when there is a match for both the brother and sister. These end up in bad marriages. A woman’s story narrated in the book showed the ill effects of such marriages. She was married to a younger guy just because her brother’s marriage was fixed to the guy’s sister. She bore the burden of a dysfunctional marriage so that her brother’s marriage is not affected.

Satyamev Jayate's first episode is commendable. Awareness is the first step towards change. If a society remains in denial we cannot expect a social changed. Pessimistic views would be heard over and over again but saying 'Yes this problem exists'... saying 'Yes we acknowledge it ' .... saying' Yes this monster exists'\ and it is our own making' would be the first step towards a better future and a way of life...

The most important message I guess is that it is a social problem and the absence of the daughters that were killed in- utero would inevitably effect the lives of the daughters who were fortunate enough to be born. 

Determination...

I will find my sun....

It is but natural for a flower to struggle and defy all obstacles and finally peep into the face of the sun. The sun which nourishes it's soul ;is it's  motivation... driving force ... Even a flower doesn't relent till it grows far enough to find it's sunshine. 

Then why is it so that we settle down for things that are not our "sun". Jobs that don't motivate us ...partners that don't complement us.... routines that fail to nourish our souls ... why do we bow down to the rut? ... sulk yet stay there in that sinking dark ...

I wish to be like this flower that grows a little further everyday to find the sun ... even if it means just peeping through a chink.... I wish to find my life force my element and not settle for the rut and the  obvious scripts handed over by the society...

This flower symbolizes an  urge to know ones own rhythm and motivation and reason for being.

P.S. Just a random mobile click...

Blindness (a dystopian satire with black humour)

‘Blindness’, by Jose Saramago, a Portuguese author and a 1998 Nobel Laureate in Literature, was an intense read. Originally written in Portuguese the translated version was interesting in the sense it lacked the interruptions of punctuations and the dialogues were free of inverted commas yet the flow was so marvellous that not for once I was confused over what was being said and by whom. The Observer called it ‘extraordinary’ and a critic called it  a ‘dystopian satire’. I bought the book in December 2010 at Mumbai Airport and finally finished it yesterday.

It’s a fable about a white blindness that suddenly strikes a man and spreads over the city to whoever comes in the vicinity of a person struck by the ‘white blindness’ (the person sees everything white rather than black ). The first reaction of the government  to this mysterious blindness is to quarantine the blind . The quarantine turns into a trap where crime spreads . The rationed food is confiscated by blind hoodlums who first extort precious possessions and money and then are taken over by lust leading the women inmates to turn into offerings and subjected to orgy. Then comes the point where one of the oppressants is murdered and the blind gather courage to revolt and a fire set to kill the hoodlums shatters the gates of the quarantine releasing the inmates into the city which has turned into a greater  hell of endless blindness.

Amidst the spreading unexplainable blindness an Opthalmologist’s wife never loses her sight and witnesses the moral degradation ,destruction ,misery and hopelessness while she tries to keep her group alive  . The novel puts forward how easy it is for humans to turn into animals , how fragile our social systems are. The most basic needs like drinking water and having a place to defecate could turn into such luxury and blessing. As the author says “ A glass of water is such a marvellous thing “.

 A stench of rotting food , faeces and the dead spreads around the city .Groping in the white blindness people still try to hold on to wealth , an old lonely woman feeds on raw flesh,a solitary woman chooses to die on the streets rather than lonely in her apartment ,a young beautiful girl learns to love an old man and a dog learns to wipe tears when humanity is dying in the luminous blindness.The blindness actually is not about the sight its rather about the ability to “see”. “ Blind people who can see but do not see”. The author so beautifully pointed at the blindness that we carry through our lives unable to see a fellow human and respond in a human way. It is such a disturbing  but wise tale .”Blindness” shows up every now and then all over the world when societies are stable and when they are not. Amid all this it is hard to predict human behaviour as the author wisely says...

“You never know beforehand what people are capable of , you have to wait give it time, it’s the time that rules, time is our gambling partner on the other side of the tableand it holds all the cards of the deck in it’s hands , we have to guess the winning cards of our lives”

‘Blindness’ is an eye opening book.

Snakes and Ladders

Remember that board game with ludo on the opposite side... all you needed was a dice , an opponent and those flat colored dots to represent you on the board. Well it would be hard to believe that somebody of our generation didn't play that one. The game had a start and a finish point with a 100 steps ... lots of ladders and as many snakes... colored , spotted/striped snakes with fangs and that forked tongue ready to gobble your dot and shift you through there long tortuous body to a far far lower square .... eating up all your lucky dice throws. The ladders were the high points .. I loved the one which took you straight to the nineties row... Snakes and ladders was the more adventorous version of the Ludo game which is also was about reaching the destination. You raced your opponent without being eaten up by the snakes. Anyways in this video games era the little ones would give me a look of disdain if I suggested a board game like that and would be labelled uncool for sure. But somehow today the game flashed in my head as I tried to see it through a different looking glass. Life sometimes is like that game of snakes and ladders. A twist of luck and you achieve the unexpected though it happens as infrequently as the ladders in the board game. The Snakes are more real in this harsh competitive world today. All your hard work can turn to dust in a second and you are back to square one. But what is the game all about... to my eyes it is all about rising up after falling down...but in totality it's about rising .... ladders are the obvious means but snakes are the hidden ones.... cos once you fall you rise .. it's inevitable...but you have to be willing enough to throw the dice again...
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No place for a world citizen...






Kalashnikov with Russian president



China is competing with the United States in millitary might by testing a new jet plane recently while US recently talked of cuts in the millitary budget by $78 billion dollars. The millitary expenditure hence is a mindboggling figure and it's a mad race of determining deterrence by hoarding more and more sophisticated weapons. The arms race that started betweeb US and USSR  during the cold war era  isn't abating . The START III treaty is being discussed and I am always befuddled by the numbers of warheads agreed to be deactivated. Imagining the cost of research, construction, maintenance , training , security and then deactivating is beyond the capacity of my tiny brain. But I do keep wondering when the G-8 countries talked about the inability to contribute to the Millenium Development Goals ,as earlier promised , under the pretext of the global financial crisis, did they compromise on the military expenses. I haven't fully grasped the concept of investing such humongous sums of money on agents of death and destruction. I am flabberghasted that  Kalashnikov the inveventor of deadly AK-47 was awarded hero of Russia.

       

         Perhaps all this could have been digested better if this was happening in  a world of affluence and equality. Then again the world was never equal , it's just a humanitarian philosophy and a utopian dream. When billions and billions dollars go into pumping up the military might of the developed world people in an unfortunate world steal grains from the lowest rung of creatures in the food chain. The Hindu reported a story of mass starvation in  drought stricken West Africa in june 2010. I have heard about people eating rats and roots but this shook my soul . With livestock dying and food prices soaring people in Niger were struggling to survive by eating leaves and collecting grains from ant hills !!! The following picture made me wince with pain and pity...              

                                                                               

                                                        

.             Nevertheless these horrifying stories of misery draw  brief attention  but don't lead to change of policies in the  developed world  that never ceases to exploit and flourish. Individuals and organizations work in humanitarian interest but invariably they all fall short in fighting the corruption, crimes, brutality, politics, destruction and war. Jeff Knaebel fell short too. He claimed to be a world citizen . The American millitary policies disillusioned this mining businessman so he  left everything and migrated to India. Here he worked for social causes and strived hard for an Indian citizenship. Even tearing off his American citizenship document could not win him Indian citizenship. He immolated himself on  Repulic day near a Buddhist shrine leaving whatever   money he possesed for charitable purposes , meticulosly dividing specific amount for each cause. Is that the destiny of a man of good intentions , generosity and humanitarian purpose?
                  
               In a divided world alarmingly competing over death and destruction, shamelessly indulging in genocide, increasingly overpowered by corrupt minds and  hopelessly losing a human face ..... is it surprising that there  is no place for a' world citizen' .......

Haron plese

Well even I took time to decipher that one. No my english vocabulary is intact and this ain't any European language. That is an inscription on the back of a truck. Does that ring a bell? Well I was travelling today  and this truck halted in front of my car at the traffic signal. Lost in my thoughts I absent mindedly read 'HARON' inscribed in bright blue several times. It was only after my gaze shifted to 'PLESE' that I was enlightened and I almost burst out laughing. That was the most ridiculous, innovative , blunderous distortion of 'HORN PLEASE' I have ever seen. With " बुरी नज़र वाले तेरा मुह काला '' as the standard prototype tag line accomanying the 'HORN PLEASE' the rear ends of those giant carrier machines could be real entertainers if you are on a long road journey involving highways. I am sure as you read through this one you would definitely recall some similar  distorted far from grammatic english that made you smile for that innocent display of ignorance without a clue.

                    PS . Have you ever been to a '' CHAI- NESE RESTAURENT" ?

Honey we shrunk our brains...!!

Yeah our brains are 10 % smaller then our anscetors. The latest research brings about this startling fact. So are we losing our minds as we are getting more advanced? or are we getting dumber with all the social networking, tweeting, texting and multitasking ? or is it that we are simply nearing the doom of the species? I thought we were getting smarter.

 Scientists are puzzled and put up different theories the most soothing and convincing one is that it is because we are more advanced and it's easier for us to survive so we don't need an extra grey matter. But it hasn't ruled out that it might be a dumbing down process. After all we have lost grey matter the size of a tennis ball!! Thats a whole lot of intelligence lost. Humans have worked tremendously hard to make their surroundings comfortable, safe and technologically advanced. We have reached a time where distances have shrunk, time isn't a barrier, communication is swift, almost everything can be canned , preserved, exported and purchased. People just need to earn and all is available at the nearest mall and that too on great discounts! All we need  to learn is how to operate in this hi-tech world . Reminds me of the movie 'The Gods must be crazy' where the narrator says that the humans became so advanced in the cities that it required 10 to 15 years of education for their children to learn to operate in that world. How true! So when your kid already an expert in texting on phone and using the internet looks all surprised and disgusted when he learns in school that milk comes out of a cow don't be alarmed .Perhaps the tennis ball of grey matter went away with all the  trivial taken for granted facts , some of the wisdom  and a lot of morality. My only hope is that our humour stays intact after all we are becoming light headed :P.

   Those who feel sad at the loss can find solace in chocolates cos a latest research ( of cos done by scientists from Hershey institute ) says  that chocolates are healthier then fruits when it comes to antioxidant content. And even  if the wrinkles on your brain are decreasing Loreal shall always ensure we wont have them on the face either :D :D. 

On camera

The spy cams are on sale with a discount offer.The the companies make sure you are aware of it through regular unwanted sms. I keep wondering what is the use of open sale of such products except to jeopardise peoples privacy. With all those technologically advanced cameras incorporated in phone sets its so handy for anyone to not only  to intrude but violate others privacy.
        The latest MMS circulating in JNU campus shows no matter how much we harp upon  improving education and curb deemed universities the rot has set in . JNU is the apex institute known to have generated and cultivated the best intellectuals in the country. This incident shows that education sans morality is the order of the day. The open  internet comments  on the issue were even more disheartening. The problem is the mms is probably still circulating and those who condemn it might have not restrained themselves from watching it. The girl left college without graduating. Whether she was a victim or a party remains uncertain. But  I see it as a discouragement to parents who send there girls to pursue higher education in such institutes.
     This loss of privacy and innocence is going to escalate. The inventors and innovators do not think about the far reaching implications of these gadgets. It isn't safe for girls to live in PGs cos they might be taped through hidden cameras , it's not safe to use trial rooms in shops cos you never know somebody might be using a camera. Girls can't be too trusting of their friends and boyfriends. These gadets are proliferating and flooding markets and luring the young and vulnerable minds with ever increasing consumerism . There is however a complete lack of check , restriction and laws as regards these technology tools. Being exploited , filmed , threatened , blackmailed  and blemished would become the order of the day if concrete steps are not taken in this direction.

PS. I was wondering how many spy cams have already been sold?

Spectrum

How would you feel if you enrolled in a new government initiated integrated graduation and postgradutaion course and when you are about to finish the five years you come to know that the institute cannot provide you a degree? worse how would you feel if you  gave up an engineering course to enroll in this course?Sounds like a nightmare. Doesn't it?
        Well that is the plight of the IISER (Indian Institutes of science education and research) students. A concept , started in 2006 aspiring to provide these institutes the same status as IITs ,has failed to carry the promise. The reason is simply lack of a law that would empower them to grant degrees. It  was hard to fathom the despair of students who once enrolled thinking they becoming the first batch of an excellent course.I was surprised the  government  could not pass this bill in five years!!  The reason the bill couldn't pass even this winter session was even more enraging. The 2G spectrum scam sapped away all the time of the winter session . Hence the fate of some brilliant students hangs in air .
       The scam is  a definite blemish on the existing government and a symbol of how deeply entrenched corruption has become in the system that a minister in office indulged in irregularities eating away public money while playing quid pro quo with telecom companies.Despite his deeds in 2007 he was reappointed the telecom minister and even after the allegations he continued to be in office. But deeds like these have more far reaching outcomes then what is directly visible. The monetary loss to the country is ofcourse there but the non passage of the above mentioned bill exemplifies how the spectrum of these scams can extend to overshadow the future of the citizens. The bright and promising career of some of the brilliant minds hangs in uncertainity because the parliament was too busy tackling whether there should be a JPC or not. The opposition party ( which sometime back was in deep mess when the Liberhan Committee report finally saw  light after thirteen years) was too busy pointing fingers at the ruling coalition (as the tables turned) to allow for minor laws to be passed . Then we have a CVC who himself is not free of corruption charges and still he is being backed up. .So 2G's  spectrum digged out  another scam -the  Palmolien case .Even if these are false allegations isn't it the responsibility of the government to appoint someone who has a clean record . Don't we have any other eligible candidate for that post.
             Alas! when one scam exposed brings out more and more dirt and mud slinging the bland topic of degrees of mere 79 students  can't possibly pull enough attention. They can wait for a degree because this nation is too busy  producing and dealing with scamsters .

 Summers in childhood meant mangoes , vacations and that fizzy drink in bottles that had a sweet teasing taste and that gave us funny burps that irritated the nostrils . Inspired from coca wine and kola nut flavoured citric acid non alcoholic drink called coca cola was a treat in summers .As we grew so did that carbonated drink not only the sales but the brands and flavours. Then cola companies became international giants who spend millions on just advertisement Now of course its perrenial , omnipresent, celebrity endorsed (Heck I don't understand why they keep making new ads every few months) and almost acquiring a cult status ( remember youngistan!!)  . Off and on in controversy for contaminants and with absolutely no nutritional value surprisingly it has a great hold on the markets. People consume it all over the world just guided by the taste buds and hardly bothering about health and cost effects. Cola for sure is hard on teeth and the sweetness is just additional calories. In short unhealthy. So what is the secret of cola . Is it the magic of marketing? Is it cos it's another symbol of US hegemony and there 'thurst upon the rest of the world ' American lifestyles? Or is it the magic of fizz? . Whatever the reason it has side tracked other healthier beverages (like tea, coffee , milk products (chhachh , lassi), panna, fruit juices, lemonade, coconut water). I personally have shunned carbonated drinks for more than a year.

   However there is good news that finally Indian scientists at CSIR have come up with a herbal carbonated drink which is under trial . I was glad that they were thinking and working on those lines .I hope that they produce a herbal cola that give a healthier lifestyle to not only Indians but rest of the world.This is a pleasant relief and hopefully we will see it in the markets in a few years. 

SEN.. tenced...

The latest Frontline issue has an extensive coverage on the rigorous life imprisonment to Dr. Binayak Sen. I was deeply shocked at the verdict. He was in prison for about two years when he was given a bail in 2009. A doctor who left a bright future to work selflessly for tribals in Chattisgarh . A human right activist who is acclaimed the world over for his work and had a lot of international support during his imprisonment. A selfless person who has evidently not harmed anyone ends up a life term .
            The government and the medical fraternity has always been trying to find ways to motivate doctors to go to villages. But it's hard for anybody to have five to eight years of rigorous studies and then subject oneself to hardships in a no resource, no progress and no  gain scenario. In this context his efforts to save the tribal population from malnutrition and diseases like malaria made me deeply admire him. His crime  of being associated with maoist seems to me like  ploy to silence a voice for human rights. How many people have the courage to become barefoot doctors. I know I don't have that. I am well aware of the fact that the greatest internal threat to our country is naxalite extremism . It is however a complex problem and government insensitivity and judicial incompetence can lead to aggravating the situation and further deterorating people's faith in a government. The Frontline issue has questioned the severe punishment and clearly brought out the flawed judgment. I was thoroughly dissapointed by the statements of two politicians ( who in my eyes are credible and I have  respect for) in this regard. This verdict is in a sessions court and definitely this is going in the higher courts but one begins to lose faith in the system when rapists , murderers and  scamsters get away and the selfless and innocent bear the burden.

on paper

Walking in bookstores and buying books is one of the most delightful activities for me. So much so that in the past few years I have turned more into a book hoarder than a reader. Trust me I am unable to resist the temptation. One such walk in session I wondered at the number of books and authors. It seemed as if almost everyone writes . I suddenly saw an image of a rainforest immersed in a pool of black ink. Zillions of words printed on what once used to be a life form. I meant paper. If you ask me despite loving the electronic medium I can’t live without paper. Its feel, its appearance, Its smell, it’s presence is almost divine .
The pleasure of reading for me revolves round those printed papers. But still that day the number books stacked around me overwhelmed me. I remember a quote that said ‘ some books are to be swallowed , some are to be chewed and some to be digested’ and definitely what lay around me maximally fell in the first category and may be not even that . What I was looking at definitely fitted the category of ‘information overload’. A lot of people have well defined tastes and discretion about what to read. Most people don’t read. A new category of people has emerged who do read but they are smart. They use electronic versions to read. So what am I trying to bring forth ? Am I convincing myself for e- reads or am I simply irritated with the new breed of authors (specially home grown ones). Or am I coming to the conclusion that its futile haunting book stores? None of it actually and yes am irritated with the rat race of techies writing love stories as if there is nothing substantial to write. It seems even I can compile my blog and make a book and expect someone to make a movie ( is this my hidden desire surfacing .. how crappy). Let me not embarrass myself and quit chaining thoughts without an aim( as per my last post). Let me say it’s more about my appreciation for the presence of paper in our lives way back since the papyrus. I still have all letters from my friends intact with me. This year I am trying hard to reconnect with my friends from different phases of my life through electronic letters but the hand written ones are precious. In this fast world we tend to both underuse and overuse paper. But as I pictured a rainforest dipped in ink. I believe we need to rever it. We need to learn to use it the right way. I remember reading it somewhere that Gandhi ji respected the worth of paper and used the space left in even in old envelops. No matter how high tech the future becomes I believe the thrill of writing on a fresh sheet of paper has no compare and so does the nostalgia of an accidentally discovered handwritten note from a grandparent (who is no more).

"LIBERTY IS LEARNING, YOU KNOW"

The pencil makes circles over the word ‘The’ in the book ,as a 60 year old prisoner, Hanna Smidtz, learns
 to read by matching the words written in the book with audio tapes . She loved reading but was an illiterate
and too ashamed to admit it that she accepts life imprisonment rather than accepting her illiteracy.
      Still mesmirised by Hannah smidtz  , the Oscar winning character of the movie ‘The Reader’ , played
by Kate Winslate, I was truly inspired when I unfolded the newspaper today.Those words that make the title
of this post are of Kimani Maruge. No world leader. Just an ordinary man with an extraordinary zeal to
learn,which took him to school at the age of 84 ( a Guiness book world record).
      A Kenyan caught up in the turbulent Mau Mau revolt in his youth , he failed to attend school as a boy. But the intense desire to be able to read Bible for himself drew him to school at an age when most people wait for death. And he was true to his words that he would only stop only"  if he goes blind or dies" ; nothing
stopped him. Cancer didn’t; loss of his home which was burnt in post election crisis didn’t; being displaced
to an old age home didn’t. Nothing but death stopped him from going to school. Two years away from
completing his primary education , Maruge , the man who travelled in 2005 to New York to urge world
leaders to press education for poor , died at the age of 90.
       Even the newspaper imbibed his undying spirit and printed his picture in class room sitting, with little
boys ,hunched intently over his notebook . As his pencil moves on his notebook I imagine a sparkle in his
eyes and am filled with awe as his unfathomable intense desire to learn seems to reflect from his wrinkled
bony face.

(At last) it's written!

Year 2004 ,there was a small column in news about a book of fiction . What took my attention more than the plot was the fact that it was written by an Indian beaurocrat and that it was immediately signed up for a motion picture. I eagerly waited for the book. Saw its copy in June 2008. Did not buy it because I had no time to read.
Somewhere in September 2008 I read an Anil kapoor’s ( an Indian movie star) interview in which he mentioned about a movie off from an English director.He had no clue about the director .Though he didn’t refuse the offer When he casualy mentioned it to his son, he was astounded and told him that he was a great fan of this director and the offer is not to be refused. He accepted.
The film sweeped the golden globe awards . It was released in the theatres in early December but I was too busy again to watch it. So it’s like I didn’t get to read the book or see the movie ,I took track of for almost 4 years . Then came the biggest honour . The Oscars. The ‘Mozart of the east’ got two Oscars in one go! It was the front page news and a national frenzy. Slumdog Millionaire a motion picture directed by Danny Boyle based on Indian beurocrat Mr. Vikas Swaroop’s fiction Question and Answers was a hot news. It spoke of the misery of slum dwellers and destiny . Amidst the great frenzy and the flash lights I wondered where did the slum kids who acted in it go. The very next day I saw a complete cover up on the kids in the Hindu weekly supplement and then there was the Oscars dinner where these kids pictured with Dev Patel in the celebrity dinner. At the same time there was another Oscar for a short documentary about a girl Pinky who had a cleft lip. It showed how a surgery transformed her life. Pinky got international fame and so did the plastic surgeon who would have done that work anonymously for years. So it was a happy scenario . I almost equated it with the fairy tales we used to read and enjoy. It was like all the bits of news were reaffirming a fairy tale to me. I was ecstatic to the extent I wanted to write something on it.But I didn’t. Then when the excitement was over I thought was it not pseudo-fame for these slum kids! They reached a place even the most famous stars from India haven’t reached . They are flashing smiles in fashion shows and magazine covers . But what comes next when the media flashlight shifts to something else. They need news. They made a great show out of the murder of a fourteen year old girl and the misery of her parents for months and then it suddenly was wiped out from the scene like it never existed. It has to happen. Thereafter how do these children deal with same miserable life again , having tasted success and grandeur. While I was busy with these thoughts there came the news that the child actor Rubina’s father was arrested for trying to sell her off. So what changed in Rubina’s life? May be she was saved just because she is famous now or may be she was being sold at a high price because she is famous now. Well again I wanted to write something and again procrastinated. So I neither read the book nor saw the movie or write anything.
Last week after my exam I finally watched the movie and particularly admired the never give up attitude of the protagonist and the tenderly woven love story. The next day Rubina khan was in news again because her slum was destroyed by the municipality. I thought I must write something because it’s been long I have been postponing it.

The beginning...

Kamala and Bimla, raised by wolves,never learnt to be human let alone learning the nitty gritties of feminine behaviour. In short it's the socialization that makes 'humans' and definitely 'being a girl' is taught.The process starts from birth and under the same roof differences in bringing up exist with a sad subtlness. This is so engraved in the society that even the most liberally raised women can't deny its suffocating shadow.
This blog is my attempt to unwind and write about things which actually initiated my 'affair with words' about a decade ago . My first poem 'WINGS' , represents the first encounter with this subtle, suffocating web of demands on a human ,born feminine.
Eve shared a bite of the apple of wisdom with Adam. This was called the blame and burden of Eve that led to banishment from garden of Eden to the mortal world full of misery . But I believe that 'bite' was her bold quest to say 'no' to ignorance and her generosity to share it with her beloved... what came later is her magic and not her fault....

COGITO ERGO SUM

Professor Higgs thought of the, unknown ,wonderful particle responsinble for mass of matter and called it Higgs Boson or the ‘God Particle’.A falling apple made Newton think.He realised the force of gravity (which of course existed much before apples existed). The mass of water displaced by weight of his own body made Archimedes run yelling “Eureka “.My thoughts are reeling somewhere in between’ mass’ and ‘thought’ itself . I am wondering what should I give more importance to..A ‘God Particle’ could give mass to everything existing, gravity may make us aware of it and we may actually experience the ecstacy of discovery through realising principles of physics. But somewhere in the realms of the human mind , in those wonderfully arranged cytons and axons lies an unmatchable thing. A thought. Abstract ,in itself, arises in an unknown territory and ends up in defining everything around; in creating and destroying people, communities, countries and empires. Aptly said ‘The empires of the future are the empires of the mind’. When gravity is defied , as in the outer space, weight exists no more. Only thoughts remain.Verified by astraunauts that in outer space only thoughts make them feel their existence. To put it in the words of the French mathematician and philosopher Rene Descarates ‘Cogito ergo, sum’ meaning ‘ I think , therefore I am’. Since human beings can think therefore all the chaos and harmony exists . It couldn’t be more correct that everything begins with a thought. Thoughts become actions. Actions guide everything around .
The Karma theory that is the essence of the great Bhagwadgita has its roots in the thoughts. The way a person thinks shall define him or her eventually. Actions are so many times an end result of a crusade between thoughts of negative and positive intent. Ironically the absence of action is also an attribute to a stalemate of thoughts. Indecisiveness is the result of lack of clarity of thought. Impulsiveness is an avoidance of thought. The mind can’t rid of thoughts. Heaven and hell exist in the confines of thought.When thought dies memory fails , events blur and the thoughtless moment goes non- existent only to be defined by the boundaries of the thoughtful moments.
No wonder all self help authors and orators stress on the power of thinking . The great thing is there is no restriction on thought . It isn’t the territory of the rich and influential. A peasant’s thought could be more glorious than an emperor’s. Here I feel I can’t think anymore. All I conclude is that thoughts should be handled like babies. Thoughts should not be neglected. Thoughts should not be overlooked or dismissed because they have the potential to create both disasters and miracles.

THEORY OF FUN

For a very long time I have been living with the idea that I miss all the fun things in life.’ The fun things ‘ I stop and muse . Let me define fun for myself today. Fun for me is when I can be truly myself. When I can appreciate and be a part of nature. When I can yell at the top of my voice and sing and giggle without being interrupted. When I am with people who would listen to me and enjoy my company without judging me. This is what all comes to my mind . In essence, I observe, I talk abstract.For this moment I would like to move away from me and observe the world around me. Fun can have different meanings for different people . ‘Fun’ can be innocent and it can turn sinister and in some situations can be labelled sinful. Some people abstain from ‘fun’ because it may not be the norm or may not be righteous. Here one should not think of just erotic things. Even simpler pure things are included. We stop making paper boats and dancing in the rain as we grow up . Not that we don’t enjoy it anymore . Just that we are too old for it or we are afraid of looking childish or even that we forget that we enjoy it or simply because we don’t want to look funny for the sake of fun. But people device other methods of having fun as they grow up. The enjoyment may shift to sports, music, travelling , reading , dancing , movies, friends and myriad of things. Fun gets transformed into entertainment, ecstacy , adventure . Some people give into hazardous activities like smoking, drugs, alcohol, rash driving, sexual acts and sexual perversions to seek the devilish high. Fun transforms to an unquenchable thirst for more. The quest never ends for some and some live in a puritan world thinking everything tagged ‘fun’ is to be avoided. I am trying to understand fun in its essence . Neither as an elusive glamorous superstar nor as a path to evil. Just fun as it is.
It’s fun to watch children playing. It’s fun to listen to people knowing different languages trying to communicate. It’s fun to eat ‘golgappas’ with friends by the side of the road. It’s fun to feel the rain on your skin. Its fun to smell the earth after the rains. So all the senses can make us experience fun . Sometimes its an amalgam of all of them like watching a movie munching on pop corns and sipping on a carbonated drink. The senses have a peculiar character. They tend to get used to a stimulus . So we can have the same great feeling with the same stimulus many times. At the same times there could be exhaustion and sensitization so that a greater amount of stimulus will be needed to experience fun again and again. People who live for fun have to search for a greater thrill everyday to keep them alive. Ironically as the world is becoming more and more advanced with better resources of fun and entertainment, more and more people complain of boredom. To the proportion that I fear at some point of time it might as well be labelled an epidemic.
I am contemplating that may be fun is misinterpreted .It’s just a state of mind and the senses just the tools to experience it .’Having fun’ might actually be related to the ability rather than the availability . So may be ‘I miss on fun things in life’ isn’t a problem at all because I haven’t missed on the ’ability to have fun’ ,sometimes even in the mundane.