Women - Time to Think?

 

 Cruelty towards women is not a brainchild of the modern era. Over ages women have been subjected to crime, deprivation and ridicule, seen as the lesser of the two sexes. With renewed persuasion from the Human Rights organizations, the condition of women have come to the front pages of the world dailies.

With media raking up the issue of gender equality and crime against women, there has been a phenomenal increase in the number of cases uncovered and reported. One such case that caught my attention was the stoning of Soraya M. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Stoning_of_Soraya_M.)

Like countless women who lost a lot more than just their lives for standing up against atrocities, Soraya suffered betrayal and murder at the hands of her own husband and sons. To every woman who wants to make a place for herself in this world, Soraya shouldn't be a warning, she must be an inspiration. Incidences like Soraya occur to knock at your door, to wake you up, and to tell you that there are people fighting, there are people setting examples for you to follow.

Our society is a complicated network of powerplay where people enjoy superiority over the "weak". The question is whether you as a woman see yourself as weak or not, whether you advocate the safety of women as being covered up, hidden and sacrificial and as an endowement of a scoeity that feasts on women as a property to be protected and owned, or as a change to be incorporated in the society.

I Won't be There this Christmas Too.

All around me, people are in wake of a bitter winter, all in their own different ways. The rich throng the malls and try expensive, ridiculous winter collections. The poor cover their houses with more sacks, look for more twigs and branches in this concrete jungle. The IT people count the vouchers they get for winter shopping, the college people look forward to the Christmas break.

They say winter is the season of preparation, of love. Winter teaches the lesson of closeness and belongingness, of reveling in what and who you have - against what you would want to have. Winter is ancient because it freezes everything except time. Winter is hard and strong.

Winter reminds me of my dad, and every single time that he asks me - My dearest, it's Christmas time! I wish to see your lovely face next to the holy infant in the manger. I want to see you put up the star, I want to dance with you once again on merry carols...

Every time I plan and fail, I fall prey to one temptation after the other. This year too, I won't go. I will not be there to see the dancing light in his eyes. I will not kiss his weather-toughened skin and say Merry Christmas Daddy!" All I will say is -

Dad, I won't be back this Christmas too

Don't wait for me, I'm not coming to you

Put up the star on big old tree again

Place the holy Infant, say my name.

Think I am with you, holding your hand

Waltzing to tunes of the Christian band

Gather the street kids, give them my love

Send them a Santa cake and a pair of gloves

Beat your best drum like we always did

Tap your foot as the merry kids sing

As you sit in the chapel at the first bell gong

Close your eyes, remember Mom's song

Let the tears fall, let them wash away

But for me dear Daddy, smile and say - Merry Christmas!

Poltics - Frustrated: Wha's Going on Today?

I just clicked on Google News tab and this is what I get-
Trinamool withdraws support to UPA; Mamata says ministers will resign on Friday

MNS supports FDI in retail: Raj Thackeray

BJP accuses JPC chairman of bias, threatens to quit

And it’s the same story over and over again, everyday.
The list of scams is endless. I read about these scams and all the blame-game these people play – and I think, well, why should I bother voting for any of these cartons? Why should I pay my taxes when most of it goes into their bottomless pits?
I am frustrated with politics. They eat into my meagre earnings, the few resources I earn; they enjoy life and I pay for them - toiling 11 hour everyday; I see my future slip through my fingers and they go to lush parties with the best cuisine in the country to discuss the next policy to frisk more money. I suffer under the laws they make and see them enjoy themselves above it.
Some people will see this post and say – why don’t you go into politics and change, be in system and change the system….blah blah. Why should I? I am not the leader type. I am a people manager, and good at my job. They are there to do their job – to manage the country. If they are not good enough. e should have the authority to throw them away.
Why is a minster asked to resign only after he is caught in a scam or if he abuses someone? Why isn’t a minister fired when he or she is found incompetent? Why do we have to tolerate so much? What does a country like our which has a majority of its population under 35 years bracket listen to a bunch of old fools whose major concern is what a cartoonist drew about his governance, rather than why or what made him do that. All ego – money – power business.
Perhaps, politics in India should also have a training course and test – on Human values, truth, honesty and moral uprightness, on “how to understand that people are frustrated”, on “how to identify the real issue/ problem areas in a situation”, on tolerance and importance of giving a thought on what you have to do and not on what you have achieved (selfish achievements).
I strongly believe, a large section of youngsters have no faith in politics – they neither understand nor care how this country is run and by whom, as long as they can go abroad, earn well, or start their own business and interact with government only where official consent is needed (or you can always bribe them). i am surprised they even worry about the turn-outs. What have they done to make people feel good about the government they choose? Which was the last great law/ rule brought out aiming at the development of the country, of the youth India? Are the youngsters today they new neglected class?

"No Evidence Against 62 Accused in Gujarat Riots." Who is surprised?

Gujarat Godhara riots – latest developments : the SIT has found no evidence against Narendra Modi, he is safe. (http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/Gujarat/Narendra-Modi-had-no-hand-in-Jafri-killing-says-SIT/Article1-838214.aspx)

Rakesh Sharma’s documentary film “Final Solution”, based on 2002 Gujarat riots in India is one of the most stimulating pieces of information I have come across in some time. Though the movie takes a stance critical of the BJP government; it sheds light on a lot of parameters that determine the game of power.

A decade later, watching documentaries and reading cases make us feel very intelligent and more sensitive to human rights, more sensible and aware of political gimmick. I cannot speak for people or times a decade ago but I can definitely put forward a question in the face of millions of people who exercise their voting rights (those who don’t, they do not exist for me). How can you possibly justify electing someone as your leader when he or she has a criminal record, or for a fact you know that the person has been accused of it and is capable of it, when the person makes open speeches about violence and takes pride in it. Those speeches are good on a battlefield but not in a communally agitated zone. It beats me, whom are you trying to agitate, and why?

Then there are some places where people keep electing and re-electing thugs and crooks infamous for fraud, corruption, murder, and with a shameless record of rape and violence tagged to all male members of the family (I did not say I was referring to Jharkhand). People staying in the neighborhood are scared most of their days, on the others they are just grieving their condition.

If you see “Final Solution” and listen to those speeches made by the leaders, you will notice how gullible people are, how easily they can be manipulated. The best fire to be fed is hatred, it just keeps roaring higher. 58 passengers were burnt alive in Sabarmati Express and in reply, thousands of Muslims were murdered. Statistics say some 1100 were murdered and lakhs displaced, but that is government statistics. Noteworthy scholars have even termed it as genocide. So, congratulations, we are on par with the western world, at least in violence. At least it saved us the cost of making gas chambers and fire pits (or whatever those places they used to burn people alive). More modernized and immune to trivial feelings like humanness, we used kerosene to light human torches.

Listening to the speeches made by Mr. Modi himself, you feel like laughing at him. He was glorifying Gujarat for being a place perfectly safe (when thousands were murdered, chased away, killed, displaced), he used Pakistan and Gen. Musharraf as causes for internal insurgencies in India, and worse, there were people clapping for whatever ridiculous thoughts he put into words. I would like him to come to a sensible college now and give a speech to youngsters who care a damn about who the leader is, as far as they stay out of our way and do not enforce laws that prevent us from doing what we want. He would probably hang himself with shame (with the response he gets) or we would be learning about another terrorist attack in that college campus.

People are saying he is a very strong candidate for PM’s seat. I do not know him personally; I do not understand his politics. He may be a very dynamic person driven by the motive of growth of this nation; but I sure do understand and believe that more that dynamic economic growth, I need safety, I need assurance that if in any case I have to depend on the authorities to protect my life, they will not disappoint me, that if and when I call them to save me from a mob of madmen throwing kerosene at me and my family and burning us, they will not laugh at my face and say “You number is up.”

The supreme court appointed Special Investigation Team failed to find evidences against the 62 accused in the killing of a Muslim congress leader (62 : 1, that alone speaks a lot!). Including Modi, all others stand innocent until proven guilty. I do not know who murdered these people, someone did, and that too after the Godhara train incident. And it is not a coincidence that these people of Naroda, Patiya, Gulbarg society and other regions were all Muslims.

Well, they say youngsters are reckless and hormone-driven; they need to listen to their elders. I like that option at times. I take to the Rule Book of Elders when nothing else works. My elders have always told me, those who get away with wrong now, they will have God to answer to (though that is a desperate statement, it helps during helplessness, and I am helpless in this case). And as I see it from here concerning Godhara, a lot of people will have a lot of answering to do.

LOK-APALL DRAMA

If only News channel activities could be represented in forms of blood and sinew, it would be a crime scene on my television. I switched on the TV early morning and I had reporters attacking me from every news channel. I was so disoriented that I switched off the TV, connected to internet and sat back to know what exactly had ruffled the feathers of a silent democracy so early in the morning.

Lokpal, of course. The previous day’s bill being discussed as shallow, parties staging walk-outs and disapproval and news channels feasting on the proceedings. The scene kept going from bad to worse. We have a veteran Gandhian fasting, battling fever and deteriorating health and negative signals from Meds. The last I heard, Dr. Ashwin Mehta made a statement that the doctors strongly disapprove of continuing the fast which could lead to a renal failure for Anna.

Then again, Indian Parliament is famous for “happening” sessions, how could discussion on Lokpal be ignored in this light. Whose embarrassment is it when not even minimum required numbers of MPs were present to discuss the pros and cons of the Bill? Putting this issue on the forum, news channels had experts, concerned leaders and Heads on discussion. Congress shaded this irresponsible absenteeism under “genuine reasons”, while important people swayed between varied opinions like “being irresponsible”, “political gimmick to deem the Bill a failure” and so on. The Congress has issued notices to the absentees and I hope the matter will not go unnoticed later on as Lokpal travels further.

Customarily, there was a blame game soon after, where Congress Head Mrs. Sonia Gandhi accused BJP for bringing down the Bill in Lok Sabha, saying, “we saw the….asali chehra dikh gaya (we saw the true colors of BJP yesterday)”. On the other hand, we have SP, BSP, BJD, and BJP, all unhappy and agitated. BJP is making all efforts to drive nail on the failure of Congress to make amendments and to present the Bill in Rajya Sabha. After the President Okayed the bill, there was a lot of debate whether the Rajya Sabha would see the bill on 28.12.2011. First it was seen as not possible, then as to be seen by 2 pm, and then, finally, due to procedural delay, the Bill would be presented in the Rajya Sabha on the next day.

I definitely back Arvind Kejriwal on one question – “does this country have any laws? Is there something like a fix procedure to go about anything in this country, or is everything molded to favor the ruling party?” Other questions that I am concerned about are- if the government does pass the bill as Team Anna says, how will it change the governance in a country which has been used to bribing and sinking into corruption for the past 60 odd years? Are we, ‘the masses’ ready for sudden, clean governance? How will the public cope with it? Is Kiran Bedi right in saing that the motive of Team Anna is served, that people are aware of the need for a Lokpal in this country and are in support of it even though they did not turn up at MMRD in Mumbai or in Delhi? And the biggest question right now,before anything else, when will we have a functional, clear Lokpal for our country?

ON CHRISTMAS

It is a wonder why people wait for Christmas so eagerly. It is extremely difficult to not be happy on Christmas, but so for those who know what Christmas is. We have come to such a point in history where people justify and rationalize everything they do. If I were to ask my Dad to donate clothes to poor this Christmas, he would probably say, “Well, my dear, that is a wonderful idea and a noble gesture. But do you think it is absolutely necessary? We do not have much spare clothes to give. When you think rationally……..” and then there is not end to it.

There is this wonderful song by Declan Galbraith “Tell me why”. My favorite line in the song goes like this – “Tell me why, coz I don’t understand, when so many need somebody, we don’t give a helping hand, tell me why…” Why is it so difficult to take out some time, some of the resources we have and share them with someone who has only dreamt about it, or hasn’t even dared to dream about it? Not for the sake of making a statement, sharing is such a wonderful human phenomenon that is being lost to materialism. Sometimes I think that we should never have moved on from Barter system. A perfect give-and-take relationship where people know and realize that they cannot do without each other, where people believe that each person in the society is vital. But then, I am sure, human as we are, we would have found an alternative way of discrimination.

Dear all, this Christmas, let us bring a change – first in ourselves, in our perception of others, in our assumption of responsibilities towards others, and then, change others through us. It is never late to start a noble cause for if we believe, time itself shall stop and make way for the change we want – a change towards an equal, loving society where people live for each other. As we welcome Jesus into our life, prepare for His love, let us increase it manifold by sharing this love and hope with others. Let us identify Christ in each other, who is waiting to be welcomed into your heart, let us respect and love each other as we would do to Christ, let us rejoice in unity unto Him.

Merry Christmas.

MY CHRISTMAS

Born and brought up in a small town in south-east India, being a Christian for me was limited to church visits (we still do not have a catholic church there. Mass is celebrated at a common church for all churches or in the compounds of a Jesuit school). As a child, I never enjoyed or even understood the meaning of being a Christian but Christmas was something that every child there, irrespective of religion, waited for. For one thing, we had the Christmas vacation to look forward to, which was always a welcome stop to waking up at 5 in the morning and finding your way to school in thick fog. But of course, the main attraction was the preparation for Christmas.

One week before Christmas people will start coming and going, borrowing hay, hollies, ovens, spare decoration, suggestions and lots of love, laughter and smiles. My Hindu friends come home and help set up the manger and crib. Dad and my elder brother would put tuning bulbs and lights all around the front yard and mom would bake some 20-25 cakes and other goodies. Three days before Christmas, the carol singers will start coming. They use traditional drums and bells and there would be a Santa dressed in crumpled old Santa costume looking very merry and White. I knew who the Santa was anyways; he was a fat boy who lived down my street. On Christmas Eve we’ll all go to church and be back after Christmas Mass by 2 am. The first thing we did was keep baby in the Manger and my mom made us repeat “Baby Jesus, come to our house, come to our hearts and stay with us.” She never allowed me to keep Baby Jesus; it was always my elder brother. So when nobody was looking, I would take the Baby out, keep it in the crib box and then put him back again, believing that He looked prettier then. The next morning, till night, there would be a lot of visitors and visiting going on. My classmates would come without fail and linger around till the cakes were over. Truly, Christmas (and mom’s cakes) had made me popular at school.

This year, I am celebrating Christmas on my own. I will definitely miss the hollies and carols and cakes. I will miss my parents and my brother, I will miss my friends. I might spend the advent looking into my laptop, writing assignments or dissertations and projects but something is going to remain the same – the elation I felt when I replaced Baby Jesus in the manger. The manger this year is my heart which is aching to welcome the Lord and I will say,” welcome dear Lord to my humble heart; please stay with me, now and forever.” This year I want as my company every child that has not received the love of Baby Christ, the joy of Christmas and the satisfaction at the abatement of eager anticipation in wait of the Light of the World.

“Let the children come to me and do not stop them, because the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” Matthew - 19:14

This year, in the crib set in my heart, I want to add children, lots of children to welcome the Holy Child, to make merry and play with Him, to understand and befriend Him, to worship Him and to vow allegiance to Him.