God made two images and mounted them on a stone he named one man and the other one a woman but the when someone asked him how he would distinguish between them all he did was he planted a drop of tear below her eye…
I mean did God already decide the fate of a woman that she would bear all the consequences and then in retaliation just cry her heart out… like it is the only way of cleansing her soul!
Well the status of a woman since then has not changed at all. So what if she chooses to work and help the family by contributing financially? It certainly does not relieve her of her household chores! The catch here is, it is her decision! So she has to pay a price…
Women's liberation has brought about changes they say but I ask changes in what ways? I mean is slogging inside and outside the house liberation? Or is liberation doing additional work because you've stayed out during the day or you stay up whole night pleasing your husband… he can't do without you remember? Questions like these are controversial but truth always hurts! I have hardly heard anyone proudly saying" my wife contributes equal money and I contribute equally in the household activities". The day men say these lines that will be true liberation and not otherwise.
Earlier women were not allowed to work and hence she worked inside the four walls of the house but now that she has been allowed to work why should she work double her capacity? There has been hence no change in the workload and the pressure she has from the house or outside by her boss.
Facts and figures prove beyond doubt that two thirds of the men do not participate in the household activities at all like they were made only to get money for the house. And among those who do help it ranges from six to eleven hours a week. And imagine her state if she has children the workload is almost tripled! And then there are no specific hours she chose to work so she can also choose to sacrifice on hours of sleep or even that one or two hours she needs for herself! If you thought that the over the years the situation has changes you are highly mistaken because it has just become the opposite. Now because of mounting pressures of finishing work on time and also juggling with her children's studies because they have testes almost every second day she has also cook, clean, dust and satisfy her husband everyday because he loves her remember?
And then the eternal fear also rests, if she does not satisfy him then he will immediately start looking for pleasures outside!
What can a woman do? How does her being a woman exempt her from work? Why can't men understand? All she wants is a little bit of co-operation and understanding. She is not asking the man to quit his job but all she asks if she ever does is help her out in the chores and also make her life a little less stressful!
I certainly don't think that this is asking for too much women have never shirked responsibility but they have always managed to balance both the sides. The only thing which remains unsaid but left to us to be understood is that she is a human being first and not a woman!
Sunday, November 20, 2005
Thursday, November 10, 2005
this is funny...
What's in a name?
My mom has never liked parents who christen their children with names of Gods and Goddesses! If you were to ask me why I can rattle off an explanation which is not only weird but also very amusing…
My mom teaches in a school where she really hates it when she has to scold children… screaming at them saying " Narayan why are you such a pain?" or screaming, "Ram when will you learn to behave more decently?"…. Or perhaps, "Saraswati please come dressed properly…" They are some of the names she has never liked. For that matter it does sound very strange because it sounds like you are actually screaming at God and even though it is only a name my mom finds it very uncomfortable and keeps blaming their parents for putting her in such an awkward situation.
Then you have names of those people who are very much unlike what their names suggests them to be. Take for example Komal I mean how can you possibly call a loud mouthed and rough woman Komal? Why would anyone call a dusky female Ujjwala? Or for that matter why would any be named Neelkamal when he or she is not blue but wheatish? How can anyone call someone Prasad when he never wants to share!
Theres another incident that comes my mind every time I think of names. I had a friend by the name Sorry well you don’t have to be sorry because her parents aren't! But the best thing is that the teachers in my institute got very confused. I remember this friend of mine who once happened to ask her name and Sorry replied Sorry. "No, no what is your name?" "Sorry", this went on for about 5 minutes, both of them got very infuriated and it took some time for me to make her understand that she was christened Sorry.
Right from the Shakespearean times names have always been a tag attached to one's personality. They also in themselves are attributes and names always connoted the same. Agreed that virtues and vices could be the best description of a person's identity but that was then… when we did not have any underlying meaning for the same. But now I find it very funny when Sorry told me that her sister is called 'Believe me'… I mean 'Believe me' that’s her name! And that’s not all, there's another sister… and her name is, hold your breath… 'Hate me'! And this is the absolute truth, believe me!
Well this is just a few of the weirdest names I have ever heard. But imagine a name like Patience or Gratitude… makes no sense right? Well two of my friends in Namibia are named Love and Peace. Don't ask me why… I have no idea. For me these names are plain weird. My friend Believe me once told me how she felt very weird the first time she was dumped because she had no idea why her boy friend kept making so many attempts to convince her that he was not interested in her anymore. I believe he kept saying Believe me, believe me I think we should not see each other any more. She naturally had no idea why he kept addressing her twice!
So that’s what names can do. I guess parents ought to be a little more thoughtful. Because believe me, Love is actually patience and I know you will never be Sorry about it!
My mom has never liked parents who christen their children with names of Gods and Goddesses! If you were to ask me why I can rattle off an explanation which is not only weird but also very amusing…
My mom teaches in a school where she really hates it when she has to scold children… screaming at them saying " Narayan why are you such a pain?" or screaming, "Ram when will you learn to behave more decently?"…. Or perhaps, "Saraswati please come dressed properly…" They are some of the names she has never liked. For that matter it does sound very strange because it sounds like you are actually screaming at God and even though it is only a name my mom finds it very uncomfortable and keeps blaming their parents for putting her in such an awkward situation.
Then you have names of those people who are very much unlike what their names suggests them to be. Take for example Komal I mean how can you possibly call a loud mouthed and rough woman Komal? Why would anyone call a dusky female Ujjwala? Or for that matter why would any be named Neelkamal when he or she is not blue but wheatish? How can anyone call someone Prasad when he never wants to share!
Theres another incident that comes my mind every time I think of names. I had a friend by the name Sorry well you don’t have to be sorry because her parents aren't! But the best thing is that the teachers in my institute got very confused. I remember this friend of mine who once happened to ask her name and Sorry replied Sorry. "No, no what is your name?" "Sorry", this went on for about 5 minutes, both of them got very infuriated and it took some time for me to make her understand that she was christened Sorry.
Right from the Shakespearean times names have always been a tag attached to one's personality. They also in themselves are attributes and names always connoted the same. Agreed that virtues and vices could be the best description of a person's identity but that was then… when we did not have any underlying meaning for the same. But now I find it very funny when Sorry told me that her sister is called 'Believe me'… I mean 'Believe me' that’s her name! And that’s not all, there's another sister… and her name is, hold your breath… 'Hate me'! And this is the absolute truth, believe me!
Well this is just a few of the weirdest names I have ever heard. But imagine a name like Patience or Gratitude… makes no sense right? Well two of my friends in Namibia are named Love and Peace. Don't ask me why… I have no idea. For me these names are plain weird. My friend Believe me once told me how she felt very weird the first time she was dumped because she had no idea why her boy friend kept making so many attempts to convince her that he was not interested in her anymore. I believe he kept saying Believe me, believe me I think we should not see each other any more. She naturally had no idea why he kept addressing her twice!
So that’s what names can do. I guess parents ought to be a little more thoughtful. Because believe me, Love is actually patience and I know you will never be Sorry about it!
Wednesday, November 02, 2005
this really happened...in manipal
Tiger by the tale
Forty five minutes after I was over fed on the myths surrounding our tiger circle, I was returning to my hostel room. The road was lonely but I was contemplating if it could be true that tigers actually came evrynight and sat near the circle to hold their daily meetings?
Walking through the roads of MIT, I saw the shadows of these two guys walking behind me; their shadows encroaching on mine with every light that passed me.
Ten minutes later, I was with my friends again. Rima, Megha and Kriti were seated in this lonely dark patio enjoying the rain. I wanted to share my renewed belief about the circle when `GRRRUNT!’ Only Megha heard the strange noise. “Oh come on I’m sure you are making it up,” said Rima. “No I hear a grunt.” she claimed. Rima retorted by saying “Oh shut up Megs, it’s probably a pig. The worst it can do is sniff you up and go." We started giggling like nine-year-olds. Just then Rima heard another grunt. “GRUNT!” No, actually it was more of a roar but in lower decibels! But trust me it was more than enough to get us scared. I laughed at Rima and then I heard it too. And so did Kriti. We were shell shocked, all of stood close together- stuck I could say. “Grunt! Grunt!” That was it .We ran screaming at the top of our voices, loud enough to make anyone deaf! But we couldn’t care less. My main aim was to reach Ananya mess or just reach the watchman. “He would certainly help us,” I assured my already worked up soul as I was leading (the race to safety). We must have reached the end of the block when we heard it again. “That hideous noise” snapped Megha. Rima stopped to look back. We all did, but could not see a soul or any animal. Sudenly, something yanked me from behind. I yelled, “Oh my god! The beast has caught me!” Turning back I realised it was only Rima. My calculative mind could only work out short-term strategies for safety. But I guess I failed (miserably!).
We summoned all the might we could and ran screaming…desperately, wondering why the gates we so often see didn’t seem closer than a few miles atleast. Was it the beast that was doing this?
We ran through the rain, hysteric from the experience, embarrassed from our reaction, and tired from the exhilarated run (we so needed after the amount we eat each day!). Soaking wet; we looked at each other and refused to go to the bathrooms alone that night, lest the beast chose to roar up the commode as well!
We changed uninhibited…the beast made everything a community experience.
We did think about it as soon as we settled down to our normal selves…and there were many theories going about…it could have been one of those beefcakes whose shadows were passing me by an hour ago. One of them could have been a perfect ventriloquist…or could the myth of the tiger circle finally be coming true?
Forty five minutes after I was over fed on the myths surrounding our tiger circle, I was returning to my hostel room. The road was lonely but I was contemplating if it could be true that tigers actually came evrynight and sat near the circle to hold their daily meetings?
Walking through the roads of MIT, I saw the shadows of these two guys walking behind me; their shadows encroaching on mine with every light that passed me.
Ten minutes later, I was with my friends again. Rima, Megha and Kriti were seated in this lonely dark patio enjoying the rain. I wanted to share my renewed belief about the circle when `GRRRUNT!’ Only Megha heard the strange noise. “Oh come on I’m sure you are making it up,” said Rima. “No I hear a grunt.” she claimed. Rima retorted by saying “Oh shut up Megs, it’s probably a pig. The worst it can do is sniff you up and go." We started giggling like nine-year-olds. Just then Rima heard another grunt. “GRUNT!” No, actually it was more of a roar but in lower decibels! But trust me it was more than enough to get us scared. I laughed at Rima and then I heard it too. And so did Kriti. We were shell shocked, all of stood close together- stuck I could say. “Grunt! Grunt!” That was it .We ran screaming at the top of our voices, loud enough to make anyone deaf! But we couldn’t care less. My main aim was to reach Ananya mess or just reach the watchman. “He would certainly help us,” I assured my already worked up soul as I was leading (the race to safety). We must have reached the end of the block when we heard it again. “That hideous noise” snapped Megha. Rima stopped to look back. We all did, but could not see a soul or any animal. Sudenly, something yanked me from behind. I yelled, “Oh my god! The beast has caught me!” Turning back I realised it was only Rima. My calculative mind could only work out short-term strategies for safety. But I guess I failed (miserably!).
We summoned all the might we could and ran screaming…desperately, wondering why the gates we so often see didn’t seem closer than a few miles atleast. Was it the beast that was doing this?
We ran through the rain, hysteric from the experience, embarrassed from our reaction, and tired from the exhilarated run (we so needed after the amount we eat each day!). Soaking wet; we looked at each other and refused to go to the bathrooms alone that night, lest the beast chose to roar up the commode as well!
We changed uninhibited…the beast made everything a community experience.
We did think about it as soon as we settled down to our normal selves…and there were many theories going about…it could have been one of those beefcakes whose shadows were passing me by an hour ago. One of them could have been a perfect ventriloquist…or could the myth of the tiger circle finally be coming true?
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