Another crime against Women.

Saw in the news that a student of XIth standard was gang-raped in front of the village by a group of men in a small town in U.P. The reason was that she was allegedly having an affair with her teacher. This was the eighth rape that has been 'reported' in the state of UP in the last 'one' month.After the incident, the girl, embarrassed and humiliated, committed suicide.

I had the following question in my mind when I saw this news -

1. Why was only the girl punished for having an affair with the teacher? First of all, the 'punishment' was totally unnecessary. Secondly, if the so-called moral police decided that punishment was much needed, why wasn't the teacher, that is the adult in the whole situation, punished for having an affair with a minor? Isn't his role more offensive than the girl?
2. Why is it that in our rural societies the only punishment for a woman that these so-called moral upholders of our society can think of is rape? Is there no other form of punishment available? Is rape the only way?! Is this emotional, mental and physical humiliation is the only way to teach any woman a lesson? If this is so, what kind of society do we live in?
3. When did rape become a form of punishment? Isn't it a more heinous crime than falling in love with a teacher?!
4. Nothing... I mean nothing, can justify a rape. Men can't go through it (well, they can be sodomized but that happens rarely) that is why they would never understand what a woman goes through after such a horrendous experience. It not only scars her body, but her mind and soul as well. 
5. If this is the only way, men can exert their power over women, then... shame on them!
6. The only punishment for a rapist should be castration.
7. Eight rapes in one month?! And that is one state. What is our country coming to...?

Lappy Troubles

You may or may not have noticed that I haven't been updating my blog... all thanks to my faithless and uncooperative laptop! It has decided to have a mind of his own and as a result of that, it has stopped responding to the start button! It turns on when it feels like it, but on most of the occasions, we just have a staring match with me staring at the blank screen and losing my patience and it staring back at me with all the time in the world. The match almost always turns out with me switching it off in frustration and it smiling back at me in smug satisfaction. I am not kidding, it does look like it's smiling with his stupid square jawline! Today, with some luck and lot of persistence I have finally managed to make the dumb machine start up. Hence, the post. 

Sometimes, I wonder if it's not a transformer who turns into some awesome machine when I am not looking! I know it's a little far-fetched and it's actually not a transformer. How I wish it was one though... ;) I would have called him Red Riding Hood, just because it's hood is red.  And I am sure it would be a she transformer... (Did I not tell you about the mood swings, just in the above paragraph?!) This makes me wonder why isn't there a single female transformer in the movie series?! Maybe the absence of women is the reason why the Autobots and the Decepticons are at war with each other and destroy their own planet! Now you see, how important it is to have a female perspective. I am sure if there were She Transformers, they would have talked everything out and their planet would still be at peace and not in pieces! So, stop killing women lest you want Earth to go the Cybertron way! (It could be about anything and I can turn into a women-centric post! God, I am a feminist! ;) )

Anyway, I digress... This stupid non-transformer-but-irritating-machine a.k.a laptop has ruined my dream of publishing 365 posts on 365 days. In other words my 365 day challenge has gone down the drain and I have also lost a follower (::Sob::Sob::)

So, if you want me to keep on publishing on a regular basis, help me buy a new laptop... and I don't mean advice on which is the best machine in the market, I mean monetary help! (I kid... NOT!) ;)


And yeah I almost forgot... I hate Technology! (No specific relation, just saying!)

My First Interview!

Some weeks before I was approached by a blogger - Jidhu Jose. He wanted me to do an interview for his blog. At first, I thought this was some practical joke but then I went to his blog and realized it was not! His blog was pretty interesting and had loads to read and see... So, I said yes and did my first interview!

You can read it here.

Do let me know what you think... :)

This & That!

There are so many things I want to write about but gosh, how time just flies by! I just haven't had time to jot down all that is going through my mind. So this post, is a little bit about everything! Kindly bear with me ;)

• House-wives - When I was younger, I too, like many of my friends, used to turn up my nose at house-wives. In spite of the fact that my mother was one too.  I wanted to be a career woman. I wanted a corporate lifestyle. I wanted to be a jet-setter. But, alas... God had other plans! After I got married I had to move to Kovalam and in the interiors of Kerala, I couldn't find a job to my liking. So, began my life as a freelancer + a homemaker. I, like many, used to believe that managing a house doesn't require any special skills... How wrong was I?! When I had to take care of everything from making sure the toothpaste is there to deciding what to cook for dinner, I realized what a tough task it is! There are no offs, no compensation and you can't even put it up on your resume! I mean I manage a whole house... I make sure it functions properly and smoothly. I have people who work under me such as a maid, the newspaper wallah, the press wallah, the milkman... these are my employees! I manage the budget. So, basically I am the MD, the Financial Controller, and the operations manager of my household... how can that not be counted as adequate experience?! My respect for my mother and all the other home-makers has grown manifold... It is not easy, believe me!  
•  Child Artists - I absolutely hate it when the protagonists of a show is a child! I firmly believe that this practice should be banned. It just robs the children of their childhood... I mean, fine... your child has a talent. you have his whole life to hone that. Let the child be a child instead of decking him / her with make-up, making him / her shoot for 'n' number of hours. I don't understand the dialogues these kids are made to recite. and the worst are the reality shows. Singing shows and dancing shows for the kids with indecent amount of money as prize. what will a kid of 9 years, do with 50 Lakh rupees?! I am sure the parents can find many uses for the same. So, whenever I see a 8 year old kid singing sheila ki jawani or gyrating to munni badnam hui, I don't think the kid is super talented, I realize the parents are super dumb! These reality shows have so much competition, and it infuriates me no end when a child cries because he couldn't live up to his parents' expectations! Let the children enjoy their childhood... if they sing well, if they dance well, if they are good actors... I am sure they will retain their talent when they are 17-18 years old as well. Let them be...
• The Gaalli Culture -Sometimes I wonder if I was the only one who didn't understand what the big deal was with the song 'DK Bose'...Sometimes I wonder if I am the only one who doesn't use swear words / abuses / ma-behen in normal everyday language... Sometimes I wonder if I am a dying breed for whom 'ullu ke patthe' was the worst Hindi gaalli... Sometimes I wonder if using abuses had become the new 'in' thing and I am considered 'uncool' (if that word exists) because I don't use them...sometimes I wonder If people think me as a naive little protected girl. But, generally I am amazed at the language used by today's so-called youth! But, after all the wondering I realize that I am proud of the fact that I didn't understand what is the big deal with DK Bose... I am proud that I don't need to use abuses to put my point across... I am proud that the extent of my knowledge regarding swear words stops at 'ullu ke patthe'... I am proud of being this sophisticated and if you think I am naive... so be it! I will never be a part of the gaalli culture! ;)

OK, so this marks the end of my mish-mash post! What do you think...?

Bubble Gum Love!

His...

He stood there staring at her from behind a tree. She was flirting with another guy. She laughed and touched his arm carelessly. And electric current ran through his body. He didn’t know he was capable of such strong emotions of anger for someone. He threw down the rose and walked away, thinking, ‘I have no hope, she is obviously not interested in me. It's time I stop wasting my time.’

Hers...

She knew he was standing behind the tree looking at her. She decided it is time to take matters into her own hands. She laughed at some pathetic joke her companion said. She touched his arm slowly. She knew this was enough to make him jealous. The fear of losing her would give him the courage to come and tell her that she was waiting to hear since college started. She glanced at his retreating back, sadly, ‘maybe tomorrow he would say something.’

Aren't teenage romances the best?! Have you ever been on either His or Her side? I surely have and it hurt like hell that time... But now, all it does is bring a small smile to my face ;) What about you...? Share away...!

Death for Love

She saw him crumpled up on the floor, lying in a pool of blood. Her love, her life. she crouched down beside him. He was not breathing. She wanted to cry but no tears come out. She looked up at his killer. It was her father... her own father. The man who had given birth to her. The man who had taught her to walk. The man who  claimed to have given  her everything she ever wanted. She thought, 'No, you haven't.Instead you have just taken away the only thing I had ever wanted more than anything else in my life. And why?! Just because he was from a different caste?' But she didn't say anything. She just sat there with him in his warm blood and blinked. Her father was standing towering over her in a fit of rage. "Dad..." she finally whispered. But stopped when she looked at him. He was not her father anymore, he had transformed into someone else. He wasn't looking at her with love in her eyes, but with disgust and pure unadulterated anger, "you ruined our family honour! how could you run away with him?! What did you think I'll never find you!!" He was almost blinded with rage. She kept staring at him with blank eyes, awaiting her fate. She took his limp hand in hers and closed her eyes. The last thing she heard was a gunshot.

P.S. - A post on the similar topic last year - Honour Killings... What a shame!