traditional indian art (Kerala)

Charity begins at home

In apportioning responsibilities in the "fight" for gender equality the only one left out is the common citizen. It does not provide for any political mileage or any sensation on the media if we start looking inwards and find out things for us to do.First of all there is a need to relook at gender equality and get it defined correctly. Moving forward more than the police , the paralysed administration and the insensitive government how many of us have had the courage to raise our voices when we see untoward incidents happening around us. This job we have outsourced to that "hero" in the proxy ad of Liquor brand .How many of us have attended marriages where huge amount of cash and gold are "exchanged" when we are "aware" about the dowry act. How many of us have dared to intervene in our localities  ( 20 buildings around you) when we have witnessed harassment ( including violence) by in- laws demanding dowry or chose to ignore because they are friends , relatives, drink buddies. How many times have we tried to counsel , advice , threaten the perpetrators , to avoid abortion of female fetuses in our neighborhood. How many of us have friends who are habitual eve-teasers and how many times have we discouraged them from indulging in such acts. How many of us feel uncomfortable about imaging the policemen as the chulbul pandey's in popular films and feel that it is time we boycotted such films .How many of us realise that most bollywood songs are glamourised eve-teasing and create a certain stereo-type of women in our society Incidentally the ever-sermonising news media doesn't find this depiction as incorrect and are ready to celebrate these films as 100 cr grossers. How many of us squirm when women are depicted incorrectly in ads and feel that we can voice our protest by at least making those ads irrelevant . 
Answers to these question will decide how we are making our society a safer place for women. And if we get our act right we will not require candle light vigils , flash mob demonstration, and condemnation of govt and administration to set things right . And please Don't forget that CHARITY BEGINS AT HOME

STOP TERROR DO IT YOURSELF KIT

It hurts when some one says that there is no guarantee of stopping terror strikes and we look for political overtones in those comments. But do a reality check and any right thinking and balanced mind will be convinced about the reality.
Stopping these bombstrikes is a matter of proper order in society than about natgrid ,pota or any other law .
Look at areas around us and one would realise how vulnerable our surroundings are . We lack the basic civic sense which will be first thing that will be required to stop these bomb attacks. Most areas where this strikes occured will have uncontrolled garbage dumps, huge and unmanageable crowds arounds illegal shops and business outlets , illegal and disorderly parking of vehicles which all are prime areas that are used to place bombs . So instead of blaming govts and the security agencies for the bomb attacks lets do a reality check ourselves and find out whether we are doing enough to ensure our safety

Corruption ! Are We Serious

the cause of corruption and black money is neither communal nor secular , so there is no need to make a distinction of any kind . and it is not very significant too that there were a few fur cap wearers on the stage. Corruption or removal of it cannot be addressed by mere tokenism . corruption is something that is ingrained in our mindset. The movement that we are seeing is not one for a systemetic change but for a Lok Pal the way the five members of the so called civil society want. For that we are not having discussions or debates but we are deciding by straw polls like the one kejriwal was conducting at the Rajghat. The one virtue for this uprising that is being touted is that the movement has popular or mass backing. But one should note that all the corrupt MP's and MLA's are also products of such popular backing . So if one is wrong what is the guarantee that the other will be correct . Are we not taking a chance on this ?

DIDI of Bengal

The dust has just settled down in bengal after the election results and things are beginning to take concrete shape. Didi has been crowned as the CM and her arrival to take oath was quite dramatic. She chose to walk the last KM to writers building , which was very practical because even if she drove in that distance the time taken would have been the same what with the milling crowd in that area. The real test for didi and the people of bengal will start now. Will she be able to deliver the development that the people of bengal were denied during the 34 years of the left rule.It will surely be a tough ask for the didi. Will didi be the same austere person that she was during the struggle against the left govt or will she be sucked in by the trapping of power. Will she go the mayawati /Jayalalitha way or will she chart out a path of her own . Her track record in govt unfortunately does not leave scope for much optimism. She has shown to be autocratic bordering on being whimsical and prone to be populistic than being pragmatic and practical. The question upper most is will she display the same stamina that she displayed during her struggle when she is charting developmental plans for state. Answers to these questions will decide the fate of the state bengal

DIDI of Bengal

The dust has just settled down in bengal after the election results and things are beginning to take concrete shape. Didi has been crowned as the CM and her arrival to take oath was quite dramatic. She chose to walk the last KM to writers building , which was very practical because even if she drove in that distance the time taken would have been the same what with the milling crowd in that area. The real test for didi and the people of bengal will start now. Will she be able to deliver the development that the people of bengal were denied during the 34 years of the left rule.It will surely be a tough ask for the didi. Will didi be the same austere person that she was during the struggle against the left govt or will she be sucked in by the trapping of power. Will she go the mayawati /Jayalalitha way or will she chart out a path of her own . Her track record in govt unfortunately does not leave scope for much optimism. She has shown to be autocratic bordering on being whimsical and prone to be populistic than being pragmatic and practical. The question upper most is will she display the same stamina that she displayed during her struggle when she is charting developmental plans for state. Answers to these questions will decide the fate of the state bengal

Down the wrong Laine

There seems to be no dearth of divisive issues which the politicians can exploit to create strife and trouble in our society. The latest episode revolves around the book “Shivaji – Hindu King in Islamic India”. This book authored by American writer James Laine was first published in 2003 and promptly banned by the Maharashtra govt in 2004. There were loud and often violent protests before the ban led by various organisations like the Sambhaji Brigade. The book is again in the lime light as the Supreme court did not uphold the ban as the state govt could not submit evidence that the book was hurting religious sentiments.

This time around the scene is pretty unique with the ultra nationalistic state govt also joining in the chorus for the ban on the sale of book. There are the usual culprits like the shiv sena, MNS and Sambhaji brigade and they have threatened to resort to violent protests to stop the sale of the book. All this in the 21^st century in a country which claims to be functioning democracy. When arguing with Pakistan we make it a point to mock at them by claiming to be a democracy. But is this the way a democracy must deal with an important issue as the freedom of expression?

We see the usual goons on the streets during the protests and can be sure that none of them would have read the book. The primary reason being the price tag ($60.74) on the book. The goons may not be paid so much for these sponsored protest. The reason for the reactions against the book is the way we look at our History .We are used to the text book view of history where we have most characters in shades of black and white .We start to take the text book images seriously and treat the characters as demi- gods . When we grow up we are supposed to take a more impartial view of our history and the historical characters.

And we have various political outfits that pick and choose their heroes and villains to further their brand of politics .And we have ambiguous laws which have gaping loop holes and a perennially lethargic judiciary and the executive which fail to deal with law breakers. And we have a situation where we have a few bigots holding the entire society to ransom in the name of hurt sentiments.

It is time we stop living in our past and start thinking seriously about our future. We are a nation with a glorious past and should be proud of it. The people and events from the past should act as inspiration for us to move forward and not as distractions in our march towards future glory. We must realise that History is a chronicle of events involving people with human failings and not a fairy tale involving fictitious characters