"WOEmen" of devELOPING iNDIA

THE FACTS and FIGURES:
A widow should be long suffering until death,self-restarined and chaste.
a virtuous wife who remains chaste when her husband has died goes to heaven.
a woman who is unfaithful to her (DEAD)husband is reborn in the womb of a jackal.
The Laws of Manu.
Chapter 5 Verse 156-161
Dharamshastras
("SACRED" Hindu Texts)

According to dharamshastras there are three ways for a widow either sati,life of penance or remarriage with the younger brother of her husband.

There are over 34 million widows in India according to the 2001 cencus.many continue to live in the conditions of social,economic and cultural deprivation as prescribed 2000 years ago by the sacred texts of manu.

THE STORY and THE CHARACTERS:
Film:Water(oscar nominated for best foreign film 2007)
Director:Deepa Mehta
Country:Canada(filmed in Sri Lanka)based in India on the banks of river Ganges.
Words defining the movie:Haunting Truth
Scandals involved:Shoot in Varanasi was stopped due to threats and demonstrations orchestrated by Hindu fundamentalist groups supported by the leadership of the state government in Uttar Pradesh due to which it had to shift location to Sri Lanka.
Principal Characters:
Chuhiya:a 7-8 yr old lil girl who is a widow.
Kalyani:a 19-20 yr old graceful girl who falls in love with narayana.
Narayana:a follower of Gandhi who is 30 yrs old or so and is in favour of widow reforms.
Madhumati:a lady who lives in the widow house and is in two minds whether to follow the so called sacred texts or to follow her heart.

THE STARK COMMENTS and HAUNTING QUESTIONS:
Chuhiya's Father: [to young Chuhiya] Child. Do you remember getting married? Your husband is dead. You're a widow now.
Chuhiya:up until when baba ?

Chuhiya:(after visiting the widow house where she is left by her parents)baba where is maa ? I wont stay here baba i wont i wont i wont *cries out loud*

(Another widow while taking water from a river) a priest says "stay clear of me...let not your wicked shadow fall on me"

(In a temple where all widows hav to beg for money as they are not allowed to earn their own money)
chuhiya:why all this ? go drown yourself! (btw all the money was deposited in ashram's account)

A procurer comes along in the night and takes a young beautiful widow to a rich merchant where she serves as a cyprian(read whore)

In a particular event A very old aged widow dies after which the other widows have to look after her dead body for her last rites but they have no money to do that(coz they arent allowed to work they can only amass money by begging which by the way moves to temple fund...so what was the way out one might ask...i too am left asking the same)

Narayana:kalyani devi,when did you become a widow ?
Kalyani:I dont remember may be 9 yrs old
Narayana:how was he ?
Kalyani:I dont know,I never met him.

Madhumati:even thinking about reamarriage is a crime!
Chuhiya:why ?
Madhumati:Ask God!
(Chuhiya:where is he ?
Madhumati:how do I know ?
Chuhiya:then who does ?
Madhumati:God knows everything
Chuhiya:how and again where is he ?)

Narayan's dad:narayan listen a brahmin can sleep with any woman because the woman is always benificiary irrespective of who she is.
narayan:lord Ram once said to Bharat said never respect any brahmin who use vedas for their profit.

Madhumati:there must be a reason behind us coming here (widow house)
Narayan:a mouth less to feed,4 sarees,a bed,a corner of your house is free, no other reason,this too is a business in the shadow of religion.

Chuhiya a small girl of age 8 now is sent to a rich merchant who uses her as a tart.(just a fancy word for whore coz I as a human being feel deeply ashamed and immoral to use the word in context to a 8 yr old girl (for that matter any girl of any age) with all due respect to all the hindu shastras and the sacred brahmins and thier laws the sacred thread which gives them the right to... and everyother person who is supposedly sacred by birth and not by DEEDS)
The END

THE CONTEMPLATION and RUMINATION:
A few days ago I was asked to speak about a topic in a sort of elocution competition the topic was "SHOULD WOMEN WORK IN NIGHT ?"I as a part of young DEVELOPING INDIA with a GDP of 9.3 and growing said "if today we ask ourselves that whether women should work in night then I guess we have no rights to dream of a developed India...what purpose does it serve anyway ? isnt it a shame that we are even asking these kind of questions when we CRY OUT LOUD about WOMEN EMPOWERMENT WOMEN RIGHTS WOMEN BILL WOMEN RESERVATION ? the question arises that why arent more women working in night shifts ? because the law and order situation in India needs improvement"and I said a lot more about SO CALLED women empowerment but what followed this was actually very saddening,then I thought why not ask the girls what do they think.I thought most of them thought the same way I did but then what I didnt realise was how deeply rooted this evil and profoundness of shadow of self doubt was.most of the girls who are currently pursuing bachelor's degree answered me negatively and said may be women should not work at night because of several reasons.after which i asked them would you consider your educated decision provided the law and order situation in the cities and towns of India becomes better ? there was a silence which made me substantiate the fact that women empowerment should start with women themselves and empowerment begins in the mind and soul until the minds are ignited with flame of knowledge andwisdom with urge to fly high no change will ever occur in India or the women brooding in it.

THE BELIEF:
(I with all my heart and mind and body and soul want this India to change.hope some if not all of you girls will someday rise form the ashes of so called pseudo culture and customs and realise your potential and set yourself free and fly.......Best of Luck...and yeah kick some fundaMENTALists of which ever religion you want,afterall all of them have prejudices against womenhood)

I live for CHANGE so should YOU.........be THE CHANGE for a CHANGE !

yeh PYAR kya hota hai ...

jahaan haar mein jeet hai,
aur jeet mein haar hai,
yehi toh pyar hai ,
bas yehi toh pyar hai.

pyar mein acha aur bura nahi hota,
pyar mein saahey aur galat nahi hota,
joo hota hai bas pyar hota hai,
aur pyar ke siwaai kuch nahi hota.

adhurey rishton sey kissi ko kabhi pyar nahi milta,
jhooth keyy sahare mein pyar kabhi kisiko nahi milta,
jo miltey adhurey rishton mein pyar ke mithass,
toh duniya mein pyar ke siwaai aur kuch nahi milta.

jab dard mein khushi hoo,
aur khushi mein aasooon,
inn aasoon key khushi mein joh pyar panapta hai,
iss pyar ko dard kaun pahuchaye,
jab iss pyar ka janam heyy dard mein hota hai.

pyar ko log aaj kitna nufrat kartey hain,
itna nafrat kartey hai key nafrat ko heey pyar kartey hain,
agar isshey tarah haar nafrat mein chupa hoo pyar,
toh log nafrat seyy kyun...pyar seyy kyun pyar nahi kartey hain?

kuch loog pyar sey darr teyy theey,
kuch loog pyar mein dartey hain,
yeh kaisa pyar jiskey darr mein jeetey hoo,
yeh kaisa pyar jisme darr key jeetey hoo,
kyunki pyar toh harr darr ka jawaab hota hai,
kyunki sirf pyar heyy toh harr darr seyy paare hota hai.

logg pyar mein matlaab dhundtey hain,
magar pyar toh bematlaab hota hai,
(kyunki)agar hota hai pyar mein matlab koi,
toh woh pyar nahi dhoka hota hai.

pyar toh harr rog ka illaz hota hai,
magar pyar sey bada kya rog hota hai ?
yeh kaisa rog hai jiska illaz heey nahi hota hai,
magar ek aisa rog jo harr rog ka illaz hota hai.

aur kitna likhun pyar ke baarein mein
raat ke saadey teen bajney koo aaye
jo likhunga toh log murakh kahengey
waise bhi main murakh kahaan
mujhse murakh toh woh jo pyar key naam iss kavita ko padhengey
kyunki agar log padh keyy kavita pyar samajh jaatey
toh main kyun leekhta
joo main leekhkey naa samajhpaya
woh tum padhkey kya samajhlogey...

(my first hinglish poem :) )

HOLI - the festival of COLOUR DISSOLUTION!

HOLI....when colours dont matter (literally)
A hindu festival whose roots go back well (no one exactly knows how many years) but how can this ancient festival serve as an eternal moral lesson for eons to come ? lets see.....and realise!
(divided in 4 parts i.e.reason behind HOLI,COLOURED BIAS-a world view,INDIA and its BELYING situation and the HOLI(Y) solution-transcending the festical.for those who are impatient ones can jump to the last epilogue HOLI SOLUTION TRANSCENDING THE FESTIVAL! spoiler warning-reading the epilogue first might spoil the fun of the article!for serious bloggers plz slog through the entire blog! no excuses for you people! ;p)


beautiful REASONS behind celebrating HOLI
(history 1)
As the story goes its the hiranyakashipu(king of demons)'s son PRAHLAD was a devotee of vishu,which obviously his father didnt like and thus tried to kill him after
several failed attempts he ordered prahlad to sit on a pyre on the lap of his sister HOLIka(who was also demonic) who by the virtue of a special shawl would not get burnt by the fire.so prahlad went into the pyre n started praying lord vishu and magically the shawl flew off HOLIka and moved on prahlad due to which HOLIka was burnt to death but prahlad survived unharmed.te burning of HOLIka is celebrated as holi.

(history 2)
During lord krishna's life time he popularised the festival by playing pranks on the gopis.lord krishna ONCE COMPLAINED TO HER MOTHER YASODHA ABOUT THE CONTRAST BETWEEN HIS DARK COLOUR AND HIS BELOVED RADHA'S FAIRNESS.krishna's mother yasodha DECIDED TO APPLY COLOUR TO RADHA'S FACE AND DISSOLVE THE BIAS atleast momentarily .the celebration commence usually star in spring and lasts for 16 days until rangpanchami in remembrance of the divine and eternal love of radha-krishna.

(history 3)
kamadeva the god of love was destroyed by shiva as he tried to distrupt him during his penance to help parvati marry shiva.shiva opened his third eye and the gaze made kamdev's body turn into ashes.but for kamdev's wife rati (passion) sake,shiva restored him but only as a mental image, REPRESENTING THE TRUE EMOTIONAL AND MENTAL STAGE OF LOVE RATHER THAN JUST MERE PHYSICAL LOVE and holi bonfire is believed to be celebrated in commeoration of this event in history.

COLOURED BIAS-a world view
WHITE and BLACK and today even BROWN is what we people fight over....what are these ? yes skin colours...very remorseful and regretting when we think of it naa ?
since we know of history,racial segregation has been a truth which haunts us everytime in almost every era,almost in every continent.the human race is scarred with such heinous malady none more dismaying then colour and racial bias.
the europeans (including the americans as they are originally mostly europeans) who are the front runner in being racially inclined were history's first people to be prejudiced by the moors who thought europeans were incapable of abstract thinking.the europeans then prejudiced all other coloured races as inferior to theirs.some biased racial scientist even compairing africans to HALF APES !
the British Empire imported labourers to the British colonies in Africa and the Carribean. These Indian labourers were free, had more rights and had better societal functions and status than the darker-skinned Africans (who were mostly slaves), but less than the lighter-skinned European colonizers.PIGMENTOCRACY was a reality back then and is still a reality now although we might like to turn a blind eye to it and think or make belief that we are truly civilised!
from ENGLAND TO UNITED STATES TO CANADA TO RUSSIA TO SOUTH AFRICA TO INDIA TO AUTRALIA ALL HAVE HAD AND HAVE COLOUR BASED PREJUDICES AGAINST THIER OWN COUNTRYMEN AND HUMBLE VISITORS alike.

There are so many biased and baseless thoeries and arguments that the real truth dwindles in between.
"Melanin Theory" is that the levels of melanin in dark skin naturally enhance intelligence and emotional, psychic and spiritual sensitivity and physical prowess.
"White Supremacy Theory" is that all whites are more cognitive than thier coloured counter parts.
some of them even have sub theories and thus end up fighting within thier own skin colour too eg nordicism,pan europeanism,pan aryanism etc etc.
even some are laugh worthy like the theories which involve hair colour that preach blondes are dumb,redheads are fiery,brunettes are evil.

INDIA and its BELYING situation
The world has been marked with such erros through history and we dont have to look to far for examples after all NOT TOO FAR AWAY FROM OUR HOME
INDIA itself is in such a sorry state itself.
for a country which is madly in love with fair and lovely and provision for the largest market for fairness driven products from shehnaz hussain to garnier(which doesnt produce fairness cream anywhere else in the world) .(some of which are proven to be carcenogenic!!!fair n lovely itself!!!)
for a country whose film industry only has white actors prevalently successful!!!
for a country that mourns at the birth of a daughter (imagine the plight of a dark skinned daughter)!!!
for a country whose FATHER OF THE NATION was kicked out of a compartment train in south africa on racial basis.one person who fought all his life for equality and freedom.60 years on India has moved very little in terms of racial/cultural/lingual/societal/regional/coloured/religious/economic bias !!!!
its shameful for each of us that we still are so damn narrow minded that we fail to unprejudice about people form their skin colour!
India with its heritage and history can easily serve as a teacher in the respect of coloured bias only if it learns from its own mistakes and realizes them and make amends fast.( please mr.ARJUN SINGH spare us from your quota here ok !!! will you ?.QUOTA is not the way for this or to supress any other kind of bias!its just short sightedness or lets just say vote bank politics) a country where people are more tolerant to coloured people then other races perhaps as we have seen and dealt coloured people all our lives in one way or the other some of which are even our own relatives so it becomes easier for us to judge the truth behind coloured biases!so we must serve the world which we can only do if we solve our own problems or coloured bias in the Indian society!

THe HOLI(Y) SOLUTION-TRANSCENDING THE FESTIVAL

THE FESTIVAL OF HOLI WHICH TODAY IS CELEBRATED THE WORLD OVER BY HINDUS AND OTHERS THE WORLD OVER (annually in state universities of US and UK eg washington state university has more than 20000 water balloons piled up for the occasion where Indians and non Indians play enjoy alike) CAN ACTUALLY HELP US TACKLE THIS PROBLEM OF COLOURED BIAS.A DAY WHEN WE ALL COLOUR ALL OUR FRIENDS AND ENEMIES ALIKE.A DAY WHEN WE FORGET ENEMITY AND FORGE BROTHERHOOD.AN ALL ENCOMPASSING,CIRCUMFERENT,PANAROMIC,EXTENSIVE,ALL INCLUSIVE,ALL EMBRACING FESTIVAL WHICH CELEBRATES THE CONTRAST IN COLOURS RATHER THAN DISASSOCIATING IT.THIS VERY DAY CAN SERVE AS A GLOBAL REMINDER FOR EQUALITY IN PEOPLE OF ALL COLOURS,A DAY WHICH PEOPLE FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD WITHOUT THE BIAS OF COLOUR,CASTE,CREED,ECONOMICS,RACE,RELIGION,GDP ETC.A DAY WHICH WE ALL NEED TO UNDERSTAND AND EMBRACE EACH OTHER'S CULTURE AND LEARN TO LOVE DIFFERENCES IN LIFE AND PEOPLE.A DAY WHICH WE ALL NEED VERY MUCH GIVEN THE CURRENT SITUATION OF THE WORLD.A DAY WHEN WE CAN JUST HAVE SOME RED BLUE GREEN ORANGE YELLOW WHITE BLACK AND EVERY OTHER CLOUR AND HUE YOU CAN THINK OF AND SMEAR IT ON THE FACE AND BODY OF THE PERSON INFRONT OF US WITHOUT JUDGING FROM HIS SKIN COLOUR.A DAY WHEN AGGRESSION AND SEGREGATION MAKE WAY FOR INTEGRATION AND CONSOLIDATION.A DAY WHICH CAN REMIND US THAT LOVE IS MORE THAN JUST PHYSICAL AND THAT COLOUR IS NOT A COMPONENT OF ANYTHING WHICH SHOULD BE PREJUDICED UPON.A DAY WHEN EVERYONE CAN ENJOY BEING COLOURED IN WHAT EVER COLOUR HE FANCIES AND MAY BE EVEN JUDGE THAT A WORLD WITH SO MANY COLOURS IS SO MUCH BETTER THAN A BI-POLAR WORLD OF COLOURS BUT DEFINITELY NOT AS GOOD AS A WORLD WITHOUT COLOURS COZ AFTER ALL ITS HOLI-THE FESTIVAL OF COLOURS OR SHALL WE MAKE CELEBREATE IT AS THE MOST BEAUTIFUL HUMAN PARADOX EVER...THE GLOBAL CELEBRATION OF HOLI-THE FESTIVAL OF COLOUR DISSOLUTION!!!the choice is yours.make equality rule!

(have a happy n safe holi.use herbal colours but definitely use water ballons lolZzz..I am gonna be 19 soon but i still love them hehe!!)