Some of my recent snapshots

First Women For Women First??

These are seemingly good times for the women in India. At least for the influential ones. We have, now in power, our First Woman President and our First Woman Speaker of the Lok Sabha. There are 59 women MPs (highest since Independence) in the current Lok Sabha, among which 17 are under 40 years. The statistics make me momentarily cheer.
But then, one of the most common questions in GDs and debates comes to my mind- Are Women better Managers/Leaders than Men?
I have loathed this question ever since I heard it first because of the simple reason that neither I, nor can anyone answer it without erring at some point or the other. It is a totally subjective issue and both sides of the debate have points in abundance to discuss and they may have to end up with a no-conclusion.
The mere presence of a large number of women should not be something for us to celebrate. Their proper execution of their duty to the country should be of greater concern.

Speaking of the common women, it must be said that they have started coming out of their self-cum-society-imposed cocoon of the so-called modesty and staying behind the veil and under a man's protection. But "have started" implies that "have achieved liberty" is still a far cry.
Even in the purported Fashion+Finance Capital of India, Mumbai, where I saw women being more outgoing and free-minded, there always lurked a sense of fear at the very bottom of each of their hearts. The reason can be found by skimming the "Times Of India" on any day. There can almost never fail to be a report of some case of kidnapping or harassment or even murder of members of the fairer sex, followed by an account of how the police nabbed the culprit successfully. Nabbing the culprits and bringing them to justice is another case. Preventing the crimes is far more important. A jail term awarded to an offender will not undo the wrong done to the hapless victims.
Awareness and Prevention is definitely on the agenda of grown-up women, for many of them have learnt self-protection techniques to avoid harm. But what about the children?? In the past one month that I spent there, I came across reports of several minor girls being attacked and one 8 year old kid was even found murdered. These incidents are those that wrung my heart.
A million "Slum Dog Millionaire"s may reveal the dirty underbelly of India. We will react strongly to each of them, defending our Mother Land. But what happens after the noise dies down? The lives of almost all Indians goes on unchanged and the only probable people to come across positive changes are the ones who got to play themselves on screen.

India is not a discriminative country. It is the mindset of a percentage of the population that is to be changed. With all these "First Woman" someones in the fore, all we can do is to hope that they change the bigger picture while we the commoners, should try to be the change we desire to see and spread courage and determination in the minds of the small circle of the girls and the women we know.

VERSUS

Nothing can equal the joy of reading a good book- not even its visual adaptation as a movie. With the exception of "Gone With the Wind" (which lasted about 5 hrs), no movie that I have seen could bring me the pleasure that its paper and print version brought.
"Angels and Demons" was one such disappointment. But looking at things from a broader perspective, I realized that I must simply convince myself with what was shown. The makers of the film would have met with several restrictions. After all, in today's world where a single word which may not necessarily have been meant to be offensive can easily affect the religious sentiments and result in violent reactions, handling such a tender subject as the pope's liking for the biological science and his not sticking to chastity on the screen would be a serious issue. Theatres might have even refused to screen the film. Also, the palaces in Vatican City could not have been shot easily without several permits and papers involved. There was also the time restriction the makers felt that they must stick to. No longer do people want to watch long movies like "Gone With the Wind".
The reason for the pope's murder will be a puzzle to the viewers who have not read the book. There have been many unnecessary omissions in the storyline like CERN Director's character, Langdon's visit to CERN, the drag theory (that reduces the impact of fall) that I was very much interested in while reading the book and Langdon's use of the theory to save his life shortly before the climax.
Still, I would not consider this film as a waste of two hours. Whatever was shown, was shot and shown well.
Bottomline: Pen is mightier than not only the sword, but also the screen.

Some more of the woRld seen by the dwarf...

A lick of the cream-
The not so tasty cream-
She has had.
Lick, perhaps, a misnomer;
Look, would be ideal.

The cream, not a dessert,
Is the meal-
A meal made of sweat and slog,
Seasoned with feuds cold,
Bound with practised tact.

Hunger and thirst she saw
In the diners' faces.
The cream they ate
Sated their hungry wallets.
Skinny men sported obese pockets.

The bland cream will be eaten,
In place of the spicy meal
Of zealous work using talent,
As long as there exists the
Malicious craving for mere paper.

Road Speak

A nigger of sorts,
Made of tar,
I lie everywhere,
Witness to the life that
Bustles on me- and
Occasionally ends on me.

A million wheels converse
With me any day;
The contraptions they propel-
Are they dragons, I wonder-
Exhaling, not fire, but air-
Air that kills!

Fluids spring on me-
Those of beetel and of phlegm.
My counterparts abroad
Are exempted from this,
But I don't envy them,for
They are not as entertained as me.

Variety in life, I can talk about.
For I see the millionaire in his car
As well as the pavement-resident pauper.
Neither is entirely happy.
The former fears his business rivals
And relishes his six-digit profits.
The latter fears his kid starving another night
And relishes his two-digit daily wage.

Tall buildings grow on both my sides,
Stacked upto the sky, they appear!
Congested homes and work places
In these stacks exist.
I do hate these stacks, for,
They have taken away my companions-
My friendly and ever protective trees.

An onlooker of Life and Death-
I will live on, unfazed,until
The next group of men and machines
Dig me up for multifarious needs
And restitch my torn being.
A bump-filled life will then resume.

The woRld as seen by the dwarf

She is tiny. A kid- many call her. She feels so, too. Her tiny feet take their first step in the vast campus filled with giant-size buildings and busy people. She is guided well, taught the etiquette to be followed in office. Still she is not sure if she can fit in.
Her self-built confidence guides her on. She is taken through various glass doors and turnstiles that won't budge unless a valid ID is shown. She is asked what project she wants to do. She mumbles that she is still a student and wants to learn instead of work. She waits for an hour outside a cabin. She feels ignored. Restlessness, anger and impatience seep through her. She regrets having come to the big place alone. She draws a clumsy cartoon. She forces herself to keep calm and at last, her patience is awarded.
She is taken to a learning center and allotted courses to learn. In all eagerness, the little dwarf signs up even for a course that she has no idea about. But the path is made smooth for her from now. She realizes that she can make friends with strangers in a matter of minutes! She is introduced to friendly and helpful instructors.
Her classes begin. She is late by half an hour for the very first class! Her once-upon-a-time-class rep- mind cooks up a tangible excuse before entering the room. But luckily for her the class has not yet started. There is an introductory session. Then the teaching begins. She is amazed that she isn't sleepy at all during a class ( only on the first day though! ). She is eager to learn the course, which, the instructor feels, might be above her level of understanding. She makes an effort to relate the stuff with her little knowledge.
While our little dwarf works on her notes with her very basic knowledge of flip flops and registers, the rest use terms like BST BSC MSC etc. to discuss over-the-dwarf's-head-transmitted-topics!!! Well, she manages to relate to them in as clumsy a way as possible. But her instructor and co-learners are friendly and helpful to the core. At least, the dwarf is happy to see an instructor who can speak about modulation, transmission, reception etc. without having to read them out directly from a book. :p
Even as she types now, she is laden with guilt for not trying to go through the incomprehensible topics. But she is lazy. Nothing can change that. She concludes by asking the patient readers to hope that she is able to cope up and successfully finish her tiny tenure in this colossal campus (where she tends to get lost daily)!!
Some more of the dwarf's view's will be posted soon... :)

Identity Crisis Wonderfully packaged among printed alphabets

I did not have any expectations as I opened the cover to start reading it. But once started, I always expected to return to it after any break in between the reading process. Even after finishing the 290-something page novel, I kept thinking that I must get back to the book to read more of the story.
That was "The Namesake" by Jhumpa Lahiri. A simple tale, I'm tempted to write. But it's not as simple as it seems - a story of an NRI family bringing up their children born abroad - rather, the story captures the emotions of a boy, born in Boston to orthodox Bengali parents, who tries to identify himself among the society.
He outwardly feels American because of his peer group and the environment he grows up in. But the Indian emotions in him are brought to the fore under circumstances like his father's death.
The story is a beautiful portrayal of the dilemma faced by the so-called ABCDs ( American Born Confused Deshis ). It picturises the disastrous combination of an Indian heart and an American mind.
A must-read for all NRIs and their children!