Celebrating International Women's Day

Lets Celebrate International Women's Day By:
Being who we are,

Living a dignified life, free from the fear of persecution & violence,

Not having to bow down to anything or anyone,

Enjoying the freedom of expression and the right to practice/not practice religion,

Making decisions about our own lives and bodies,

Controlling our own properties and incomes,

Having the strength to walk out of abusive relationships,

Reaching for the stars and helping each other get there!

*****

P.S. Found the quote in the photograph in Facebook, could not trace the author, loved it and wanted to share it with you.

P.P.S. Had to draw a sari clad woman flying on a broomstick, I am no artist as my cartoon shows clearly. This is just for fun!

P.P.P.S. Most comrades (men) understand the need for this day to spread awareness on women's issues. We women salute you and welcome you in our struggle. We dearly need your support.

P.P.P.P.S. The leftover men out there, yes you should also have a men's day (why don't you get organised and start something?), yes we know there are some women out there who twist the laws to their own advantages. Your brother's friend's uncle's distant cousin's friend's friend has had a bad experience. We empathise. Now start counting how many women you know who have had horrible experiences. Give us a break, will ya? You men have been making, breaking,  twisting laws for centuries and then a couple of  progressive laws like the Domestic Violence Act in India and the divorce laws in the West come (and not even implemented properly) and you men cannot stop cribbing! And you say we women are cry babies....

P.P.P.P.P.S. Lets spread the word, share this far and wide please!

3 girly stereotypes...

Was speaking to a young cousin of mine in her late teenage. To my surprise the cliches which were prevalent during my teenage are still there and the girls are still falling for those. Some of the cliches that I found  very prevalent are listen below.

If you are a girl, these are some of the things or behavioral patter that society/media/peer/boy friends expect you to like and follow...but if you think about it, they are pretty clichéd and just another stereotyping excecise. Ultimately limiting a girl and taking away her individuality.

• Pink has to be your favorite colour...says who? Oh well if you are a girl, the idea is that pink has to be your favorite colour-- baby pink, hot pink, fuschia ...it is so tiring to see girls dressed in pink (right from the really young ones to the teenage girls), shoes and accessories too, decorate their rooms in shades of pink, even have pink birthday cakes and pink cocktails. This colour has become synonymous with all things girly and is used to portray girly traits like innocence and sweetness. But in the process it has become so boringly clichéd.  Come on girls it is time to move beyond pink and explore other colors-- the blues, the greens, the russets, the maroons, the reds, the yellows...there is a whole vibgiyor  waiting for you....

• Cuddly teddy bears...God knows which movie started this trend...as far as I remember all the movies in my teenage had a scene or two where the heroine cuddles a teddy, be it QSQT or Maine Pyar Kiya. Val Days meant an Archies card and a small teddy for a gift. Archie and Hallmark sold this whole range of teddies in various sizes. It was the dream of every teenage girl to receive the biggest teddy in the shop as a gift from her boy friend. Even now I see pics of young girls posing with teddies. Maybe for young girls teddies still hold a lot of excitement but for an old pro like me it is exceedingly boring and clichéd and very 90s. And if the teddy is pink, you cannot go more filmy than that. Come on girls time to let go of the teddy and move onto something better...explore other favorites.

• A man has to propose-- to my dismay many of my ultra modern girl friends are also waiting for the men in their lives to propose marriage to them. These women otherwise so very confident and smart, seem to turn completely traditional when it comes to proposing.  Come on women be pro active, take the bull by the horns and just pop the question. Been there, done that and as a result can gloat over it for a lifetime. There is lots to gain, believe me. As for the young girls, stop dreaming about the knight in shinning armour coming to sweep you off your feet. Yes I am saying this even after reading all those M&Bs for the last 15 years. In real life, it just does not happen that way. For starters you fall for guys your age, who are just as clumsy and inexperienced as you and they have not been given given any reference books on how to please girls. So stop expecting all things romantic and make a team effort of create romantic times with your boy friend. 

I am sure there are many others. This is just my reaction after speaking to her. If you have some in mind, please do share.

Disclaimer: The photos are all taken from Google images.

A step ahead....

Remember the movie 'Catch Me If You Can' where  Frank Abagnale Jr. played by Leonardo DiCaprio was conning people of millions of dollars and was always a step ahead of the FBI?

My life is a bit like that, always a step or two ahead of me, going her own merry way, craving her own destiny. Sometimes she seems fit to fall in with my plans and dreams and at other times, she goes her own way without a thought or consideration to my plans or convenience. The idea that I am in control of my life is but a mere illusion and the very idea of being powerless completely freaks me out. My ego demands me to think that I am the sole pilot of my life. But at the risk of hurting my ego and diminishing my vanity, more and more I feel like there is a power, much greater than me who is running my life.

I will go the traditional way and call this power God. Assuming that God is running my life is a double edged sword, on one hand it absolves me of all responsibility, but on the other it renders me completely powerless.

I am wandering. Today my intention was not to talk about God but my life.  Taking a step away from myself, being an observer, I have realised that my life has her curious meandering path which she follows and I just fall in step with her. At times I am happy to oblige and at times, I get angry, I rebel, I protest and try to cling on. But very rarely did things go my way, follow my plans or my dreams. I am not saying that my dreams have never come true. On the contrary in most cases they have, but never at the time I wanted them to or the way I imagined. There had always been slight or significant changes, almost like someone mockingly saying that She can plan and run my life better than me.

I feel like I am a car set in a race track, I have been given certain advantages and some other disadvantages which brings of the illusion of being powerful. But someone has the remote control which has the power to keep me on the course or throw me off. Each car in the race is similarly controlled and we each follow our own course, we know the beginning and the end, we know the pitfalls and the soaring peaks. But we do not know when we are going to hit the pitfalls or reach a soaring peak. We are all driving like crazy, each of  trying to reach the maximum number of peaks and avoid all the pitfalls. But here we are rendered powerless, someone makes us fall into those deadly pitfalls and equally someone makes us reach those peaks. The idea is to keep faith in that someone that She would guide us through the pitfalls and has the peaks ready for us to climb and keep going. After all since we have been made the drivers of our cars means that we are special.

Oh why cant you?....

for god's sake what is it that i have done to you?

nothing if you think about it.
i have done nothing, nothing, nothing,
nothing as of yet...

yet i intimidate you...
yes yes i scare you...

but grow up, will you please...
i dont want anything from you...
all i want is my own life...
all i want is my own thing,
all i want is some peace,
and happiness,
and of course to be alive,
let me be...
i beg of you...

Life

Do you know the first thing that came to my mind when I saw this photograph? No, it wasn’t New York or Rio de Janeiro.
The first thing that comes to my mind is my life. In fact if you think about it, all our lives are a bit like this. Every minute, if not every moment, we are given numerous choices. Sadly this is not an ever so original thought of mine. I vaguely read something along this line long back in Richard Baach’s ‘One’. Some are simple ones like what will we be having for dinner, or which dress to buy, while some are earth shattering ones like what major to take for graduation or whether to shift cities and take up a job etc. If you are confused human being like me, I am sure this decision making process is really tough on you. Personally I hate decision-making, my frail nerves are just not made for that activity. If I had my way I would make my mom take all the decisions for me. But she, smart lady refuses. Hence I have to take decisions about my life.
Now once a decision is taken it is like setting off on the way to New York. No one guaranteed that the way is trouble free. In fact it never is, life for most part is like Wild West movie, sans drama, where there is danger lurking at every nook and cranny. For me I go by Murphy’s Law, which goes something like this—what can go wrong, will go wrong ( as far as I remember Murhphy was an army general and he was talking about battle field, but hit right on life as well, wise man). And hey Mrs Murphy has added her bit too. Check it out in the pic. Since I am a Libra, my brain is mostly ding dong—sometimes I am all Murphy or at worse times his wife and the rest when the sun shines or rain falls (this bit to clarify that I do not do photosynthesis for cheer) I am all cheerful and positive. Sometimes I think my destiny gets confused over me—they (God and my army of angels) cant actually figure me out—one day I am more positive than all the Feng Shui props put together and then there are days when I am down in doldrums, chained and sulking in Count Dracula’s (do you know Count Dracula was a harmless Hungarian count who never did any harm in his life, let alone suck blood?) castle.
Anyways to get back to the photographs with which I started, there is a saying that life is at crossroads. I say life is always in multiple crossings and a bit like TOEFL exam. Once you have selected your option, you cannot go back and undo it. You just have to jhello whatever you get cos of selecting that option.
Hmmm pretty heavy for early morning, isn’t it. Ok I stop, need my fix of coffee and am sure so do you if you have read so far.