Wo(e)man's Day???

Today is 8th March celebrated as International Women's Day all over the world. Yet another women's day has arrived, celebrations have started and the media will make a huge fuss out of it. In fact they have already started doing that since more than a week with numerous contests and programmes to be aired on the so called special day. A lot of hoopla will be created by all, there will be several contests, one or two odd award ceremonies to felicitate women doing great work in their respective areas and some wishes from friends and colleagues will come in, stating how great women are and their diverse roles and multiple qualities. The list is endless. And maybe I too should be happy about all the importance given to women on this day for a change.

But is this really great as much as the brouhaha made about it? Do we really need a women's day?

When I stop to think over it I am really not amused with the idea of a women's day. Why we don't need a men's day is possibly because deep in our heart we know that all the days including this is theirs only. I am not a feminist but I am pained at the plight of women across the country and the globe as well. Just singling out a day and creating a fuss about them is not the solution to numerous problems that women face across the world. It would be unfair on my part to state that men don't face problems in their life. In fact with increasing competition, advancing technology and increasing expectations in all areas no human being is devoid of problems and frustrations. In fact men are also subject to a lot of problems, exploitations, harassments sometimes even by women also. But what I want to actually bring to light is that man never faces the price of being born as man whereas almost all the problems associated with women are simply because she is born a woman.

We are in the 21st century and we boast that we have come of age in almost every aspect. An average woman irrespective of whether she lives in urban or rural areas still face the same set of problems. Cases of rapes, sexual harassment, molestation, eve teasing are on the rise more than ever. I agree that today the scene has changed somewhat with the accused getting serious punishments but does giving punishments solve the problem? And how many cases actually go on trial? And even if these things happen will it be able to decrease the amount of such horrendous activities and the terror that a woman faces in her day to day life? And will it be able to erase the hurt, the embarrassment, the pain and the social stigma that the victim faces throughout her life without her fault? So many such cases we never even get to hear about because the victim eventually ends up her life unable to bear all that she has to go through.

Sometimes it is difficult to decide whether this is more terrible or the alarming rate of increasing female foeticide in the world. What more inhuman thing than this that a life which has not even evolved completely, which has not even set her foot in the world is strangled in the womb itself merely because she is a female. We talk about human rights, equal rights for women. Can we stoop lower than this? Apart from the more critical problems they still face the same gender bias in home as well as office, the only difference is that these things happen in a far more subtle way than before when it used to happen openly.

A woman whether its a question of her education, career, love or marriage and even trivial issues as choosing her friends, clothes, etc. is more accountable to the people around her. Not only this so many married women have to face physical and mental abuse at the hands of their spouses and in-laws in the name of dowry, bearing a girl child and several other issues. Where such is not the case and everything looks hunky dory, in such cases also her emotional needs and the right to take decisions on her own are never thought to be relevant. We think that education and awareness can change all this. But more surprisingly the urban class or the so called educated urban class is as much a party to all these heinous activities as much as their underprivileged counterparts.

We women don't require a women's day at all. This seems just a gimmick for feminists and politicians to take the platform and banter about women upliftment and equality for a day. What good would come from it if we talk about an issue and then forget it once the day is done? Women don't want to be treated as privileged these days. They would like to earn every ounce of respect, power, prestige and every penny that they get. The society gives the women privileges and reservations in several areas because it is in a way somewhat guilty about the actual treatment meted to women throughout the ages. If really women would be treated equally then what would be the need for their upliftment, reservations and hundreds of other campaigns to bring her at par with men? It seems like masking the ugly interior beneath a decorative and lovely exterior.

Time and again women have proved their equality with their deeds. Its a shame that something which is so obvious doesn't still sink in. Basically it displays the mental disability of the society in understanding this. Actually what needs to change is the underlying mind set of the people to not be biased and prejudiced on the basis of gender. People do not understand that if women are treated as equal human beings it will lead to happier families and eventually lead to a better society as well. These things have to be be ingrained in an individual on the root level, right from the childhood with the right kind of education and setting the right kind of examples. Its high time that women also put their foot down and refuse to accept any kind of prejudice against them.

And when such a day comes, when not even one woman is subject to humiliation or exploited in any way just because she is a woman maybe then I will agree that the world has arrived and then maybe that day I will also revel in the woman's day celebrations. But then maybe we will not need a woman's day at all. Amen...

No Butts Please!

Human Beings are it seems a weird species. They create so much fuss about pollution, global warming and conservation of the environment but when it comes to themselves, They put some tobacco on a piece of paper, roll it, put it on fire at one end and exhale all the smoke coming out from the other and feel elated thinking that all this smoke inside their lungs will erase all their problems and worries.

Well, a very controversial issue to start with. But I have my reasons for doing that. There are several things I could have chosen to write about but this is one problem that I and hundreds of people across the globe like me who are averse to smoking face on a daily basis. Well definitely its the prerogative of the smoker to take a decision to smoke or not. But then the same applies for the non-smokers too. Why should they be subject to something against their will and inconvenience.

Though there is a government imposed ban on public smoking in our country and several others I still find a reluctance and ignorance on the part of most of the smokers to comply with that. There are so many times that I ask co-passengers to do away with their cigarette as I can't stand the smoke and moreover because its my right to choose whether to bear the brunt of their smoke or not.

One fine morning while commuting from home to office my co-passenger, probably in his early forties started lighting a cigarette and I requested him not to. Well he went forward to light it but as I insisted and the auto rickshaw driver too asked him the same, he grudgingly did away with it and told the driver that just because of him he had to waste a 6 Rs cigarette. Little did he realize that though he is worried about the 6 Rs. that he has lost, he hardly cares about the 11 minutes of his life that he loses every time he finishes smoking a cigarette.

Every cigarette you smoke is equal to minus 11 mins of your life. Say a person smokes 20 cigarettes in a day on an average in that case it would be 220 mins in a day which comes to approx 56 days in an year and around 3 years in 20 years. I am sure if I asked the smokers they would readily give up on that much life for the sake of the pleasure they seem to derive from it. But I wish it could be as simple an equation as it seems to be. If it only lessens your age for say a few years, maybe it could be acceptable. The repercussions of smoking are far more fatal. It not only lessens your age and leads to an untimely death but it also makes life and death both difficult and painful. It can cause cancer of the lung, throat, mouth, bladder, kidney, pancreas, cervix, stomach, heart disease and stroke, reduced blood circulation, respiratory infections such as pneumonia and chronic bronchitis, ulcers, impotence in men and infertility in women. If I continue listing all the possible diseases and risk factors I am sure this might end up looking like a medical journal.

It is not only the smokers who are susceptible to all these risks but also the other people who are exposed to involuntary smoking also termed as passive smoking. In fact There is no risk-free level of secondhand smoke exposure. The smokers not only risk their lives but also of their loved ones and people around them. And all this for the sake of temporary relief. I do agree that smoking relaxes the brain because of the substance nicotine in it. But seeking temporary relief can never be the solution to our problems. I don't think that smoking has ever solved anyone's problems rather it has contributed in aggravating them.

I don't expect the world to change after reading this. Because I know its easier said than done. In such matters I have seen only one thing which proves to be effective and that is sheer will power. But even if it leaves one smoker seriously thinking over it then it would be worthwhile. And if even one smoker quits smoking after reading this then possibly I couldn't have asked for more.

Life, As I see it...

Life is like a roller coaster... Sometimes on an unimaginable high, so much that you feel on the top of the world where as sometimes so low, so dreary that you feel that you can never rise. And our thoughts are the biggest factors that help us to maintain an equilibrium. What we see around us and feel about it is as imperative as what happens to us in our life.

We start building our life on what we think we are, what we want in life that shall make us happy, and what we think that we should do. Thoughts are a major factor in shaping our life. In reality our thoughts reflect the real us.

A million thoughts are crossing my mind since the day I have contemplated on starting my blog. My dreams, my pondering, my perspective of life, as I see it. Hopefully my blog will enable me to achieve a far greater dream of being able to successfully write a book...some day! Till then... So far. So good. Only but if I can carry on with it.