Stand Together

I am not African but sometimes the lack of respect shown towards Africa shakes me up. Boko Haram murdered 2000 people in a small town called Baga in Nigeria. ( Read here ) How do 2000 lives not matter? Why was this piece of important news relayed to the world after several days of its occurrence? The attack on Pakistani school children and Parisian journalists shook the world but how is it nearly possible that the death of 2000 people and the abduction of 300 school girls not matter (anymore)? Why is the world so ignorant about Africa? Africa is beautiful and it is not all about the forests and the animals. It is not about the rich natural resources that are still being exploited by the “civilised” world. It is as much about people and their cultures and their lives as it is about people, their lives and their cultures in the rest of the world. I’m not an African but I live in South Africa and I am constantly asked ignorant and annoying questions about the heat in the Sahara ...

I am an Indian woman. I am the obedient daughter, the dutiful sister, the loving wife, the caring mother and the doting grandmother. I am more than I was destined to be and I am proud of it. I am a strong woman. A woman who can fight, a woman who can support, a woman you can rely on and a woman who can cry with you. I am all this. I simply have no defects. As a child I obey my parents. I bring them unfathomable joy. But there are those who do not want me. They kill me before I am born. There are instances where I have survived and when I survive, I repay my salvation in full with interest. I am trained to be a good wife from a tender age. At an age where my brother gets to play cricket in the street, I am set a task of learning to cook. I finish my cooking course as though I am a prodigy with a brilliant performance; a performance that lasts as long as I live. By the time I am out of my teens, I have turned my childhood nemesis of cooking into a therapy session. That is my accomp...

Belonging to a minority community in India is difficult. Minorities are asked to prove our loyalties time and again though we all celebrate Diwali, play holi, watch Bollywood movies and do everything that a normal Indian does. But, we are n ot very welcome in India. I read and hear hateful speeches all that time and they have a devastating effect on me. Especially now since I won't comply or appreciate anyone who wants to vote for Modi. I really don't care who you vote for but I care whose side you will take if Gujarat riots occur again. I have had a 'facebook acquaintance', accuse me of selling India off to Pakistan, China and other countries. What more must I do to prove I am patriotic as well? I cry every time I hear Jana Gana Mana in the foreign land I live in. But again, when this is what so called educated people believe, why take the trouble of proving myself? This is a real "comment" made by the same person and it has left me shaken and chilled to the...

Just done watching the show ‘Meri Bhabi’ (My Sister In Law), which airs at 8:00PM from Monday to Friday on Star Plus. This sister in law, Kittu, is the ideal wife, ideal daughter-in-law and of course the ideal sister-in-law. She is a character with whom the audiences instantly fall in love just as her family did.   I do not like this soap opera much because of how the characters on the show including her husband, Anand, and his family take her for granted and walk all over her. I do not know what message the director wants to convey to us about Kittu. Is he/she trying to tell us that this is how an ideal bahu and wife should be, let everyone walk over you or is the director trying to show us that being an ideal self sacrificing wife and bahu isn’t the best thing to do. I have been watching this show for the past month with my mother. She loves Kittu for being the ideal woman and I dislike Kittu for forgetting that she is a self respecting individual. Kittu is in th...

Two different stories about two different women hit the news recently. One is Nigella Lawson and the other is Yukta Mookhey. While one is a celebrated chef, the other is a former Miss World. While both their stories are about abuse in marriage, they have been treated differently by the media of respective countries. Nigella Lawson’s story was treated with the utmost respect in the UK. She is now a champion of the cause. On the other hand the Indian media handled Yukta Mookhey’s story most shamefully. Instead of writing about her plight and making her a postive example for many women who are in exactly the same situation, the media choose to write about her clothes and make up at various public events after she announced her divorce. It is such a shame. Indian media prides itself on being free and a champion of many causes then why couldn’t they show what they could do by citing Yukta Mookhey as an example and using her story to help other women fight their battles instead ...

Does anybody remember the story of baby Falak? The unamed two year old baby girl who died in a hospital after being beaten up most brutally? Or does anybody remember Nirbhaya, the medical student who was gang raped in a moving bus? These scars are still very fresh in my memory and ever since the gang rape and murder of the medical student I have read only about women being gang raped in moving vehicles, children being kidnapped and raped and murdered; young women and girls being raped in their own home sometimes in front of their beloved parents in the national capital and the areas surrounding it. Even sacred visitors from other countries are not spared. Sacred because of our ‘Atithi Devo Bhava’ legacy. Do I take this as a positive sign that crimes against women and children are finally getting the attention they deserve or must I be shocked at the brutality of these acts? Honestly I am numb with fear with what the Indian male is turning into.  Yesterday I read about a 6 ...

Facebook Friend's Post: "Sick of the petition posts.. Please stop posting it to me would have helped if it really made a difference nthn in india will eva change esp the law system argh !!" My Reply:   "Maybe it never made a difference, maybe it still wont but its still worth a try. Every little effort is worth it when you have little sisters, a wonderful mother, fabulous aunts and cousins and very beautiful friends. Even signing a petition, whether it reaches the ministers we elect or not shows and forecasts something. It shows people are angry.Yes we've always been angry about this. We've always tried to do something about it. We get told to stay indoors and dress ''appropriately'' and that too makes us angry as it rightly should. But what else can you do?" "Those of us who can write articles, write throwing all our anger, frustration, disgust and sadness into it. Those of us who can post petitions on other peoples FB w...