'Shit' ty Luck

Those days which become practical implementation of Murphy's Law come too frequently when you don't want them to (which just means Murphy's Law doesn't make any mistake because it chooses the days where things go worse from bad easily). The reason I am talking about this is because of a pink kurta. Yes, I love that kurta and really wanted to wear it to my internship. The first time i decided to wear it the bus was late and I was patiently waiting from it when suddenly something warm fell on my hand and the side of Kurta. One look at my hand directed my gaze upwards towards the sky where i saw a pigeon sitting on the telephone line surveying its handiwork and satisfied with the result it flapped its wings and flew away. I and my friend quickly washed my hand and kurta and one of my two new Hankerchiefs (those towel ones) was sacrificed in the process.

Today, I knew I was not going to have a pleasant day as I had to meet my boss RNJ for showing the draft of our work and everyone in the office knows you can't have a pleasant day if you have to get some work approved by him. However, undaunted, I looked forward towards end of my internship and subsequent shopping. So i decided to wear my now washed pink Kurta again.

For the first time the bus we take was late forcing me and my friend to find an alternate route of reaching office. The weather decided to be especially hot today and our route involved a long walk to the office. When we were near office and I was looking forward to get inside AC i saw another law in practice - "History repeats itself". I could have sworn it was the same sadist pigeon. This time the shot was accurate and it fell right in the middle./

Sigh....

Lets see what more happens today.

In the end I will sit in some ice cream parlour with a big chocolate ice cream and this bad day would be passe then.

Being a Woman

What I can not understand is why a woman can't go through her life without being humiliated or insulted for being a woman? I don't think there is any woman who hasn't been felt up, whistled at or eve teased. It is often mistaken that eve teasing and feeling up women is due to uncontrollable sexual desires of men. This is not the right notion. These depraved creatures only want sadistic pleasure out of humiliating and putting someone down. Its an attempt to feel superior by harassing someone and showing that person as weaker.

If it was a result of sexual desires then there is no reason why it would be targeted to women of all ages from little girls to old women. It doesnt matter how you dress and where you are as my recent encounter in a so-called safe city when I was wearing a salwar suit showed me. Also, why should it only be done by men against women. There is no reason to suppose men have more sexual desires than women. The only reason behind it is patriarchy which gives men a stronger and a superior position over women. Patriarchal thinking believes in keeping women at a lower pedestal and it manifests itself as eve teasing in today's ear where women seem to be catching up with women and entering public arena. It is merely an attempt to make the public sphere uncomfortable and unequal for women.

When we are all talking about cultural diversity, finally, one things seems common to all places - need to insult women and show them as inferior. Unfortunately, the thought is very reassuring. The helplessness and humiliation felt in such encounters is not unfamiliar to most of us. Instead of fighting this 'phenomenon' (its almost a tradition now) it is used as an excuse to tie women to the four walls of their house. As long as we women keep on facing these incidents there can not be any real equality between men and women.

Only if social ethos condemn these practices (which I consider to be an offshoot of patriarchy and not much different from domestic violence etc) can women walk on roads freely without fear. What we need to know is how to handle such incidents?

Firstly, what to do in such a situation. Secondly, that it is not the woman's fault. It should not be blamed on her clothes or the late hours etcetera. It is a crime and the criminal is at fault and not the victim. Thirdly, we should not keep quite about it. Suffering silently only encourages the man. There is no need to be afraid about public opinion. If any eve teasing incident happens then you should create a noise about it. We should stop double victimization of women and should stop blaming them for these incidents. There is nothing such as a 'small' or 'minor' incident. Each incident is humiliating, suffocating and bothering. Police can not refuse to register a case merely because they think its minor. Do the best you can in such a situation. I know mostly we are caught off guard and the only result is being told by our well wishers to sit at home but probably we can find ways to get back by shouting, getting help, complaining or just discussing it.