I was sitting by the red building and lush green lawns in my college mugging up for my exam that I was to give in another 20 mins. A boy of about 10 yrs, a rag picker went to a girl sitting a few meters away from where I was…I had seen him in the campus last week as well picking up plastics and stuff. Today he had papers in his hand rather than his sack. He spoke to her but within seconds turned towards me. He knew I was observing him. As I saw him coming, I concentrated on the book in my hand….he stopped by me….put forward his sheets to me. These were plain A4 sheets, one side used….I look at him….he says “ didi is par mujhe drawing bana do.”
my first thought was to refuse … I had my exam in 20 mins and quite some stuff to revise…
I took the sheets from him n asked “ kya bana du?”
“Bike bana do…”
“bike banana toh mujhe nahi aati..kuch aur batao”
he thinks, then says “mere pas pen bhi nahi hai..”
In the mean time the guard comes to shoo him off. And starts shouting at him…he lowers his eyes and gets up to go…leaving his sheets… I give the sheets back and the pen that I had in my hand.
He says thank you and goes away. So does the guard.
My eyes were moist..i was blank…numb...i didn’t even ask him his name. all through his face had the same dourly expression..…Why didn’t I stop the guard from shouting at him?
It was a stark reality early in the morning..I am preparing to go to give my post graduate degree exam and there is a child who comes to me collecting used papers from some where to make him a drawing…this boy who should be studying in a school does not even possess a pen.
Why this difference in society? Why this difference in life? Is this life for him?
I close my book and head for the examination hall.
Will I meet him again? What will I do?
Showing posts with label society. Show all posts
Showing posts with label society. Show all posts
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Sunday, December 21, 2008
dew on the green carpet
Dew on the green carpet,
Birds chirping in their nests,
Some are warm in their quilts,
Some are guarding others concrete.
The sun is struggling to spread its warmth
Beyond the clouds that have come down from heaven.
The ruins of the hours spent by
Tell the story for everyone..
Its burnt coal and tree branches for some
For others it’s a spread out quilt.
But the dew on the green carpet
Is the same for everyone.
Birds chirping in their nests,
Some are warm in their quilts,
Some are guarding others concrete.
The sun is struggling to spread its warmth
Beyond the clouds that have come down from heaven.
The ruins of the hours spent by
Tell the story for everyone..
Its burnt coal and tree branches for some
For others it’s a spread out quilt.
But the dew on the green carpet
Is the same for everyone.
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
pedestal for sorority
Its always on my mind about how our culture and language perpetuates patriarchy in our society. Day in and day out, instances, experiences flourish which shriek how the female sex is being subdued at every crossroad of life. But it is only we as a society that is turning a deaf ear to this.
Being a person with immense faith in God, there have been times when I have been forced to question that solemn, solicited belief as well. I often ask myself why when we refer to Gods and deities do we address them as HE in general. The whole of the God fraternity is referred to as male where in Goddesses are the ones majority of people exercise their faith in. This reference is to all religions but talking about Hinduism in specific, the reverent ‘aarti’ that every God fearing Hindu child learns in the process of transgressing from childhood to adolescence to adulthood has a specific line that states “ aarti jo koi nar gave”( every male who sings this hymn). Even during the bad days of the menstruation cycle, some religions forbid women to pray. And all this is followed with rigorous fervor. This makes me rethink and ponder over the sociological thoughts when we say “sex is a biological construct where as gender is a social construction.” People might say that, since religion, cultures etc all are part of the social domain. I agree if I would be talking about it in purely sociological terms sitting in the four walls of the classroom. But what about those stories we have learnt growing up where Brahma is the creator and that god’s resided on earth. So where is the social aspect where our minds have been engineered by the almighty to think in a particular aspect and be unfair to the 'fairer sex'???
Coming down to the more intricate aspects of life, I would not like to touch upon what everyone knows about and talks but does nothing. Being an educator, I would like to elucidate on portrayal of women at various forums like school textbooks, articles in so called women's magazines etc that play a major role in setting up frameworks in our mind about women and their role. Gender equality is totally skewed in the school textbooks. I think that’s where I should start from.....pick up a grade I textbook....you'll have a chapter on ‘my family’.....mind you it would have pictures....and the pictures say....papa is reading a newspaper, boy child is playing cricket or watching TV....what about the female members???I don’t think I should applaud you for guessing it....its obvious. The girl child is playing with a doll, and of the most obvious mother is in the kitchen....cooking....Chapter on various occupations..... doctor, policeman, engineer were depicted by men; nurse, teacher depicted by women. There was a study conducted in metro cities checking out the gender ratio in university faculty....and believe you me....men by far out numbered women....and we very comfortably say teaching is a soft profession....meant for women.Coming back to the point, trust me 99% books depict this....and then we talk of gender equality when we are giving such a sexist socialization to the young minds.
Media ideally should act as an agent of social change and should break these unfair and unjust images of women being treated as sexual objects and being shown as the weaker sex. But the media itself represents women as sexual objects- be it explicitly or implicitly.... No commercial advertisement is complete without a female model. It is a cliché. Can I ask why is a woman required in every damn ad be it an ad for menz products or electronic gadgets or mutual funds or cell phones.....are we that dissolute or promiscuous? Here I am not taking about one or two ads that can be put in the exceptional category that portray woman power as strength but stating my thoughts on a general overview.....The hidden agenda is to exploit the sexuality of women....be it any which way...
By now many brows must have been raised questioning my thoughts. My view may seem to suggest that I am absolutely ignoring the rise of the feminism bandwagon and woman empowerment in our society. I agree that there has been an immense change in the past few years with the development through education. Women have become aware and have the courage to stand up and raise their voice. But believe you me, it’s not even a milestone achieved.
Its baneful but even in very much educated, high up and modern households, male domination holds strong, so much so that women even fail to acknowledge it. I would again blame it on the socialization process which sadly has a strong pedagogy for a curriculum specially designed for girls with heavy duty subjects like sacrifice, compromise, homeliness ,being a good daughter, sister, wife and a daughter- in-law and practical lessons on how to blur your own identity in the chemical emotional romance called life of a girl child. And the way the separate gender roles are rooted in the young minds is difficult to extricate. We are living in an educated barbaric society. We do not need glasses to look for these morbid existences. Its clandestinely explicit.
The case is clearly visible be it urban or rural India. Its drab, dour and draconian. My concern here is not that section that is blogging, studying in universities and is well aware about the nuances of our social existence but the remaining majority.
Who do we blame for all this and how do we look for answers.? When we talk of woman empowerment, its not a concern just for women. It’s the concern of the society in totality- not women but men as well. The desocialisation has to be equal for both men and women.
It’s the men who are dominating. True, women need to rise for themselves but men need to make space for them to rise, provide them with a pedestal. We need to understand that the gender issue is between men and women and belongs to both and unless both come forward with the fervor for change, it will be a ludicrous failure. The society will be patriarchal, male domination will exist, questions will remain unanswered. Lets not move on to becoming educated savages.We can build a society where though we may not be too sure about the roots of existence of patriarchy but we have answers to its eradication…….
Being a person with immense faith in God, there have been times when I have been forced to question that solemn, solicited belief as well. I often ask myself why when we refer to Gods and deities do we address them as HE in general. The whole of the God fraternity is referred to as male where in Goddesses are the ones majority of people exercise their faith in. This reference is to all religions but talking about Hinduism in specific, the reverent ‘aarti’ that every God fearing Hindu child learns in the process of transgressing from childhood to adolescence to adulthood has a specific line that states “ aarti jo koi nar gave”( every male who sings this hymn). Even during the bad days of the menstruation cycle, some religions forbid women to pray. And all this is followed with rigorous fervor. This makes me rethink and ponder over the sociological thoughts when we say “sex is a biological construct where as gender is a social construction.” People might say that, since religion, cultures etc all are part of the social domain. I agree if I would be talking about it in purely sociological terms sitting in the four walls of the classroom. But what about those stories we have learnt growing up where Brahma is the creator and that god’s resided on earth. So where is the social aspect where our minds have been engineered by the almighty to think in a particular aspect and be unfair to the 'fairer sex'???
Coming down to the more intricate aspects of life, I would not like to touch upon what everyone knows about and talks but does nothing. Being an educator, I would like to elucidate on portrayal of women at various forums like school textbooks, articles in so called women's magazines etc that play a major role in setting up frameworks in our mind about women and their role. Gender equality is totally skewed in the school textbooks. I think that’s where I should start from.....pick up a grade I textbook....you'll have a chapter on ‘my family’.....mind you it would have pictures....and the pictures say....papa is reading a newspaper, boy child is playing cricket or watching TV....what about the female members???I don’t think I should applaud you for guessing it....its obvious. The girl child is playing with a doll, and of the most obvious mother is in the kitchen....cooking....Chapter on various occupations..... doctor, policeman, engineer were depicted by men; nurse, teacher depicted by women. There was a study conducted in metro cities checking out the gender ratio in university faculty....and believe you me....men by far out numbered women....and we very comfortably say teaching is a soft profession....meant for women.Coming back to the point, trust me 99% books depict this....and then we talk of gender equality when we are giving such a sexist socialization to the young minds.
Media ideally should act as an agent of social change and should break these unfair and unjust images of women being treated as sexual objects and being shown as the weaker sex. But the media itself represents women as sexual objects- be it explicitly or implicitly.... No commercial advertisement is complete without a female model. It is a cliché. Can I ask why is a woman required in every damn ad be it an ad for menz products or electronic gadgets or mutual funds or cell phones.....are we that dissolute or promiscuous? Here I am not taking about one or two ads that can be put in the exceptional category that portray woman power as strength but stating my thoughts on a general overview.....The hidden agenda is to exploit the sexuality of women....be it any which way...
By now many brows must have been raised questioning my thoughts. My view may seem to suggest that I am absolutely ignoring the rise of the feminism bandwagon and woman empowerment in our society. I agree that there has been an immense change in the past few years with the development through education. Women have become aware and have the courage to stand up and raise their voice. But believe you me, it’s not even a milestone achieved.
Its baneful but even in very much educated, high up and modern households, male domination holds strong, so much so that women even fail to acknowledge it. I would again blame it on the socialization process which sadly has a strong pedagogy for a curriculum specially designed for girls with heavy duty subjects like sacrifice, compromise, homeliness ,being a good daughter, sister, wife and a daughter- in-law and practical lessons on how to blur your own identity in the chemical emotional romance called life of a girl child. And the way the separate gender roles are rooted in the young minds is difficult to extricate. We are living in an educated barbaric society. We do not need glasses to look for these morbid existences. Its clandestinely explicit.
The case is clearly visible be it urban or rural India. Its drab, dour and draconian. My concern here is not that section that is blogging, studying in universities and is well aware about the nuances of our social existence but the remaining majority.
Who do we blame for all this and how do we look for answers.? When we talk of woman empowerment, its not a concern just for women. It’s the concern of the society in totality- not women but men as well. The desocialisation has to be equal for both men and women.
It’s the men who are dominating. True, women need to rise for themselves but men need to make space for them to rise, provide them with a pedestal. We need to understand that the gender issue is between men and women and belongs to both and unless both come forward with the fervor for change, it will be a ludicrous failure. The society will be patriarchal, male domination will exist, questions will remain unanswered. Lets not move on to becoming educated savages.We can build a society where though we may not be too sure about the roots of existence of patriarchy but we have answers to its eradication…….
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