Happy Women's Day

Ideally wanted to post this on women’s day but couldn’t.

The way of life in an IT industry is to first check your official mail account and then do whatever you want to. Most of the mails were screaming HAPPY WOMEN’S DAY and the rest of the day was similar. I was half jobless that day and the women’s day mails flowed throughout either congratulating or asking the women folk to celebrate the supposed to be joyous day. I wondered why is there so much pomp and celebrations for this when 80% of the women in this world don’t even know of its existence. Women in remote villages of India, women in Africa where rape is used as a weapon in war, women in south east Asian countries living in abject poverty etc would probably consider this day – if they probably ever heard about it- as a DREAM or FANTASY which is supposed to mean liberation/freedom/the right to live by other women folk around the world. We are living in a world where women are killed for the sake of honor, used as objects and thrown, trafficked, subject to domestic violence – How does the existence of all these let people come up with the idea of celebrating when majority of the women are still oppressed?

For a moment let’s forget about the women who aren’t aware of Women day. What about us who know about it and are yet not free to do so many basic activities which I consider the right to live – walking at midnight for a 10-15 min peaceful stroll, traveling without the escort of the male clan, or let’s just think of walking on the road without being ogled at or eve teased.

I hope that this day instead of being reserved for merely congratulating or holding some celebrations with meaningless talks is used to give hope to - some of those who don’t get a chance to be born, for those who slog it out in the hope that the male clan will take care of them someday, for those who are married off to settle family feuds, for those who are denied the basic education rights and for those who wish to live free.

HC verdict

Hearing about the verdict in favor of the homosexuals in Times Of India, i happened to read most of the readers comments. Many people against the verdict made statements like -- 'Its against nature', 'Against god's will', 'We r leading the youths in wrong direction', 'Immoral' etc etc

On reading these i would like to ask people who did ever decide what - 'The will of nature is?', 'God's will?', 'Immorality is?' It is 'we people' who years ago decided to give things and phenomena around us names and take decisions. 'We people' gave names like plants,trees,bushes,clouds,house, etc etc. Someone in the past observed trees grow 'up' the ground and roots 'below'. We are conditioned to think 'up' and 'below' are as we have learnt and seen. But what if in history the words were the other way round? We did probably say that trees grow below and the roots up. Similarly we decided what the will of nature is, what is god's will and not the other way around. I firmly believe every individual has the right to live life the way they want to and no one has the right to question them because nothing has ever been defined by nature. Rather people should concentrate on other matters like rape, pedophiles, domestic violence, human abuse, poverty etc which causes distress to humans .If people are so worried about going against nature or god what about the issues i just mentioned? Aren't rape, domestic violence, killing people against nature/god's will? If people think the world is going in the wrong direction is it not their duty to make it a better place by doing their bit in eliminating poverty or providing education or doing something about our degrading environment.

So people before you make harsh statements, look around you, think, there is a lot more to be done than simply commenting and deciding for others.

'I need no warrant for being, and no word of sanction upon my being. I am the warrant and the sanction.' -- By Ayn Rand

One hour

One hour a week is all it takes to make some difference to the lives of a few children who unlike us cannot afford to buy even a pencil and notebook for their education. Recently my friend and i decided to start teaching in a government school on behalf of an NGO - Aashayein- which aims at providing basic English communication skills to such children. With the support of the NGO students are provided with pencils,notebooks,uniforms and other necessities as and when required. Volunteers were/are scarce but still a few like minded people came forward and the teaching sessions started. We all reached by 8 am on Saturday and were greeted 'GOOD MORNING MISS/SIR' by many enthusiastic and smiling faces. It was a great experience for all of us as most of us don't know the regional language (Kannada) and yet managed to keep the children engaged. The children were also excited and most of them made efforts to learn and respond to what we were teaching them.

After teaching i left the place with mixed emotions. I was happy that a few people had come forward to help and the children were also learning. But it saddened me to see that at such a tender age many children had lost their innocence. There was an incident when a boy had snatched a rupee from someone and there was a big fight for it. In some other class a boy had lost Rs 10 and was so worried about being beaten up by his father. Some children had just a scrap paper and a small bit of a pencil for writing. The school starts at 8 am but many children come by only 9 am or so but they make sure they reach school before 10 am. The reason being free lunch scheme provided by the government. The parents also send small kids along with the older ones who attended school so that those kids could be looked after while they were at work and plus all their children would get lunch too. Too many things happening in a small building with no playground or even benches for students to sit.

I hope we are able to achieve our goals set of which one of them includes increasing the number of students attending school.

Volunteers: Aprajitha, Manish, Yasoda, Deepika, Shilpa, Harish, Nadeem, Dutta, Megha, Reeba, Sucheta

Dance pe chance (30th june 2009)

Yeah i have finally taken a plunge into something i was putting off for quite some time cause its really not my comfort zone . Learning Jazz and the regular bollywood fusion. Have completed only one class so far and i was left panting and gasping for breath within 10 minutes with all the workouts and steps. Fantastic instructors who kept telling me - Don't bang your legs like an elephant :) Hoping to learn something at the end of it and also not to ruin the stage performance with the group..

coorg trip (june 13-14, 2009)

I have lived in many parts of India and yet never had the opportunity to go to the nearby worthwhile visiting destinations. Lived in Mount Abu n never saw the Indian desert nor went to Jaipur, Jaisalmer, lived in Chandigarh,Delhi n did not visit Manali, Jammu etc, lived in Pune and never got to see Lonawala or Khandala and the worst of all, living in Chennai and never been to Mahabalipuram!!! It was always a wish to go to some nearby place n trek or enjoy the beauty of the place. So finally i did the unthinkable for myself(considering my nature), i went on a trek to Coorg with people whom i never knew or met before. Got a mail one morning on my official mail id regarding a trek trip to Coorg being organized and I promptly replied. Till date this was the best decision i ever made as i did things i never did before.

We started our journey from Bangalore at around 11 pm and reached Coorg by 6 am. The drive was amazing through all the lush green forests and mountains and of course the wonderful roads which i didn't expect. We reached the base of the home stay and the quiet and misty surroundings made me feel wonderful. The home stay was in midst of forests and plantations. It was a 3km walk up and a open jeep/mini truck would be there to pick us up. Instead some people in the group and i decided to start walking till the jeep picked up the others from the base. Soon we were picked up by the jeep and this ride was even better than the roller coaster ones. Initially none of us could imagine a vehicle up on those paths--hats off to the driver. On reaching the home stay we freshened up, had breakfast and set course to trek to the highest point. I finally also got the opportunity to try my hands on photography(a long time interest but never did anything about it) Some of the shots i took can be seen at www.aprajitha-art.blogspot.com
As we went higher some people decided to return and the others and i continued. The walk through the edge of the mountains, the deep valleys, marshy areas, rocky paths, bushes, trees was mind blowing. Looking back i wonder how did i even decide to walk through the edges n rocks- one wrong step i would have fallen down 1000's of feet below. Finally we reached the peak and the view was breathtaking!! We were all too excited and exhilarated as we reached the peak by overcoming small little odds like no water, hunger and leech bites. But at that time these odds were a big concern:) On return we were fortunate that lunch was still being served. After devouring on the delicious food we all decided to rest for while before setting course for the next walk. However our plans were ruined as it started pouring for the rest of the evening. Surrounded by greenery, clouds, and the perfect weather i got some hot 'pakodas' to eat and the rest of the evening was spent chit chatting with others or just gazing out through the veranda. It also happened that it was my first time to play a game called BLUFF and am never going to play it again :) I met a Japanese guy over there during dinner and when i asked his name, he replied 'Chandrasekhar'. Soon i got to know the guy permanently lived in India and his guru had given him this Indian name. He was at the home stay for the summer season. It was a wonderful evening and i didn't imagine i would have so much fun talking to all the new people.

Next day we all went to the waterfall. It was spectacular and without thinking twice i jumped into the water :D It was freezing and the breeze made it even better :) Hungry after being in the waterfall for a while, we finally headed towards coorg city to have lunch. Unfortunately vegetarian food was not served in any restaurant and i had to eat fruits :( ( I don't like fruits except few) Our final destinations for the trip was to see the dam and the Buddhist temple which are very famous in coorg. And again the view around to reach these places were amazing.

This trip was my first trek and was fantastic. Hoping to have more fun ahead.

daily stuff

Standing at the bus stop as early as 7:20am when traffic jams are supposed to be non existent, i hear buses, cars, trucks, scooterists honking away to glory. In a span of five-ten minutes i observe people spitting ..yikes!! n the spit in all possible colors and some of the "sophisticated ones" who probably had no time for daily routines munch some mouth freshener ,to be discarded on the road. These people constitute the so called "educated people" with all the collars and tags along with the others masses. Next, i see people of all genders especially "sophisticated and educated ones" puffing away early morning adding to the inconvenience of others in spite of the GOVERNMENT rule imposed-"smoking banned in public areas". Maybe some one should take them back to primary school to learn to read and listen.

I soon board my private bus to the office expecting not to be bothered about the "small little" stuff. However my mind refuses to stop. First coming to the basic courtesy of sitting in the bus-- no one owns the entire seat, yet people love to spread their legs wide apart n sit along with their bags at their side...and a request to move the bag gives a look of- "OK i will do you this favour"!!!! Once seated, at the next pick up point, i get jolted by people walking into the bus with their bags on their shoulders,could someone tell them--this is not a platform for ramp walk. Then i notice my bus mate following the mantra of - An apple a day keeps the doctor away- not bad so far but the next action of throwing away the leftovers on the road on some poor creature without hesitation, disgusting!!!

Once i reach my destination , it takes me a while to enter my second home as people are busy trying to -who can get in first- without forming a queue. The rest of the day is smooth except for certain things i find it difficult to digest during eating hours-- why do people have to shout out their plans/future/gossip etc for everyone to hear, its not a public talk that everyone must know or be aware of, second why cant people eat in a civilian fashion rather than dropping all the chutney/sambhar/vegetables/kurma as they walk along or on the tables-- is it so difficult to maneuver the coordination between the five fingers?

Finally my day of observations come to an end and in the evening i again get to see the same rituals performed in the morning. And am left wondering why cant people have the basic courtesy and common sense?