Happy NEW Year!

“Why can’t I go if anna can?” Sahiti argued.

It wasn’t the first time that she was denied permission to go out.

Angry and dejected with none yet all, she sat next to window looking at the unending darkness. A silent drop rolled down her cheeks as the clock struck twelve.

And then the answer dawned upon her; something her parents had never mentioned but was always implied, “Because you’re a girl”.

“Happy New Year!” she whispered and mocked at the irony.

Wondering how long will girls be made to suffer in this society endorsing fake equality! 

New awakening for women rights – you want it, you fight it

I am a woman. A woman with desires and aspirations, with strengths and limitations. I am competitive, I stand in the board room with men today, listen to them and argue with them and have even out shone them in many respects. I learn from them and also teach them. For the society to take note, I even earn more than many of them. I sincerely undertake my duties as a wife, a mother, a daughter and a daughter in law. I offer my daily prayers for the wellness of all. I laugh with my family and at troubled times cry in a dark corner. I am the source of love and care for my family, I am the source of positivity and energy for my friends, I am the source of patience and compassion for my colleagues and I am the source of goodness and wellbeing for all my fellow human beings. But in spite of all that, I am a woman. A woman who is vulnerable because of her misplaced belief that she is living in a world which reciprocates her goodness.

The recent incident in Delhi has shaken the entire youth, men and women alike, to stand for woman rights, yet again. History has it, together we have fought for human rights. We eliminated the Sati system, we eliminated child marriage, we have fought for gender equality for long now. And look where we have reached. We now have 33% reservation in many bodies and organizations including the Parliament, we are getting equal opportunities of education, we are getting high paying jobs in multi-national companies and we are getting married at our willful age. Looks like everything is falling in place. But look closely, is it really? Are we still safe to enjoy our rights? From being raped by policemen in police station (refer Mathura rape case) to being raped by own father in law within the four walls (refer Imrana rape case), where are we safe now? And to say the least, what trust will we have on our government if we cannot be safe in the national capital?

We live in a society where we offer our prayers to Durga and Laxmi and fear the Kali, yet we are not able to respect the dignity of women. I myself have been audience (observed as well as victimized at times) to many cases of eve teasing and grab-hit-flee and yet, time and again, I fail to understand the mentality of such men who are not able to respect the sanctity of womanhood, in spite of being born to a female and giving birth to a female. I wonder what I as a female can do to prevent this from happening? I have a voice, I can raise it for sure. But it has to be loud enough that this entire class of insensitive inhuman creatures hear it and fear it. Let us all take an oath to object, revolt, raise voice against any indecent act towards woman around us. For somewhere it might be our mother, sister, wife or daughter facing the same ordeal. I urge all my friends, male and female, to stand for this cause. For I can only hope that the government will do something concrete to avail women of their rightful place in the society.

Reflections in Silence

It looked like a beautiful necklace with glittering gold studs. In spite of the numerous long drives I had been on, I never noticed the perfection with which it was built. The nitty-gritties which used to bother me seemed completely redundant now.

I was amazed how distance could create such a drastic change in perception. I sat through the window wondering if it applied only to highways and bridges or also to people.

My first flight journey indeed changed my perspective to life a little more than I expected!

(Inspired by the Mute Spectator for this wonderful concept of 100 words short story!

http://reflectionsinsilence.wordpress.com/)

Life@IIM Shillong - So far so good and yet to come..

When I walked into the gates of IIM Shillong a year back, I had a dream. A dream to make  the most out of these two years, get a good job, repay my loan, take up challenging tasks unlike my last IT job, rise the corporate ladder, give an interview for a leading newspaper, make my parents proud and others envious, blah blah blah.. Not sure if everyone came with the same intentions but first few weeks into campus and I could see different kinds of people, some smart - some trying to be smart, everyone trying to get noticed and survive the pressure of performance at an IIM.

A term passed by with these dreams being replaced by new ones, to have fun, make the most out of being in Shillong by discovering its natural beauty, make good friends, travel with friends to the remotest possible beauty spots in Meghalaya before leaving this place, talk to people and understand their perspective,, do things differently – no matter how weird or wrong it might look like, learn by yourself – be it in classroom or in life, blah blah blah.. Not sure if everyone saw their dreams changing but one could surely notice the desperation of getting noticed fading away!

I had walked in with dreams but had expected the least; dreams redefined but had only hoped they would come true. Now a year passed by and I am already living most of them. Explored the beauty of Shillong with insatiable hunger still burning inside – from the mystically captivating sacred grooves to the absolute divinity called Cherrapunji, from the adventurous rock climbing in Nongstein to the morning walk in the just beside Smith Village, the journey has been exhilarating. Friends? – Well, there were just 6 in F.R.I.E.N.D.S, but here we have 105, one of their kinds and each one is special (yes, like every child is special)! Friends to rely on, friends to share troubles with, friends to gossip with, friends to bitch about other friends, friends to go on treks, friends to party with, friends to celebrate birthdays with and the list goes endless, because friends are there for just everything.

Learning? – I guess my group mates would be in a better position to comment. I am not sure if they learnt from me or I learnt from them but we all definitely grew together. With one of the awesomest library present, I had a lot to learn from – I used it effectively or not is a different story (anyways we live in the hi-tech world and google has answer for everything). Understanding people and different perspectives? – I bet!!! do you even have an option here. Job? – Oh, I should be last one complaining about it. Already living the dream of many in a top class FMCG company, there is no dearth of challenges, as far as you can take them. Making parents proud? – I guess they already are and the IIM tag will suffice for the dummy community around (this is with the hope that the RG will be dropped sometime soon down the line!). Interview for a leading newspaper? – I guess that still remains a dream but yeah, you should surely have some dreams unfulfilled to motivate you to live on!

Life@IIM Shillong rocks, can’t wait to get back to it!!! :)

Sometimes it takes more than a lifetime..

Samarpan pulled over the car at the petrol pump, the adjacent general store was too attractive to prevent Samruddhi and Samant from running out of the car to fill their pockets and empty their dad’s. Sandhya followed the kids into the store just to keep a check on what they lay their hands on. Sandhya and Samarpan were happily married for fourteen long years now and were enjoying the prime of their lives revolving around their “double dhamaka” kids, as they were called by all their neighbors. Sandhya’s day used to start with waking up the two naughty creatures followed by resolving their conflicts over who goes into the bathroom first, preparing breakfast for them and packing their lunch boxes and listening to them crib over the smell of the milk. Samarpan used to be the perfect partner giving Sandhya a hand for ironing their clothes and helping them get ready for school. Only at 7.00 am when they were off into the school bus, did the two breathe a sigh of relief.

The two kids had made their residence a pleasant house of disorder and disruption. The last time that Samarpan got a packet of chips for them, Sandhya couldn’t control laughing as she saw the two divide it piece by piece counting innocently till the packet was empty. This was a pleasant view indeed before it became violent when Samant hid his plate and claimed he had eaten it all. Poor ignorant Samruddhi offered Samant her share only to realize later that he had actually saved his! What followed was uncontrollable chaos which would bring the whole house down. The same was the scene whether it be dividing Cadbury dairy milk or the butterscotch family pack ice-cream which Samarpan used to get on weekends. It was an unknown joy that they shared while engaging in this childish act.

“Anna, wait. I am coming too”, Samruddhi ran after Samant as he entered into the store.

The store keeper became alert as he saw the two naughty looking kids bring the store down. It took them not more than five minutes to pick what they needed.

“Only one bottle”, Sandhya commanded as she saw Samant struggle to lift the big Coco Cola bottle from the shelf.

Samarpan drove past the petrol pump and honked the horn, “Let us go guys”. The kids rushed towards the car and Sandhya struggled to catch up with both her hands occupied by two full carry bags filled in the past five minutes. Finally they were on the road heading back to their home. Samruddhi had her eyes fixed on the red shining Coke bottle half dangling from the carry bag. It only took a moment for her to open the bottle once they were home.

“Sammu wait. First have lunch, you know Daddy won’t like it if he sees”, Sandhya shouted but to Samruddhi’s inattention to her mother’s warnings.

As Samarpan entered the house, he saw both Samruddhi and Samant sitting on the table with two glasses side by side and pouring in Coke trying to match the level in the two glasses. He could nothing but smile at the not so new scene and told Sandhya to serve food for him.

At a tender age of 10 Samruddhi was too small to understand the concept of sharing and at 13 Samant was not so big so as to accommodate Samruddhi’s innocence by compromising on his share.

Another addictive game which they played was ‘who hits the last’, as Sandhya used to call it! It started with one of the two hitting the other for some reason which followed till one has given up or has been given some incentive by their mother to stop the silliness. The winner of the fight, as a common agreement, was the one who hit the last, which led to the incentives becoming unattractive at times during peak stages of the fight. Such fights even turned violent and ultimately ended with loud cries of “I hate you” from the losing party and “You don’t love me, you always take his/her side” (for their mummy) from the winning party, after Sandhya is forced to intervene.

With friends and families, experiences and exasperations, joys and sorrows, achievements and adjustments, their life was going on happily in the homely city of Nagpur.

A couple of years passed by and the kids grew up, but only in size and age. Their actions still remained the same, be it dividing dairy milk or hitting each other till one gives up.

“Stop it you two, just look at yourself. You grown up morons!”, Sandhya was at her brink today. The fight started over the TV remote and had moved on to who will sit on the Sofa which ultimately turned violent and ended up being the ‘who hits the last’ drama. Samant gave a hard blow to Samruddhi and ran out of the house with his bicycle keys, ignoring his mother’s scoldings and Samruddhi’s wining.

“Sshhhhh.. Don’t cry Sammu, we will give him good scolding once he is back”, Sandhya tried to pacify Samruddhi, though helplessly. After an hour or two the house had calmed down. It was 7:00 in the evening and it was just about time when Samant used to come back after playing with the neighbor’s kids. Samruddhi had just gotten up from the ‘cry cry and go to sleep’ nap following the fight.

“I don’t care, I will hit him when he comes back. You hold him for me”, Samruddhi said in a sheepish tone half asleep half awake.

Just then the telephone bell rang and Sandhya got up to answer it. She said a silent “Hello” followed by a high pitched “What” and then waited silently for the other end to finish. Samruddhi could only hear “Hmmm” for the rest of the conversation from this end and got up and held her mother as she saw tears rolling down her cheeks with every “Hmmm”. The phone slid from Sandhya’s hand as she sat down uncontrollably and started crying. A cry such loud that Samruddhi had never seen her mother in this state before. She knew something was wrong but she hesitated to ask. She did not have the courage to ask or rather to hear. She heard the doorbell ring, the sound never seemed so harsh. As she opened the door, Samarpan stood there with eyes red and wet and a straight face of lost hope, he quietly laid down Samant’s body soaked in blood on the bed in the front room.

“Daddy, what happened to Anna?” Samruddhi asked silently with tears rolling down her cheeks. Sandhya broke down on seeing the body, she held him hard, shouted cries of “Wake up”, shouted hard as if for God to hear and have pity on her. Her world had ended. Looking at her mother, Samruddhi also started crying. “Get up Anna, Mummy is crying. Get up.”, she hit him hard, she had been waiting to do this for long to win the game. Ultimately she had won; Samant would not be getting up to return the strike. She promised God she would never ever hit him again just let him come back once. She saw her mother and father in utter despair and started crying helplessly.

Sandhya came running towards the room and turned the lights on.

“What happened Sammu? I am here, nothing’s wrong.”, Sandhya tried to soothe her.

“Anna is not yet back, we will hit him don’t worry, I will help you”, Sandhya said calmly.

Samruddhi realized she was on the bed, she hugged her mother and started crying louder.

“Shhhh, Shhh. Sammu, what happened dear?”

Samruddhi tried to calm down. She couldn’t recollect the dream, except her mother crying and Samant lying on the bed drenched in blood. She was more than glad for having learnt her lesson in the dream.

“Nothing Maa, I don’t want to hit Anna. I promised God.”

Sandhya comforted her as Samruddhi laid her head down in her mother’s warm lap.

“I love you Maa”, Samruddhi said innocently. “I also love Anna and Daddy a lot”.

“We love you too Beta”, Sandhya did not understand where this was coming from but did not know how else to respond.

Samruddhi wasn’t sure why she said that. That one dream made her realize the importance of those inseparable people with whom we share our entire lives without imagining how it would have been without them! People we know we love and cannot live without but don’t remember the last time when we had told them so. Guess Samruddhi did not want to take another chance to live with that regret.

(Dedicated to all those loved ones and the most special relationship of brother and sister without which childhood would never have been so full of fun, frolic and excitement)