I was reading national news in yahoo news page and i came across this news put up barely an hour ago. On December 7, a woman in Korba district of Chhattisgarh tried to burn her husband alive. She was arrested and what she said in her defense was that she was "fed up of her husband"!
I really could not push what she said to the back of my brain. To be so fed up of a person to try and burn him/her alive? And that too your husband? Another important fact in this case was that the wife had filed a case of dowry harassment against her husband but the matter was dissolved between them...the story continues.
Curious about dowry cases, i typed dowry in Google and clicked on news and a long list of dowry cases appeared; my eyes were drawn to dates and the number of pages. Disgustingly, there was a dowry case put on Google almost every single day and the list goes on and on, starting from a dowry case on the very day i searched where a village sarpanch in punjab was arrested in dowry case. And just think that hundreds of dowry incidents go unheard.
A country that claims itself to be a fast developing nation, is India moving to the developed and urban side for the better, or are the ghosts of our "so-called" uneducated/rural social evils lingering about and mutating into an urban beast with us and sinking deeper into us?
Being born and brought up in a small town in Jharkhand, i never understood the "why" behind the female foeticide n female infanticide cases my mother and her colleagues used to talk about; probably because my family setup was very different, or atleast i believed it to be so. But after getting a bigger picture of life, i understood that dowry system is one of the root causes of the biased gender ratio. And i also understood that dowry thrives in the urban, educated India too.
http://in.news.yahoo.com/20/20101207/1416/tnl-woman-held-for-trying-to-set-ablaze_1.html
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Saturday, December 4, 2010
SRINAGAR : in buzz..
A video showing a school bus torched by a mob in Old City area of Srinagar on Saturday, 4 December, 2010, to enforce a shutdown called by hard-line Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani across the Kashmir valley.
Srinagar has been in news lately for all wrong reasons and the violence in the area has aggravated the condition of the civilians. As is evident from the incident of a school bus being torched down, educational sector is one of the worst-affected areas.
A close friend, Mohammad Saquib, a resident of Kashmir had a lot to say about the "desperate times" in the Kashmir valley. He says,
"To think what really cajoled the youth in Kashmir to pelt stones, knowing the nitty-gritty of its outcome, you could be booked under the draconian law PSA( public safety act) or put behind the bars on an imbecile traitor's nod. Then what brings them on streets and makes them go to such an extreme of stone-pelting? Their attires do not show signs of poverty. everything has a cause , and everything does not have an ostracized inception.
In the nascent vale of Kashmir, upheaval is old and grave. It is the aga-saga of any nation that aspires to be freed and given natural liberation, as bestowed by Almighty Allah. Whatever happened in the nineties showed the willingness and need of Kashmir to oust its territory from the clutches of an illegitimate rule. However, by mere dint of force there was an achievement, the short lull made it possible for the movement to be passed on to the next generation.
Many analysts on Kashmir thought the silent period to be an acceptance to integrate with the state of India, but the Amarnath land issue provided the needed vent for the youth who had been waiting to erupt,like a dormant volcano. The new generation was harassed and even traumatized by the presence of security forces in almost all corners of the vale, alienated and deprived of the right to free expression. It was evident that uprise was inevitable, and when it erupted, a new history was written. From the alleys of downtown Srinagar. North Kashmir and old town Anantnag proved catalytic for the movement to grrow. 2010 uprising was spontaneous and of a paradigm shift to how seriously the new generation took to streets demanding their aspirations. Every new killing saw the number of protests increasing and protest took a new mode. Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and many other social networking sites became the medium for Kashmiri youth to express their anger and put forth their views to disseminate throughout the world. State took a new radical approach by arresting Facebook users to curb the protests on net. Curfews and crackdown on the youth were devised to bolt and frustrate people so that willingness could be melted down. As hitherto, one should appreciate the resilience shown by the people in Kashmir. Atleast there is no tosy-turvy change in the people for the mundane gains, as the aftermath of 2008 movement had proved."
When Saquib messaged his article to me in answer to my questions on what he had to say about unrest in Kashmir vale, i told him that i will have to cut-short the article as it was exhaustive. But after re-reading his article, i could not find anything that could be left out of Saquib's voice. It is the voice of one among the youth who rise to revolt against the atrocities faced by their people. Is it not time that the nation joins these voices as a whole?
Many analysts on Kashmir thought the silent period to be an acceptance to integrate with the state of India, but the Amarnath land issue provided the needed vent for the youth who had been waiting to erupt,like a dormant volcano. The new generation was harassed and even traumatized by the presence of security forces in almost all corners of the vale, alienated and deprived of the right to free expression. It was evident that uprise was inevitable, and when it erupted, a new history was written. From the alleys of downtown Srinagar. North Kashmir and old town Anantnag proved catalytic for the movement to grrow. 2010 uprising was spontaneous and of a paradigm shift to how seriously the new generation took to streets demanding their aspirations. Every new killing saw the number of protests increasing and protest took a new mode. Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and many other social networking sites became the medium for Kashmiri youth to express their anger and put forth their views to disseminate throughout the world. State took a new radical approach by arresting Facebook users to curb the protests on net. Curfews and crackdown on the youth were devised to bolt and frustrate people so that willingness could be melted down. As hitherto, one should appreciate the resilience shown by the people in Kashmir. Atleast there is no tosy-turvy change in the people for the mundane gains, as the aftermath of 2008 movement had proved."
When Saquib messaged his article to me in answer to my questions on what he had to say about unrest in Kashmir vale, i told him that i will have to cut-short the article as it was exhaustive. But after re-reading his article, i could not find anything that could be left out of Saquib's voice. It is the voice of one among the youth who rise to revolt against the atrocities faced by their people. Is it not time that the nation joins these voices as a whole?
Friday, December 3, 2010
painful blossoms contd.
In reply to the comments i received on my post "painful blossoms", i would like to put forward a few ideas that can be implemented.
First thing is that the number of events should be increased and the criteria should be broadened. as i said in my previous post, sports events should be included in the grading system. i m not saying that sports should be added as a part of blossoms, but that the year-round activity should be taken into account as it is a matter of grades.
Also activities like Darpan participation, Silhouette prizes, etc. should be taken into account. the street theater we did last year deserved more than just 1 day of teachers saying "brilliant performance." forget grades, we did not even get certificates as we were promised(we were the winners).
Blossoms should be more of a 1-day talent show where the winners of various events show off. the literary event winners can have a chance to put on their works on university blog or something likewise. and the photography and poster events can have an exhibition.
if the argument is that Blossoms is an opportunity to develop multiple talents, then the Grade-factor should be eliminated from it, and it should be made an adventurous event, encouraging students to explore their talents in unfamiliar domains.
First thing is that the number of events should be increased and the criteria should be broadened. as i said in my previous post, sports events should be included in the grading system. i m not saying that sports should be added as a part of blossoms, but that the year-round activity should be taken into account as it is a matter of grades.
Also activities like Darpan participation, Silhouette prizes, etc. should be taken into account. the street theater we did last year deserved more than just 1 day of teachers saying "brilliant performance." forget grades, we did not even get certificates as we were promised(we were the winners).
Blossoms should be more of a 1-day talent show where the winners of various events show off. the literary event winners can have a chance to put on their works on university blog or something likewise. and the photography and poster events can have an exhibition.
if the argument is that Blossoms is an opportunity to develop multiple talents, then the Grade-factor should be eliminated from it, and it should be made an adventurous event, encouraging students to explore their talents in unfamiliar domains.
blossoms- in action : in buzz....
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=476501682247&set=a.476501372247.266820.617277247
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=476501957247&set=a.476501372247.266820.617277247
GROUP DANCE - BLOSSOMS'10 IMAGES (images from anu philip's album, facebook)
Still from the on-stage event ( group dance) by BA students who were the winners of the event, held on Wednesday, the 1st of December, 2010 at the mini auditorium, Christ University, Bangalore.
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=476501957247&set=a.476501372247.266820.617277247
GROUP DANCE - BLOSSOMS'10 IMAGES (images from anu philip's album, facebook)
Still from the on-stage event ( group dance) by BA students who were the winners of the event, held on Wednesday, the 1st of December, 2010 at the mini auditorium, Christ University, Bangalore.
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
"select a theme for your blog."......."ok ma'am."
I created this blog to be my voice, so that i could type out whatever i feel and thus ease that frustration in me which is a result of lack of kind and empathetic ears.....
Guess even this wish will remain undone. since i already had a blog, i did not create another one for my new media assignment. sadly, now i have to find a theme for my thoughts. guess i can no longer call my blog my voice....rather, it is to become a report of what happens around that makes news.
maybe, what i can do is, write what happens in campus, in my immediate vicinity. i shall write what the air is buzzing with in my surrounding....be it in Christ, or in SG Palya, or in my hostel......and i shall call it.....IN BUZZ.....
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