"Adhering" women to the rules of society!

Here is an article I was just reading in The Hindu: http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/article1534937.ece?homepage=true
The author is a former director of the CBI. Here is an excerpt from the article:

Many private corporations have a commendable system that protects women employees working late into the night. This is good as long as such employees do not flout company-laid arrangements. Some of them ignore basic rules of prudence, and unfortunately pay a heavy price for their callousness. In such instances, the employer is blamed for what is obviously a lapse on the part of the employee. Parental control which has otherwise become lax can prevail at least here, so that women professionals are made to adhere strictly to the facility extended to them at their workplace. Employers can hardly fill this role.

According to him, women should be made to 'adhere' to facilities and rules provided by the company and her parents! I totally understand him trying to advocate safe practices to the women, but isn't expecting women to 'adhere' to rules strange? It is an old man's language; sadly most people still think this way. I never heard him talking in the article about how parents can influence upbringing of their children and have their sons respect women from an early age. Men will be men; they need not watch their actions or adhere to any moral values! This is their stand!

IHM has posted a tag in her blog few days ago with this question:

Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, so is perversion. Is a woman forever stuck between her desires and the moral healthiness or progress of a society?
Society changes slower than a melting glacier in this day and age. A woman I think is forever stuck even between her rightful rights and the progress of a society; forget desires! Talks of morals by the society is just a way of telling women you have to be the mature, nurturing, sacrificing individual and the rest of the society only has the job of watching you with criticism!

Agriculture, environment and politics!

The Agriculture Minister of India has admitted to the use of banned pesticides! http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article1529735.ece
He has said that they are considering the interest of the farming community! Are they the experts in the use of chemicals? Scientific community has approved the use of these chemicals too....would love to read their justifications on the same. The benefit of the doubt should be given to the harmful effects that these chemicals possess and their use banned; but here everything is the other way around. The article also goes on to say that the Kerala and Karnataka state governments have requested ban of the use of endosulfan, which has and is being approved by the Central government respectively. I wonder if they are the only people with brains. Can't say anything about the Tamil Nadu government- we all know how busy they are with money swindling, family seats negotiations and continuing overall corruption. They don't have time for all these policy issues or care for agriculture, the main line of Indian economy!

Lost cause!

Last week I tried to save a kitten and failed- my first failure to save a life after an attempt. The poor kitten was hit by a car and had severe bone related injuries. The vet said her leg would need to be amputated and she would still have severe complications. I myself had her euthanized immediately as I did not want her to suffer anymore! I often pride myself as a very strong person, but that day broke down and wept like a baby in front of stangers.....for a stray kitten I had known for a few minutes. I was so guilty the poor little soul had suffered such great pain for God knows how long on the side of the road. Where is the person who hit her? How can they sleep at night or look themselves in the mirror?

I am on antibiotics with little use of one of my fingers in my right hand as she bit me during my attempts to save her from the road. Her last mark in this world is now on my finger; fast healing!

Doha driving

Note to Doha drivers:
1) No, I do not think it is ok for you to climb the pavement and try to get ahead of me on the freeway
2) No, I do no like you tailing me when I am already going at 100 km, the highest speed limit by law here. If you insist on tailing I will not give you way; if you don't tail me I will move and give way for you to speed by
3) No, I do not get intimidated by your huge monsterous vehicles
4) No, I do not get intimidated by your super luxury cars and trucks either
5) No, I do not think you will be caught speeding on camera if you are doing 80 km/hr on a 100km/hr speed limit road; please do not slow down even further at the sight of a speed camera, but use your common sense
6) No, I do not find you attractive even if you show off your super cool shades, cigarettes, car accessories, personal accessories etc., I am very happily married
7) No, I do not find it heart warming to see that you have a child in the car, especially when the child is almost falling out of the window or sun-roof. I wish you would tie them down to the seat as they are supposed to be
8) No, I do not think it makes you very smart if you decide to stop a mile before another stopped car and cruise the rest of the distance. I think it is idiotic and I don't want to cruise behind you
9) No, I do not get upset because you reprimanded me by show of your hand for honking at you. I usually have a very good reason for honking and it means YOU did something wrong
10) No, I do not think you have the right of way just because you are wearing a traditional Qatari/Arab robe. Traffic rules are the same for all to follow.

Feels good! :)

Really?

I admit I do occasionally read columns on movies, celebrities etc., Honestly though I do not have enough time or patience to create online communities, dedicated to the fight between Salman and SRK! Apparently there are thousands of members too who really want them to become 'friends' again. Really? Big worry?

http://www.hindustantimes.com/SRK-Salman-s-love-hate-saga/Article1-653473.aspx

No wonder the world is running out of internet addresses!
http://gulf-times.com/site/topics/printArticle.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=411336&version=1&template_id=57&parent_id=56

Greener India?

So much for our 'Green' minister!
http://ibnlive.in.com/news/jairam-notsogreen-minister-reveals-rti-reply/141260-37-64.html

You again!

Last week I was pondering over one of my schoolmates and the girl he seems to have married. I was not personally a good friend of his or anything, just more of an acquaintance. In my teenage opinion he was highly sophisticated, and way out of my league! Period. So far I have no justification for this assumption. When I saw his spouse through Facebook, I was quite surprised. She was a good, smart looking girl, but my teenage self would have assumed that he was out of her league too! She is a confident looking, down to earth kind of person (from what I can tell from the pic) much like I was and am! Trust me I have no regrets about how life turned out, since I think my husband is even better looking and the best thing that ever happened to me. On the other hand we are together today because he pursued me and it was not the other way around!
This brought me around to evaluating if my self-esteem was very low in high school. I searched Wikipedia on “Self-esteem” and found that there are various variations of the same. I think I was and am low in “self-worth” when it comes to certain things. I am generally happy with the way things work out. Don’t get me wrong, I am ambitious and self-motivated, but I am also content with things in a way and don’t wonder why God didn’t give me something better! It’s good because I save myself the heart ache of thinking I have been dealt with a bad hand and deserve better. At the same time I can’t help but wonder if I do evaluate myself lower than I should. DH always tells me that I should have more of an attitude or air when I speak and interact with others, because mostly I come across as a simpleton! Not been highly successful in changing that about myself, because I smile and start chatting nineteen to the dozen within seconds of meeting someone. Not much time in between to put on any airs :(

I watched the movie “You Again” few days ago by chance and it had a similar theme. It is all about people in high school (only girls in the movie!) and how they always have another girl whom they felt intimidated by, cheated by and they never forget the other person their whole life. Any chance meetings later on in life lead to comparisons and evaluations on the same mind set from years ago. Aren’t we all doing this now through social networking sites? I was never directly bullied by anyone, but I definitely had a lower self-worth in my school days, leading me to believe that some people were better than me.

On the other hand, I was popular in college, was elected twice to the student union and even had a lot of fan mails from juniors! I realised that people liked me and even looked up to me. I had to set an example at times. I have strongly come to believe that someone is always looking up to us as a role model, someone is always falling in love with our smile. So for every person you thought was superior to you or out of your league, there is another person who thinks that of you too and admires you maybe! Your smile is always making a difference to soemone else, so lets keep up all good thoughts and actions to set good examples.

Just somethings that I was pondering about….and if you were like me, I am sure you are proud of yourself today!