DELHI METRO AND SOME GENDER JUSTICE…

Recently, there was the National Census Survey conducted in the National Capital Region of India commonly called Delhi NCR. According to this survey, conducted on an annual basis, regarding the sex ratio of the capital, it was found out that the figure or ratio for females had dropped from 1004 girls per 1000 boys in 2008 to 915 girl per 1000 boys in 2009, a steep decline of in the past one year. At a time when this figure was increasing consistently for the fast five years, this is taken to be just another exception.

However, different from the scenario conducted by this survey, there has been continuous progress of women in all sectors and areas of work, arts, sciences, corporates, and so on. One need not be an expert to see it all around. Naturally, the number of ladies headed to their offices far off from their homes is a very task now-a-days. Many of them drive to their destinations, in fact, to be very honest, most of the time when I am in the market, or whenever I am travelling, I am astonished to find that nearly 85% of the drivers I come across in moving cars are ladies!! It might be limited to my locality only, but it is quite astonishing to see such a quick rise in the number of female riders in the capital.

But, those who don’t have access to their personal vehicles are a left with little choice other than taking the Metro. I am not mentioning buses and if you disagree, come to Delhi and travel in a bus to find out yourself. But in recent times, with the decline in the number of buses, combined with the ever expanding network of the Delhi Metro, there is a considerable rise in the number of riders in the Metro. Earlier, you could easily travel in the Metro as the network was small, and only selected people opted for this mode of travel, but with the Commonwealth Games coming to Delhi and the need for fast and comfortable mode of safe travel to distant places on a rise, both among natives and tourists, the Delhi Metro never goes Jam-Packed.

Amongst all that, it is really difficult for ladies to undertake long distant travel in Metro coaches. On its part, The Metro Authorities have always kept seats reserved for ladies and Senior Citizens, but the Men of Delhi, recently have taken up the practice of occupying ladies seats. It is not difficult for us men, who really don’t care or mind, whether we have to sit, stand or even hang (yeah, people do hang) while travelling!! We can push people here and there, make our way into spaces, and amazingly still enjoy ourselves. But that is not the case with the ladies, who can’t do any of those things. Some girls smartly make their way out of such situations with grace using the trademark “female charm”, but the majority of them still suffer.

In that scenario, Delhi Metro’s decision to reserve the first coach all trains for ladies (apart from their usual system of reserving seats in general coaches for ladies) comes out as a major sigh of relief. Now, not only can women travel in the Metro without any hassles like rushes, overcrowding, pushing, and etc. but they also enjoy their rides with all the other female companions. It is a great decision, which will also promote more and more women to take the Metro, as a mode of convenient and safe travel.

But, as someone has truly said, men are men, always!! Ironically, you can always find, men hanging (yes, I am deliberately using this word here) in the ladies coach of the Metro. Maybe, the lure of an empty coach is too hard to resist for some. However, to counter that, recently, the Metro Authorities have started to impose a `200 ($4) fine on any man found to be travelling in the first coach.

Agreed, that it may be a little disappointing for many of us college-going Boys, since most girls go to the “kitty party” (yeah, that’s what we call the ladies compartment!!) honestly feel the Metro has become pretty gloomy and boring, after this rule (yeah, me included, and you can guess why!!), but for Girls, it is the new cool thing.

As it is, in today’s world, it is really hard being a female. With the additional corporate and work pressure, combined with domestic responsibilities, ladies do nearly double the amount of work than us, men. In such a situation, this decision of the Delhi Metro comes out as the huge winner. Even most men are supportive of it, as we also have appreciated this decision, since we also have our mothers, sisters, friends, and WAGs (Wives and Girlfriends) travelling, and it is nice to feel assured that they can travel safely and comfortably to any part of the capital.

In the end, three cheers to the Delhi Metro, for making the travel in the city much safer and comfortable for the fairer sex. In the future, it wouldn’t be surprising to see an even all-female train being run at fixed intervals at various routes. Even though, this has pushed the status of men travelling in the remaining coaches as hanging, (yeah, now we don’t travel in the Metro any more, we “hang” in it!!!), but as I mentioned earlier, we hardly even seem to mind.

The world's richest, just got richer!!

India, better known as the home to the world's richest cricketers and cricket administrators, is nw also going to be known as the place that houses the world's richest MPs.
In an expected move in the parliament on the weekend, the Lok Sabha passed a bill which increses the salaries of an MP nearly 300%!! This decision had to be taken bacause some MPs (names not taken) caused disruptions in the Parliament,by organising a mock parliament session in protest. Also, this came after there had been a 200% incrase in their original salaries earlier in the week. Huh!!
Increasing the salary of an MP is hardly justifie at a time when most governments are withdrawng perks and incentives to the leaders to cut bak on additional costs. Agreed that India is much better off than other economies, a rising superpower, but still, increasing someone's salary nearly 300% holds only a little sense, if any.
First, let me tell you why Indian MPs don't NEED an increment in their salary an the situation after this increment.
Nearly 60% of the Mps who were seated in the Lok Sabha who passed the bill have declared their assets of more than a crore, and since we all are familiar with the honesty of most our MPs, we can safely say that this figure could be much higher. The average asset holding of an MP in the Lok Sabha is around 5.33 crores, which means that on an average, every MP is now a Crorepati. Also, our MPs avail other free services as well, like free transportation and residence, free electricity and water, total taxation exemptions, and other facilities. Clearly, they are in no NEED of more money.
After the bill, at over 37 lakhs a year now, our MPs raw more money than their counterparts in highly developed economies including Singapore, Japan and Italy. Their pay is nearly 68 times the pay of an Average Indian (Annual), which is the highest around the world, higher than that of even the US, which stands at just 27 times!!
All this comes in a country where nearly 50% of the total population sleeps without having one square meal a day, and do not have access to even the most basic facilities.
But I won't really curse the MPs for demanding more pay. After all, if any other person amongst us could get an increment, will we evr leave the chance? I don't think so.
That is where the problem lies, in the constitution. It is baseles and extremely foolish to give the MPs the power to increase their own salary. Imagine we people being given the same power, to decide our salary, and then see how much of the money is left. Just like we don't get to choose our salary, it should be the ame for any MP or MLA, or whatever post he/she holds. This authority should lie with another powerful anuthority like the Supreme Court, or maybe the President, but certainly not the Parliament.
Also, one shouldn't let disruption and protests influence Govt. decisions and laws made in the country. I any MP or MLA does not support the happenings in the Parliament, he or she is free to leave his/her post, or simply choose not to participate in the session. Moreover, just like we have fines and restrictions on mis-using Govt property and facilities, the same should be impoed on the MPs as well. A time when the Supreme Court orders a guilty MP to do some community service, or pay a hefty fine, such diruptions should top, which otherwise, are turning the Parliament, into something worse than a fish market.
The last funny thing which I observed in the sessions was that the opposition was recently creating quite a furure in the parliament, by putting up difficult topics like Inflation and price rise, but hey wre either very quiet or were instrumental in passing a bill that puts tremendous pressure on the Fiscal Deficit, of the govt. This latest bill will only cause the prices to rise further in the market, which means that there raising voice against the same has been undone by they themselves.
But then, I don't think anybody other than perhaps our Mr. P. Chidambaram, or a certain Mr. Pranab Mukherjee, or even our PM Dr. Manmohan Singh, i.e. the educated and civilised class of our Parliament, must have noticed, but said nothing about...

Is Fashion Demolishing Our Culture?

Is Fashion demolishing our culture? That is a question we often face in our intent to be modern and yet to stay rooted to the culture of our motherland. In our hurry to be modern and advanced, are we slowly leaving our culture far behind? Or are we today, still rooted to our culture despite the lure of fashion and glamour?    I would like to start my point by saying one thing - A coin has two sides, both positive and negative. It is upon us to adopt the positive sides of everything and give up the negatives so that we can live more peacefully. I would whole heartedly agree that fashion promotes broad-mindedness and consequently aids to the development of the society. But here, we are not talking about how fashion is helping us. But we are talking over the point that Fashion, is gradually corrupting, if not wholly demolishing our culture. Let me start with our culture first. India is basically known for its culture and broad mindedness and diversity. It's rich and varied culture is highly supportive and highly regarded amongst all parts of the world. The epics like Mahabharata, Ramayana, Puranas, The Vedantas, and The Gita etc. teach us all a lot about the right way of life and the world. Earlier, children and kids grew up watching such ideal programmes. But with the advent of Fashion, it is not fashionable any more to show such tuff on television. Now what children grow up watching Rakhi Sawants and Mallika Sherawats on T.V. and learn from them ideas of indecency and vulgarity. I am not saying it is wrong. It can vary with opinions but what I am saying is it is contrasting to our culture, that it is anti-cultural. I would like to take Women as a common example here because they are GENERALLY the ones who get easily lured by the world of Glamour and Fashion.  Women, who were CULTURALLY entitled to Dignity, Respect and Protection are today portrayed merely as Sex Symbols and entitled to nothing more than skin-show. Don't you think there is a contrast between regarding them as mothers and regarding them a objects of sexual satisfaction and fantasy? I am not saying it is wrong. It may be right for some, and wrong for others. But that is not the question. The question is that isn't it ANTI-CULTURAL? And since we are talking about the demolishment of culture, I would say that indeed Fashion is guilty in this case. Coming to men now, the recent trend of fashion of Metro-sexual men has encouraged men to opt for various trendy ways like Manicure, Facials, chest shaving, piercing, etc. But that can be easily overlooked. But what about the recent trends of wearing low-waist pants and jeans? Culturally, we all dressed decently and comfortably but now-a-days, the word decently seems to have been erased form the dictionary and all that's left is comfortably, which is not subjected to criticism since it varies from individual to individual. But the cultural teachings of purity and restrain which had earlier been practiced are seemingly replaced with lustful emotions and corruptive minds. His again is proven when you look at the number of cases relating to sexual assault and other related cases, which are sky-rocketing.  Again, people may disagree, even I wear low-waist bottoms, particularly because I feel they are more comfortable than other approaches, but I say that it is ANTI-CULTURAL. And Fashion is not just demolishing culture, but also CORRUPTING it! Today, Fashion has "transformed" cultural clothing from objects of beauty to objects of lustful desires. Today, Sarees, which were the traditional formal clothing for women, have transformed into "Backless Sarees", traditional suits have become deep necked, blouses have become transparent and so have other clothes. For men, T-Shirts have given way to deep necked V-Shaped T-shirts, (which has given the word "cleavage-revealing" a whole new meaning!) I am not saying it's wrong, I don't object to any person's personal opinion, but I can indeed say that in out culture, I have never seen anything like that before.     Fashion isn't just in the way we dress, but also in what we feel, and how we react to different situations. In the current day scenario, abusing unfortunately is very common. You can easily come across somebody indulging in this practice everyday and I think that the fact that it is Fashionable has something to do with its rise. Today, because it is trendy to opt for more not-worthy-to-be-named practices, a majority of the people are taking it up. Today, with the increase in Fashion, people are promoting lustful relationship and not concentrating on finding ever-lasting love. That is again a reason why the divorce rates of the country today are higher than ever. I agree that there is a very positive side to Fashion as well, just like I said that there are two sides of a coin. But the argument is that there is a negative side to it as well, and unfortunately, it is looking good to eclipse the advantages of the positives.      . The onus lies on us to take only the positive sides of Fashion, and for that we need to use our own head before adopting any new trend or Fashion. And unfortunately, things are only going to get worse unless it is done, and done soon enough….

The T20 Tangle!!

It all begun with the big-3 of Indian Cricket-Sachin, Sourav & Dravid pulling out of the inaugural ICC T-20 WC in South Africa. Resultantly, Team India s Young Brigade proved their mettle by capturing the first -ever T20 WC Trophy. This sparked off a few theories of T20 being a young man s game. Later, more senior players from Australia, New Zealand & South Africa followed suit and withdrew from various T-20 tournaments which only saw these teams perform well on the international stage. But, when these seniors did get a chance to play this slam-bang version of cricket in IPL 2008, their failure seeming concluded such theories that you need to be twenty, to play T20. But this year s IPL changed definitions. The fact that 90% of the top run-getters and wicket-takers are the golden oldies, and that previous IPL winning teams were captained by people above 37yrs of age and that this year s story looks no different, has proved that be it Tests or T20s,
experience matters.. For now, let s let the old men enjoy!!

The Real Battle of the IPL..

This year s edition of the IPL has been very exciting and inarguably the most enthralling one so far. What was particularly good to see was all teams slogging it out till the end to make the cut for the semis. However, while all teams were busy on the ground, the real match seemed to be happening outside between Lalit Modi and Shashi Tharoor. Just like the IPL, both parties slogged it out till the end, throwing allegations at each other and defending dis-honest stands. Though Mr. Tharoor said he wanted to promote cricket in Kerela, it appeared as if his intention was towards Dubai, giving 25% sweat equity & an eye-popping deal to Sunanda Pushkar, marketing head of a Dubai-based co. In the end, the genius of Modi proved too much for Tharoor, who had to wash hands off his ministry. But with I-T Sleuths raiding Modi s offices, all may still not be well. However, that shifts the focus back to the IPL. Though one battle has ended for now, the one on the
ground has just begun. Hope you all enjoy it. Cheers!

IPL And The Way Forward

Since a little known guy came up with the idea of an independant cricketing league three years back, cricket has never been the same. Each day since its inception, the Former President of Rajasthan Cricket Association and his multi-billion dollar baby have broken every imaginable record and shattered all glass ceilings like an axe piercing the branch of a tree. It s turned all cricketers into millionaires & administrators into billionaires. In less than three years, it is already making other prominent century old leagues, run for their money. But in order to continue this ascent, IPL Com. Lalit Modi needs to come up with more ideas. If I may, I think a tournament like the FA Cup or Europa Cup of Soccer will do us a lot of good. Also, don t forget what a Club World Cup can do for the sport. Ensuring year long cricketing action helps enhance brand visibility, bringing in more cash, and I leave it to Mr. Modi to complete the sentence. For now, IPL Awards
and new teams are enough to keep us all hooked!!

IDIOT!! or "I Do It On my-own-Terms!! "

Honestly, I am not really a movie guy and definitely not at all a Hindi movie one. I often lambast most of them for their baseless and predictable storylines; moreover, my board exam preparations also help me in avoiding instances to hit out for a movie. But then there are always a few exceptions, isn't it? Recently, I went for a movie named "3 Idiots", much to the delight of my mother and sister and much to my agony too. (You can imagine my disgust on hearing the title itself!!) Surprisingly , the movie turned out to be one of the best one I've ever come across. It highlights the impetus on practical knowledge, studying with understanding & a purpose, things that I have always stressed on. Its motto," Aspire for excellence & success will chase you" can well be the inspiration during our recessionary times. Truly, Idiot means I Do It On-my-own Terms, all others are just a part of the system plagued by beauracracy & red-tapism. A must watch movie, & more
importantly, one that must be implemented in our lives.

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The Happy About The New Year

To describe the last year, I'd just like to use one word- Overstretched!! From the modern-day recession to the war in Afghanistan, from the uncountable controversies regarding the bill on health care in America, to the H1N1 scare that we witnessed in the middle of the year, from the rise of China, the rumours about the 2012 armageddon, to the rise of climate change apocalypses ; it has altogether been a tough year but certainly one that teaches us a lot of things. And that is also why I am so hopeful regarding the new year- because now anything can hardly go any wronger!! The feeling that the worst may already be over gives a new lease of life in us all. And that's why, this year we've got to do all that is possible, and get things back on track so that as 2010 ends, we can shout "all is well" or rather, saying "all shall be well" which had been our mantra for the over-stretched year that just went by..

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