wonder women of india

THE BOLD, BRAVE WOMEN OF INDIA

India is a country of many religions but the women of India have etched a name for themselves in whatever field they have been involved in. Yes, India is the country where a custom called suttee prevailed. It used to be performed in which the widow would mount the funeral pyre of her dead husband and be swallowed by the flames. Even today, widows are forbidden from participating in many religious functions but, simultaneously, widow remarriages are also taking place.

The Rani of Jhansi is one of the greatest reminder of the courage our women possess and how they handle situations – that is the reason why Netaji Subhas Bose had a Jhansi bahini in his Indian National Army – they fought shoulder to shoulder with their male counterparts for the freedom of our beloved country. Like Matangini Hazra, the woman who used a dummy male model made of hay to teach her dog to jump at a man’s throat – ultimate objective to take revenge on the British rulers.

There were other equally renowned names – right from Vijay Laxmi Pandit, Sarojini Naidoo, Indira Gandhi and Mother Teresa to the present day group of personalities like Sonia Gandhi, Renuka Choudhury, Sushama Swaraj, Uma Bharati, Mayavati, Jayalalita, Mamata Banerji, Vijay Raje Scindia etc.. We even had Phoolan Devi, a reformed dacoit of Chambal, who was a legend in her lifetime, P. T. Usha, the sprinter, who created history of sorts in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics (she missed the bronze by 1/100th second – however, she has to her credit 13 Golds in Asian Games apart from 1 Gold and 2 Silver in the SAF games of 1999) and Lata Mangeshkar whose golden voice has mesmerized generation after generation for more than fifty years. And then there are women like Kiran Bedi, the IPS Officer who earned the nickname of ‘Crane’ Bedi for obvious reasons, Durba Banerji, the first woman civilian pilot of Indian Airlines and Air Vice Marshal Padma Bandopadhaya who is set to become the first sari clad Air Marshal in the Indian Air Force – after Lt General Punita Arora became the first woman to don three stars in the Indian Army. And Kalpana Chawla, the Astronaut of NASA who was tragically snatched away from us.

Each of them is gifted with certain characteristics that make her stand out……..

However, side by side there are others who have created impression of sorts in some way or another. Examples follow –

The group of women who lynched a criminal in Nagpur – ‘instead of dying everyday fearing him, we would finish him’, said a social worker living in the region. In a second incident, village women incited the residents to lynch two extortionists who were troubling the whole village. Then there was that girl Nisha Sharma who refused to marry the boy because of dowry – a Google search revealed a count of 3680 for ‘Indian girl who refused to marry due to dowry’! In this context, the incident of an IAS Officer’s case getting hauled up for battering his wife is still fresh in our memory.

No matter what others may say, the women of India make us proud.

other interesting links:
fig leaf days
sexy getaway
peekaboo
rape of a beauty
seductresses
sane sex

THE MAA-BETI SYNDROME

The female body is certainly an attractive one. Thanks to the innumerable TV channels, we cannot avoid seeing the fairer of our species involved in games of beach volleyball or in sports events like gymnastics and swimming. We are also treated to visuals of tennis players who have no compunction in showing off their assets.

This is one segment of woman power.

Another more down-to-earth segment of woman power is that wielded by the maa-beti relationships. In India, this flourishes mostly in the cine world.

Suchitra Sen had her Moon Moon, who in turn inducted Raima. Similarly, Aparna Sen paved the way for Konkana. Durga Khote and her daughter Shubha were glittering heroines of the cinema – both Marathi and Hindi. They even acted in a film together – Ardhangini in 1959! Probably a record of sorts. Shobhana Samarth ruled for quite a while with her daughters Nutan and Tanuja – the latter ultimately giving the nod to Kajol, who brought a new breath of fresh air onto the silver screen. Babita’s legacy to the filmdom are Karishma and Kareena while Hema Malini and Dimple Khanna encouraged Esha Deol and Twinkle to join the brigade of daughters following in the footsteps of their mothers.

It is interesting to observe that these daughters did not have to resort to gimmicks of exhibitionism to win over the hearts of those who matter.

Being born into a world of fantasies, they grew up in totally different environments – hence, their entries were on soft feet, without much fanfare. They knew that they had it in them; they had seen their mothers perform. The mothers exerted positive influences that added wind to the sails of their daughters. Whilst some of these daughters made it big, others wait in the sidelines.

In this context, it would not be out of place to mention that the vulgarity that we are exposed to via the electronic and print media is the creation of those who are trying to find toeholds in a highly competitive field. Winner takes it all and, in order to be a winner rather than an also-ran, the hopefuls do not want to leave any stone unturned. As a result, we come across crispy gossips and near erotic music videos. All is fair in love and war – while there is no love lost between the hopefuls, this is certainly a war: the war of supremacy.

A popular saying goes – ‘baap ka beta, sipahi ka ghoda / kuch nehi toh thoda thoda’. Someone should coin an appropriate set of words to describe the relationship between the mother and the daughter.

HOLD DOWN THE FLYING SKIRT

Does anyone remember that fantastic scene in the film ‘the seven year itch’ – the heroine standing over a subway grate with her skirt billowing around her shapely legs? That was Norma Jean Motenson, the blonde bombshell of the fifties fondly known as Marilyn Monroe who became a celebrity overnight by virtue of that one scene!

That was and still is considered to be eroticism at its best.

Today’s maidens strike sexy poses at the drop of a hat forgetting that mere removal of clothes does not necessarily make one to become the most sought after. They do not hesitate to stoop (and reveal cleavages) to conquer the hearts of producers who offer them bit roles in films. If Lady Luck is pleased, they rope in these girls to do music videos that generate millions for the producers.

Thanks to the unprecedented invasion of the electronic media, today’s girls grow up hoping to one day be crowned Miss World or Miss Universe or Miss-something-or-the-other. At the least, she aspires to be Miss of the city to which she belongs. Special grooming classes have sprouted all over the countryside – they help in boosting the confidence levels of would-be aspirants. Their families happily join in the preparations and do not object to their wards wearing skimpy clothes, or walking on the ramp after going through the swim suit rounds. The thought uppermost in each of their minds is – if she does manage to wear the crown, they would get a chance to go one-up over neighbors, family members and colleagues. In the bargain, they fail to realize the grave that they are digging unwittingly for their darlings.

Why then cry foul when MMS videos are doing the rounds – of showcasing girlie tidbits in which such girls play the lead roles?

It is not that the girls are misusing their freedoms – it is basically of extending opportunities to others to exploit situations. It is but natural that in order to gain attention, people go to extreme lengths. Ads of instant communication via photo enabled mobile phones keep staring back at us every few seconds – there are innumerable players in the market: each of them wants to capture your eyeballs. We get to see clips of flowers being clicked to friends, of people in the crowds being transmitted to the family – why then cry foul when such things actually happen to ones own family members? There should not be any reason to be shocked. It is nothing but a culmination of situations that were started by you in the first place!!

Heroines today are trying to outdo one another in the undress code – yes, they all possess attractive figures, they make good subjects for photography, they are intelligent, they are capable of taking care of pitfalls – unfortunately, one can’t have the cake and eat it too. You have to yield somewhere to get back some returns. Exhibitionism enhances the market value of only those who have nothing else to offer – like those connected to the flesh trade.

In this context, it is worthwhile to know that an up and coming heroine, after performing remarkably well in her debut film, was disappointed at not getting favorable responses from people who matter. Therefore, she took to the path of least resistance – she shed her clothes and went for a photo session!

EROSION OF VALUES

I normally dispose off my old newspapers once in six months.

As I was arranging the old issues for the next sale, I chanced to come across various tiny incidents reported from different parts of the country pertaining to the erosion of our basic values. We remain mute spectators to growing atrocities on women. The culprits can be easily identified and booked but the clout they carry based on the patronage extended to them from the seats of power makes any action against them practically impossible. We can only read about them and sympathize with the victims ….

2/8/2004 – Some lumpen elements misbehaved with NCC girl cadets … thanks to some brave boy cadets, the villains fled … they were returning from a training session when the ruffians entered the train compartment and started annoying the girls …

6/8/2004 – in two hamlets of Dharwar district, the men have to arrange for a dowry if they want a bride … more the offer, the better will be the life partner they will get … wedding bells had almost remained for the last three years because of successive years of draught …

24/8/2004 – Bar girls have to support large families while others have to finance their studies … these are revelations during a protest of bar girls in the Azad Maidan … some of them are housewives and do it out of economic compulsion … bar owners reportedly allow the bar girls to take home whatever tips they earn ….

25/8/2004 – a man was hacked to death by his wife … the man was an auto driver and the murder was over spending too much money on himself …

27/8/2004 – Delhi is fast turning into the sleaze capital of India … call girls and pimps are making their presence felt everywhere … the profile of the accused seems to have undergone a sea change … more and more middle and upper middle class women are becoming involved …

2/9/2004 – in a shocking incident, a rape victim has accused a woman sub-inspector of forcing her to drop the rape case against three persons in lieu of Rs 5 lakh in cash … a fashion designer by profession, the victim was gang raped by the men at a farm house …

3/9/2004 – College girls were punished by their college for wearing mehndi and coming to college … they were asked to run a lap around the college compound and write ‘I will not wear mehndi to school again’ fifty times …

10/9/2004 – Out of 900 life term convicts in the Central prison of Coimbatore, as many as 500 have committed uxoricide – unbelievable but true …. Ninety percent of these wife killers are in their late sixties … most of them got married first, second or third time after crossing 55 … most of the wives axed down were in the 18 to 22 age group … they were intolerant husbands who wouldn’t allow their wives to talk to neighborhood youngsters lest they should elope …

17/9/2004 – a national level boxer has been forced to dump her gloves and take up selling country liquor … daily she manages to sell handia worth Rs 60 to 80 which leaves her a profit of around Rs 30.00 … somehow, she survives …

21/9/2004 –An alleged case of eve-teasing claimed the life of a 25 year old woman … she fell from her scooter when she tried to escape as she was being chased by four youths in a car …

14/10/2004 – A Class-I Gazetted Officer married an eligible US based bachelor and woke up with a nightmare … her husband snatched away her money and assaulted her … instances of domestic violence against women married to NRIs are on the rise… it doesn’t matter whether the women are from progressive families or from lower middle class ones, domestic violence is all pervasive … in Delhi, the figure for physically abused married women above 15 stood at 14.1% second only to J&K.

11/11/2004 – a 22 year old social activist was molested and thrown from a running train … her attempts to register a Police complaint were humiliating … this was the second case within ten days … earlier a teenager traveling with her siblings was molested and similarly thrown out by a group of young wrestlers …

INDIAN BITES

True to tradition, Indians bite the dust yet again.

This time it is in the ICC Champions Trophy in Edgbaston ODI.

The defeat was a foregone conclusion from the moment the toss went against the captain. His body language read abject surrender. Be it cricket, football or hockey or any other team game, it has been established that, as a team, we deliver very seldom. As individuals, there have been some remarkable exceptions like in chess, billiards etc. but the fact remains that Team India, as an entity, has yet to emerge even after more than fifty years of independence and a variety of political combinations experimented with at the centre!

However, Indian bites can become a rage of sorts and can capture the imagination of millions if marketed aggressively. We can be assured of the highest of honors should such a competition ever be organized. The offerings on ‘khana khazana’, ‘mirch masala’ and so on pale into insignificance in front of the ingenuity of simple village women who have to churn out dishes with the barest minimum of ingredients in the shortest possible of time.

A favorite question put to would be brides of yore was aimed at trying to ascertain the extent of creativeness the girl was endowed with.

The question would be a simple one – ‘suppose some elderly relatives suddenly descended upon you and planned to stay over for the night, what would you serve for dinner?’ It has to be remembered that the scene is a remote village where bullock carts are the only means of transport, where kerosene lanterns provide the only source of light after sunset, where shops are absent hence, getting something off the shelf is also absent and where no one would venture out in the darkness to pluck vegetables from the field or throw a net in the pond to land some fish! The girl had to, perforce, rely only on what was physically available in the kitchen at that moment. Naturally, her options were extremely limited. In some cases, the girl would be told what ingredients were to be used, in other cases, the choice would be left to her. If she was able to conjure up some good recipes and managed to obtain pass marks, she would be assured of favorable placement in her new house – after marriage. In order to pass such examinations, these girls were taught how to make umpteen plus one preparations out of a simple vegetable like potato. It can be fried. It can be boiled, mashed and converted into quite a number of mouth watering dishes. Small freshly removed potatoes can be boiled and cooked with green peas to present a fantastic dish called ‘aloor dum’.

Girls today do not have to face such critical examinations and undergo humiliation. Questions asked of them would probably be like – ‘do you know where pizzas originated from?’ or ‘how many varieties of pizzas have you tasted? Which is your favorite?’ or ‘how many pizza outlets are there in your locality?’

THE WEIGHT WATCHERS

There is hardly anyone who has not seen or used a weighing machine strategically located at Railway stations, Bus terminuses, cinema halls or large departmental stores. Such machines invariably draw the attention of especially the children who are fascinated by the flashing of lights that endows it with a psychedelic effect! You must have, at some time or the other stood on its platform, waited for the wheel to stop turning, inserted a coin into the designated slot and waited for the machine to deliver a small card with your weight on one side and some forecast on the reverse side. The forecasts would be like ‘today you will meet someone who will mean a lot to you’ or ‘be careful while moving on the road’ or ‘all that glitters is not gold’.

The point to note is that we have always been conscious of weight.

Regular feedbacks allow us to get an indication if things start going wrong! Putting on weight has always been considered an evil practice. Weighty persons are invariably at the receiving end of jokes. Hence, the news of the death of a part time model in New Delhi as a result of Anorexia was, to say the least, shocking. We have heard of starvation deaths. The authorities play superb blaming games on account of such deaths. A standard explanation is that such deaths are not starvation deaths but are deaths due to the victims trying out tastes of new roots, berries and insects found in jungles to identify those that can be considered as alternate foodstuff! But, death due to Anorexia is something new.

In order to maintain slim bodies and participate in Fashion shows or Beauty pageants, girls go to the gym, do aerobics, have steam baths, eat as little as possible and pop weight reducing pills. Ads on TV channels promise to deliver the magic pills at your doorstep. The prime intention behind all such activities is to ensure a generous distribution of womanly assets in right proportions in the right places! No one wants to become a Tuntun; they all want to become pretty Zintas! Those who are unable to make it to the ramp discover enough opportunities to join the dancing brigades of video makers and churn out remixes. A few lucky ones even land minor roles in films.

It is most unfortunate that our slim girls do not have any interest in gymnastics.

It was a pleasure to watch young girls from Russia, USA, Italy, France etc. perform gymnastics at the Olympics. It looked as if they had no bones in their bodies! In this context it may be mentioned that Malkhamb is an art unique to India. Our Malkhamb girls could compete with these gymnasts and show to the world that we also need to be counted. Probably, no one has thought on these lines.

Of course, weight takes on a different meaning in the boxing world. We all know that boxing is a game that runs for a few seconds and is capable of generating millions of dollars. But, how many of us are aware of the fact that there are at least seven categories of boxers? Starting with the light flyweight (48Kgs) it goes on to the heavyweight (81 Kgs). The in-between categories are the flyweight (51 Kgs), bantam weight (54 Kgs), feather weight (57 Kgs), light welter weight (64 Kgs) and middle weight (75 Kgs)!!

STONE AGE REVISITED

It has been reported in the Press that Britney Spears created a sensation of sorts when she tried on a 'T' shirt in a Los Angeles store in full view of all people. Shoppers were treated to a fantastic view of one of her breasts popping out of her bra! Janet Jackson gave a nipplegate twist to her 'wardrobe malfunction' by blaming it all on poor Bush and saying that poor Bush wanted to divert attention from the Iraq war.

I presume that it all started with that famous query –‘Dr Livingstone, I presume?’ We have heard of the Elphinstone College and also of Sharon Stone, the actress. In our school days, we were taught that a rolling stone gathers no moss but, when we grew up, we came to realize that a pop group called ‘the Rolling Stones’ was a craze! Similarly, we were told to leave no stone unturned to reach your objective – whatever that may be – and that people who live in glass houses should not throw stones, for obvious reasons! We are acquainted with cinemas like Phool aur Pathar, Pathar kay sanam,. Geet gaya Pathro ney, Kala Pathar and so on pathar being the Hindi equivalent of stone. An entity called ‘the stone man’ created havoc in the night streets of Calcutta in the seventies by bashing up the heads of sleeping pavement dwellers with stones. And there is hardly anyone who has not come across one or the other type of stones like the kidney stone, the gall bladder stone and the precious stones. We also have the Flintstones on Star TV regaling us with their antics and realize that, even in the electronic age, we are obsessed with stones and are really and truly going back to the Stone Age.

In prehistoric days, might was right. The caveman, armed with a club, would protect his tribe and, when he wanted a woman, he would go out and find someone who looked o.k. and just lift her. In case of opposition, might would be the deciding factor and the stronger of the two would sling his catch on his shoulders and make a beeline for his cave.

Similar scenes are re-enacted regularly in Bollywood presentations.

The hero holds the heroine from the rear and both spread their arms as in the Titanic. Then they keep going round and round finally ending when the hero holds on to one leg of the heroine and lifts her off her feet, swings her around and ends by tilting her whole body as Big B did with his sweetheart in Hum. The only difference is that in Big B’s case, there was a genuine reason to tilt the heroine (to make her part with a coin she had deftly hidden in between her cleavage) whilst in other cases there does not seem to be any apparent justification except to show off the strength of the hero and the legs of the heroine! Added scenes of the heroine getting wet either in the rains or from the spray of the adjacent waterfall or being pushed in the swimming pool make for greater appeal which readily converts into the pleasant tinkling of the cash registers!
The final nail in the coffins of modernity is exhibitionism. Hem lines are on the way up and neck lines on the way down. The fairer sex has done away with practically all support systems that used to be related to decent dressing. Designers are now concentrating on identifying alternate dress material and, we may, in a few years time return to the fig leaf culture!