Five essentials for women travelling alone!!

1. Enough Money
2. Cell phone with sufficient charge and balance
3. Some sharp object like pocket knife or nail-cutter
4. Deo to spray into someone's eyes
5. If possible Pepper spray

Aaj ki Naari

She’s smart, intelligent, opinionated, outgoing, independent and open-minded in both thought and action. She has all the qualities which our society would not generally associate with women. Women are inherently supposed to be quiet, meek, obedient and dependent. But SHE dares to be different. She is the figure of a modern woman.
Her contribution to society is not limited to that of an obedient daughter, an ideal wife and a doting mother. Today, women have come out of their shells and have asserted their freedom. They are well-educated, they live on their own, they go out partying (with or without the other gender), they drink and smoke along with their male counterparts (it is a matter of personal choice), they earn as much as if not more than their male counterparts and they are liberated in the truest sense of the word.
Who gives a shit to what the society expects from women!! Shouldn’t they have the freedom to hold the reins of the life? Why should the society dictate terms to them just by virtue of their supposedly inferior gender?
What bothers me is that why is our society so hypocritical? Why is it that there are different rules for men and women? If a man is physically involved with someone, he is said to be asserting his manhood. However, if a woman does the same she is presumed to be a “whore”. If a man has multiple affairs he is looked up to as a stud or a dude. However when a woman has multiple affairs, her character is questioned. What the fuck!! Its high time women take note of this discrimination and fight against it. It’s the 21st century guys. We shouldn’t let anyone take control of our lives. Why should we be scared to do something that we feel is right? Do men ever need permission to do their own thing, then why do women have to plead for permission?
I hope that all the women reading this blog pay serious heed to this. After all we are the “Aaj ki Naaris” and we should truly prove so in our thought and actions.

“May you be the mother of a hundred sons”

Simone De Beauvoir, the French Feminist once wrote, “No one is born a woman. Woman is not completed reality, but rather a becoming. When an individual is kept in a situation of inferiority, the fact is that he does become inferior.” No where is this more apparent than in our Indian society. The plight of women in India has been a cause of concern and a focus of innumerable journals and studies. One such example is the book “May you be the mother of a hundred sons” written by Elisabeth Bumiller which I read recently.
In the book Bumillar writes about the women she encountered during her stay in India and very ingeniously comments on the evils perpetrated against women like sati, female infanticide, dowry, sex-selective abortion and forced sterilization.
Though the book suffers from some generalizations that would be obvious to an Indian eye, the author has done a pretty good job of covering many of the issues faced by women across the country. As far as possible she has refrained from drawing the same sorry conclusions about the plight of Indian women, but instead brought out the diversity.
This book has immense value as a text in mass communication as women are one half of the population of the world and hence an integral part of the masses. Their subject cannot be ignored. They play a pivotal role in the development of every society and nation. Indian women in particular play multifarious socio-economic roles both at home and outside. However, their effort has been silently appreciated but without much recognition. In such a scenario the book plays an important role by creating awareness especially about sensitive issues of tremendous importance like female infanticide, sex-selective abortion, practice of sati and dowry.
Most women themselves are unaware of the condition of women in our society. 62 years since independence and most women in our country living in villages are doubly oppressed by virtue of being poor and being born as “women”. It is high time that this issue is given its due importance. Like a bicycle can only proceed with both its tyres, similarly, a society can only progress when both men and women work in tandem and are given equal importance.
Thus, we can say that the author has done full justice to the sensitive topic taken up and this text in a breakthrough in the women’s writing about Indian society. Being a student of mass communication I would recommend this book to all students of mass communication especially women, as it will help give them a better understanding of the society in which they live and thus, help tackle issues with more sensitivity.

Love the skin you're in!!

While going through youtube the other day I came across an old Anne French ad. For all those who don't know, Anne French is a hair removal cream and a market leader if I may say so. The ad begins with one girl eyeing another girl and folding her jeans. The scene changes to a yoga class where another girl pulls up her tracks. Another girl listening to jukebox hides her skin under her scarf, while another girl having tea pulls down her sleeve to hide her arm. In the next shot, Kareena Kapoor walks with confidence and panache as all the girls look at her in awe. The voiceover says, “ Twacha ho khoobsurat, toh darr kaisa?...” The ad film ends as Kareena declares, “Beautiful skin is in.”
the moment I saw this ad something stirred inside me. The ad showed jealousy and rivalry between women merely for a petty issue such as skin. what I felt was that this ad did not portray women in a good light. There is much more to a relationship between women than just competition. Women can be best friends and confidants. They are also capable of carrying out healthy competition.
It was very suprising to see how the society especially men still view women in a typical light. I think its high time that people change their limited thinking and view women from a larger perspective.

“Ravana’s outer strength was weak compared to Sita’s inner strength.”

This quote by Sri Sathya Sai Baba best explains the power of a woman.

Innocence Personified

Beauty and the beast

Since time immemorial, beauty has been a virtue associated with women. All women are expected to be beautiful. In Indian society the ideal of a woman is “slim”, “fair” and “beautiful”. One look at the matrimonial columns of any newspaper will reiterate the fact that our Indian society is obsessed with beauty. It is this attitude that raises expectations from ordinary women. Any woman who does not fit the ideal i.e “fair”, “slim” and “beautiful” is not considered attractive or beautiful enough.
Like in Greek mythology where Aphrodite or Venus was considered to be the Goddess of Beauty, our Indian mythology too is abundant with Beautiful women like Goddess Parvati, and Maneka who lured the great sage Vishvamitra with her Beauty. One has to understand that each individual is unique and has her/his own charisma. To expect all women to conform to the “ideal” is futile.
Coming to the present context, living in a world of commodities, more often than not, we tend to overlook the historical context, the cultural and social implications of, the impact on mentalities, and the impact on our lives of commercial products and the marketing techniques used to sell these products. One of the best examples is that of Fair and Lovely. One of the market leaders in fairness creams, Fair and Lovely targets young women who aspire to be fair. Here fairness is closely associated with the “ideal” beauty. Thus, fair women are considered to be beautiful. All the women potrayed in the Fair and Lovely ads are either conventionally beautiful or are expected to be so. No one seems to appreciate individuals own beauty.
Beauty in my opinion is not something with which one is born. Beauty is the attitude of a woman. It’s much more than surface beauty. In India, advertisers portray women as exceedingly anxious about their looks and outward beauty. This is not fair as women have much more to their character than just this.
Over the years many Indians have been programmed to equate fair skin with beauty, success and happiness. This craze for white skin has been aggressively marketed. In advertisements, it is always shown that in order to be successful, liked and approved by others, one needs to have fair skin. However this is not true. In order to succeed in life one needs to have character and depth. That is what makes an individual successful.

Living alone in a city like Mumbai is NOT easy. I have heard a lot of people say that the city is extremely safe for girls and that they can travel alone at night without any fear. I would like to say that Yes, it may be comparatively safer with respect to other cities like Delhi (the city where I come from) but it still isn’t completely safe. Actually I believe that no place under the sun can be completely safe for girls/women (except their own homes). Everywhere they go they have to live under constant fear.
“I hope my clothes aren’t too revealing. I hope no one is following me. Oh God!! Why is that guy staring at me…”
Trust me these concerns are not unique to You and Me. They are universal, not bound by space or boundaries.
I remember overhearing a particular conversation once which went on something like this: “Did you hear about the XYZ rape case? Why was the girl out so late? I’m sure she must have worn “inviting” clothes. . .”
I mean why on earth would any woman want to invite something like this. Why is it that a woman who is out alone till late is assumed to be “fallen” woman and her character is questioned? Why isn’t the society (read men) ready to accept women as equal? Women are as competent and as capable as men are, if not more. They should have the same freedom as men have…they should be able to do what they want…
Over the years I have heard a lot of discussion on women’s liberation and women’s rights. Then why are women still considered inferior to men? Why does a woman always need the “protection” of a man? Why can’t a woman live life on her owns terms?
In my opinion when women will be able to live independently without any fear, only then will they be liberated in the truest sense of the word.