3/24/2007: Time... no idea. Place... somewhere above the Pacific Ocean
Can you imagine sitting in a cramped up seat with negligible leg space for 17 hours? If you are an Indian and have travelled to US, most probably, you answered "Yes"! And you fully empathize with me.
I can't sleep. And after watching two movies back to back, my eyes are aching. There are at least 3 babies crying in the flight. So decided to jot down some stuff.
This is the third major "move" in my life - first was from Trivandrum to Bangalore after college, and the second was from Bangalore to Seattle for my first onsite assignment. Like my current move to Seattle, the previous changes have also been pretty painful for my parents. I am an only child and my parents and I have a very strong co-dependent relationship!
I hate admitting this... but the first two times, I was not so sad to move away from my parents. The move to Bangalore was the first whiff of independence in my life. After living under my parents watchful (and definitely, loving too) eyes for 21 years, this was a welcome change! And the move to Seattle was my first trip to a foreign country. So I was definitely excited.
This time, its different. I actually felt sad that I am leaving my parents behind. They are both growing older. And over the last 2 years, I have reconnected with my parents (post all the adoloscent attempts to break away from them). I dont think of them as a hindrance to my independence anymore. And this time, I am also leaving home!! Yes, Bangalore is home now! Trivandrum (as beautiful a place as it might be) is not in my list of favorite places to live in. Thinking of all this, I really wish I could just go back home right now... Never ever thought I'd feel this way!
Three glasses of wine... and I am still not sleepy... So next in agenda is watching Casino Royale (yet again).... Bond is definitely a pleasure to look at ;)
Sunday, March 25, 2007
Monday, March 19, 2007
Rat Race
Times of India had a very interesting article today... "Now, 4-yr-olds take tuitions".
It reads that even while court and Delhi Govt is debating on whether 3 or 3.5 year olds should be going to school, many parents have gone a step ahead and started sending their little ones to private tutors!! Some say that their child is weak in Hindi. Others say that they want their kids to be ahead of the class. Parents want their kids to learn things in advance to ensure that they score well in kindergarten!!!
Private tuition for pre-KG and KG kids!! Can you imagine that??!
During this Feb and March (the board exam months in most parts of India), all TV and radio channels had special programmes on how kids and parents can deal with examination stress! OK, anything where you are getting evaluated, rated or judged is stressful. I used to find all my exams stressful. My parents say that they did too in their schooling days. But I dont remember it reaching such a frenzy that kids and even their parents need professional help from counsellors! With a population of teeming millions, it definitely is a rat race. But in my opinion, the problem with India is that everyone wants to be a doctor or engineer or someone like that. We no longer hear children saying that they want to be a police officer or even a teacher. Those a lowly occupations! Kids are not encouraged to pursue their talents. There are kids who are gifted painters, musicians, cricketers, et al. But these are not viable money grossers. The Indian cricket team might be making millions even if they suck at their primary profession. But out of a population of millions, only 11 make it to the team... and our players have a shelf life of almost 15-20 years!!
Getting back to the original topic, parents inject a huge sense of competition in kids right from the time they are toddlers. Pretty soon, we'll hear about kids on KG and lower primary getting counselled for stress... The sad part in all this is that they miss out of something amazing - childhood!! They are busy going to school and then to tuitions and then doing homework. When do they play? When do they bond with other kids of their own age? When do they learn about teamwork and kinship? We are nurturing a bunch of mechanical beings... we study round the clock as kids and then we work round the clock as adults! And by the time we retire or realize that we are missing out on life, it is usually too late!
[PS: I am not putting all the blame on parents... All these ideas have their origin in our current social setup. And parents are just going with the flow.]
Reminds me of a quote... The trouble with the rat race is that even if you win, you're still a rat!
It reads that even while court and Delhi Govt is debating on whether 3 or 3.5 year olds should be going to school, many parents have gone a step ahead and started sending their little ones to private tutors!! Some say that their child is weak in Hindi. Others say that they want their kids to be ahead of the class. Parents want their kids to learn things in advance to ensure that they score well in kindergarten!!!
Private tuition for pre-KG and KG kids!! Can you imagine that??!
During this Feb and March (the board exam months in most parts of India), all TV and radio channels had special programmes on how kids and parents can deal with examination stress! OK, anything where you are getting evaluated, rated or judged is stressful. I used to find all my exams stressful. My parents say that they did too in their schooling days. But I dont remember it reaching such a frenzy that kids and even their parents need professional help from counsellors! With a population of teeming millions, it definitely is a rat race. But in my opinion, the problem with India is that everyone wants to be a doctor or engineer or someone like that. We no longer hear children saying that they want to be a police officer or even a teacher. Those a lowly occupations! Kids are not encouraged to pursue their talents. There are kids who are gifted painters, musicians, cricketers, et al. But these are not viable money grossers. The Indian cricket team might be making millions even if they suck at their primary profession. But out of a population of millions, only 11 make it to the team... and our players have a shelf life of almost 15-20 years!!
Getting back to the original topic, parents inject a huge sense of competition in kids right from the time they are toddlers. Pretty soon, we'll hear about kids on KG and lower primary getting counselled for stress... The sad part in all this is that they miss out of something amazing - childhood!! They are busy going to school and then to tuitions and then doing homework. When do they play? When do they bond with other kids of their own age? When do they learn about teamwork and kinship? We are nurturing a bunch of mechanical beings... we study round the clock as kids and then we work round the clock as adults! And by the time we retire or realize that we are missing out on life, it is usually too late!
[PS: I am not putting all the blame on parents... All these ideas have their origin in our current social setup. And parents are just going with the flow.]
Reminds me of a quote... The trouble with the rat race is that even if you win, you're still a rat!
Thursday, March 08, 2007
International Womens Day
March 8 - International Womens Day. There are two ways to look at this:
1. We celebrate men and their importance all through the year. And let us take one day out of a whole year to appreciate the weakling woman.
2. We praise the lord Jesus Christ on Dec 25. We pay reverence to Gandhiji on Oct 2. And equally divine and noble are women. So we celebrate women on Mar 8.
We had a Womens Day Celebration at Infosys. It was organized by the Infosys Womens Inclusivity Network (IWIN) - an initiative for promoting gender sensitivity at the workplace. I am also a part of this group.
The key events were a panel discussion on "Women inclusion and its Business Imperatives" and a "Young woman leader contest".
The panel was an amazing group of successful men and women - Sanjay (Head of Infy Corporate Planning), Pravin (Head of Infy Retail Business Unit), Jamuna (Delivery Head of Infy Banking Business Unit), Prerna (VP of Infosys BPO) and Sharad Sharma (Managing Principal of Orbit Change Interventions)
Honestly, my expectations were set a bit low since the topic of women inclusivity has been discussed to death, resuscitated, and discussed further! There was only one difference - this is the first time I was attending a discussion that had more testosterone on the panel than estrogen.
Few of the highlights of the discussion that stuck with me are these:
1. Glass ceilings can never be broken from just below. Initiatives like IWIN can provide a push from below but we need action from above too. There has to a perspective change in the top leadership.
2. Womens inclusivity is not a social cause for Infosys. Its a business need. To flourish, business needs talent - male or female. Almost 48% of the population in India are women. And we cannot ignore such a huge mass.
3. Women respect boundaries while men push the boundaries. Women do not self promote while men do. This innate arrière pensée puts women at a disadvantage. A change has to happen in women too. They need to push forward and demand their share instead of standing back and waiting their turn.
That's when I realized... the discussion was not prosaic since it was totally inclusive... inclusive of not just women but men too... It takes a yin and a yang to make the circle complete.
The "Young Woman Leader Contest" reminded me of all the Miss World contests... Politically correct answers!! People stopped short of saying "world peace". But then thats expected. If you asked me "What would you do if a fire broke out during the meeting?", I am definitely not gonna say that I'll panic and run to save my life! Few of the contestants had a good sense of humor... when asked whether a woman can be James Bond, a contestant replied in the affirmative. But she also went ahead to point out that Bond's boss is M - a woman! She makes Bond do all the hard work! One of the questions fazed me a bit... Indian states have had a few women Chief Ministers. Who is your favorite and why? The contestant and me - both paniced a bit. I dont know what went through the contestants mind... But I could not recollect the name of a single woman CM!! My general knowledge is not that bad... So I guess old age is starting to spin cobwebs in my brain. The winner of the contest was a lady who replied that the two major contributions the Brits made to India are English and the realization that unity in diversity is the key to success.
Every year, United Nations conduct a panel discussion on March 8th. The topic for this year is "Ending Impunity for Violence against Women and Girls". Another relevant cause in the Indian context. There are so many instances of infancticide, child marriage, rape, physical abuse, etc that goes unpunished in different parts of this country.
My final conclusion: An International Womens Day is a necessity. The reason is not either of the two mentioned at the beginning of this post. Like Sharad Sharma pointed out in the panel discussion, stereotyping of women into particular roles exists in reality. We need to acknowledge this as a fact and take steps towards breaking those stereotypes. Centuries of prejudice and social conditioning does not disappear overnight... Baby steps... thats what we need to make now. If each one of us do our bit towards the cause, maybe a generation or two down the line, we will be able to do away with a special day to celebrate women.... Everyday would be a man's day and a woman's day.
1. We celebrate men and their importance all through the year. And let us take one day out of a whole year to appreciate the weakling woman.
2. We praise the lord Jesus Christ on Dec 25. We pay reverence to Gandhiji on Oct 2. And equally divine and noble are women. So we celebrate women on Mar 8.
We had a Womens Day Celebration at Infosys. It was organized by the Infosys Womens Inclusivity Network (IWIN) - an initiative for promoting gender sensitivity at the workplace. I am also a part of this group.
The key events were a panel discussion on "Women inclusion and its Business Imperatives" and a "Young woman leader contest".
The panel was an amazing group of successful men and women - Sanjay (Head of Infy Corporate Planning), Pravin (Head of Infy Retail Business Unit), Jamuna (Delivery Head of Infy Banking Business Unit), Prerna (VP of Infosys BPO) and Sharad Sharma (Managing Principal of Orbit Change Interventions)
Honestly, my expectations were set a bit low since the topic of women inclusivity has been discussed to death, resuscitated, and discussed further! There was only one difference - this is the first time I was attending a discussion that had more testosterone on the panel than estrogen.
Few of the highlights of the discussion that stuck with me are these:
1. Glass ceilings can never be broken from just below. Initiatives like IWIN can provide a push from below but we need action from above too. There has to a perspective change in the top leadership.
2. Womens inclusivity is not a social cause for Infosys. Its a business need. To flourish, business needs talent - male or female. Almost 48% of the population in India are women. And we cannot ignore such a huge mass.
3. Women respect boundaries while men push the boundaries. Women do not self promote while men do. This innate arrière pensée puts women at a disadvantage. A change has to happen in women too. They need to push forward and demand their share instead of standing back and waiting their turn.
That's when I realized... the discussion was not prosaic since it was totally inclusive... inclusive of not just women but men too... It takes a yin and a yang to make the circle complete.
The "Young Woman Leader Contest" reminded me of all the Miss World contests... Politically correct answers!! People stopped short of saying "world peace". But then thats expected. If you asked me "What would you do if a fire broke out during the meeting?", I am definitely not gonna say that I'll panic and run to save my life! Few of the contestants had a good sense of humor... when asked whether a woman can be James Bond, a contestant replied in the affirmative. But she also went ahead to point out that Bond's boss is M - a woman! She makes Bond do all the hard work! One of the questions fazed me a bit... Indian states have had a few women Chief Ministers. Who is your favorite and why? The contestant and me - both paniced a bit. I dont know what went through the contestants mind... But I could not recollect the name of a single woman CM!! My general knowledge is not that bad... So I guess old age is starting to spin cobwebs in my brain. The winner of the contest was a lady who replied that the two major contributions the Brits made to India are English and the realization that unity in diversity is the key to success.
Every year, United Nations conduct a panel discussion on March 8th. The topic for this year is "Ending Impunity for Violence against Women and Girls". Another relevant cause in the Indian context. There are so many instances of infancticide, child marriage, rape, physical abuse, etc that goes unpunished in different parts of this country.
My final conclusion: An International Womens Day is a necessity. The reason is not either of the two mentioned at the beginning of this post. Like Sharad Sharma pointed out in the panel discussion, stereotyping of women into particular roles exists in reality. We need to acknowledge this as a fact and take steps towards breaking those stereotypes. Centuries of prejudice and social conditioning does not disappear overnight... Baby steps... thats what we need to make now. If each one of us do our bit towards the cause, maybe a generation or two down the line, we will be able to do away with a special day to celebrate women.... Everyday would be a man's day and a woman's day.
Tuesday, March 06, 2007
Pride or Prejudice?
Rs. 1 million worth of food meant as holy offering at Orissa's Jagannath temple was destroyed because a foreigner had entered the temple premises!! Priests at the temple saw this as an act of defiling the premises and they performed rituals to cleanse the shrine. A mud pit was dug inside the premises and the holy offering was thrown in it. The American visitor who was not aware of the restriction on entry of foreigners to the temple was fined Rs. 209!
That is just amazing - you destroy around 22000 USD worth of food and charge the so-called "culprit" just around 5 USD!!
Why do we feel that the presence of a foreigner or a non-believer makes a temple impure? Is the God, whom we believe in, so intolerant? A temple is a place of worship. If there are a few people there who do not believe in any God or believe in a different God, what difference does it make?? Are all the Hindus going to the temple fully devout? There will be a whole bunch of them who are there because of some guilt in their mind, some would be there to demand something from God... very few are there just because they want to worship God!! Isn't it always about what "I" want?
And bury all that food in a mud pit... How crazy is that??? There are millions of Indians who go hungry everyday. There are children dying of hunger all over the nation. You can find a huge number of beggars and slum dwellers near every temple. Couldn't they have just donated the food to them? I don't think they would mind it even if it is food rejected by God!!
Growing up in Kerala, I have seen temples that do not allow non-believers, women, et al. OK, so its easy to spot a woman. But how do you find a non-believer?? I have seen temples that close down and cleanse the entire premises because a child puked in there!! OK, so if someone pukes, clean off the vomit. That's it. Why should they say that it made the temple impure and it needs cleansing??! As per these very same priests, God made human beings. And God knows that if we are unwell, we will sometimes puke. So will he/she mind??
That is just amazing - you destroy around 22000 USD worth of food and charge the so-called "culprit" just around 5 USD!!
Why do we feel that the presence of a foreigner or a non-believer makes a temple impure? Is the God, whom we believe in, so intolerant? A temple is a place of worship. If there are a few people there who do not believe in any God or believe in a different God, what difference does it make?? Are all the Hindus going to the temple fully devout? There will be a whole bunch of them who are there because of some guilt in their mind, some would be there to demand something from God... very few are there just because they want to worship God!! Isn't it always about what "I" want?
And bury all that food in a mud pit... How crazy is that??? There are millions of Indians who go hungry everyday. There are children dying of hunger all over the nation. You can find a huge number of beggars and slum dwellers near every temple. Couldn't they have just donated the food to them? I don't think they would mind it even if it is food rejected by God!!
Growing up in Kerala, I have seen temples that do not allow non-believers, women, et al. OK, so its easy to spot a woman. But how do you find a non-believer?? I have seen temples that close down and cleanse the entire premises because a child puked in there!! OK, so if someone pukes, clean off the vomit. That's it. Why should they say that it made the temple impure and it needs cleansing??! As per these very same priests, God made human beings. And God knows that if we are unwell, we will sometimes puke. So will he/she mind??
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)