Women, the other sex

The world is engrossed in Obamas, bomb blasts and high profile people whose modus operandi is to make news. In fact I too was, comfortable in my cocoon of imaginary comfort, until I happened to see some disturbing news in the media. Some years ago, I thought of feminism as a waste of time and feminists as people who had nothing better to do in their life, people who had enough to eat and had no idea of hard work. But now I agree for a need for some strong voices to be raised against what is happening to a seemingly small number of women in a small part of a large world who are being apportioned their just share, as some would like to say.
The Taliban, once rulers of Afghanistan for 6 years, and dethroned later by the Northern Alliance and NATO forces, have now resurfaced in Pakistan with new dictums. The parents are being directed to marry their daughters to the militants. If the girls refused, they would be forcibly married off to militants. The Taliban have also closed about 400 schools depriving over 40,000 girls of their right to education. Education is the least of all their worries in a place where it is a sin to be an intellectual individual. They are not allowed to even speak of the 'rights' to live a happy and free life which all of us in India take for granted. "If a daughter is born to a person and he brings her up, gives her good education and trains her in the arts of life, I shall myself stand between him and hell-fire." says Kanz al-Ummal, an 8-volume set of Islamic hadith collection. Whatever a religion teaches, I don't argue with it because a religion is always personal, but as human beings we all, irrespective of our sexes are free to live happily, and that is the ultimate intention of all religions.
I, like many girls of my age, girls of India who belong to all religions, cannot swallow any rule which hinders my freedom of expression and living. I cannot imagine living in a world where I am deprived of even something as seemingly insignificant as enjoying a quiet walk or feeling the cool breeze on my face. I cannot imagine a world where someone tells me not to read books or go out alone, to marry someone I have never seen, to come near to death because I cannot go to a hospital and get treated by male doctors, cannot get treated at all because there are no women doctors. Here, I am not thinking of all these as a religious practice to be condemned but just as a human being thinks of another who wishes to live, facing and crossing all odds, yet never gets a chance to live because someone dictates them not to.
Afghanistan is a trampled country, and now Pakistan is en route to become one. My concern is that one day India too may become one. "Do you have both girls?" is the question my mother answered, and is still answering with some despair. I would shut my mouth and go away before I retorted something disrespectful. British writer George Orwell once said that while all animals are equal, some are more equal than others. In my country, men and women are equal, and men are more equal. "Take a rickshaw and throw it in the river" - a doctor in Agra advised the media reporters who went in disguise to throw the dead girl foetus in Yamuna. In Dholpur, a town in Rajasthan, a female medic
said the fields were pitted with the unmarked graves of unborn girls. She told the undercover couple that if their foetus was too big to easily be disposed of, they should pay a street sweeper to get rid of the body. I will not speak of estimates and ratio of men to women in India. I am not bothered if men do not get enough women to marry and increase their pedigree. I am just concerned about women as individuals who can hurt just like us. And I am concerned even about men who too are helpless to prevent it.
But here we are seen not as people who can think or feel, just as objects for ogling, groping and sex. My friend was one day reading ‘The Second Sex,’ one of the best known works of French existentialist Simone de Beauvoir. It is a work on the treatment of women throughout history and often regarded as a major work of feminist literature. The front cover of the book has the picture of a nude woman’s back. A person in the bus asked her for the book. She gave it to him and he eagerly started searching the book, presumably thinking it was a book on eroticism. When he could not find any such pictures or matter in the book after frantic searching for a few minutes, he reluctantly gave it back to her saying his young daughter had asked for that book. A young girl asking for a book on feminism acclaimed to be read by intellectuals. Such is the thinking of the men of my country. They see flesh, they think of sex. And what is the use of being a feminist in such a country, only to be the butt of ridicule.
My country also has a section of society where the top priorities of women include modeling in a fashion show where the dresses showcased are not wearable by 99% of women. And the 1% who wear them don't travel in crowded public buses, don't have to put in a 10-hour grind in office, don’t have to worry about EMIs or about money running out before the 15th of every month. Why blame men when women who can make a difference too don’t bother and are busy living their privileged life. But as voiceless, unseen women, how does one escape the honour killings now found in every religion, the unconnected crimes committed in the name of religion?
When we live in a 'global village,' any problem in any part of the village is our problem, because once it enters the village, it will enter our home too. And that is the problem we should now be worrying about. The Taliban may or may not come to India, but their practices sure will in the form of moral policing. Moral policing can be tolerated up to a limit if it does not take away the freedom of a section of society, the weaker section. After all, no one dares to police the wealthier and the powerful. I am saying this because I told a girl I know of the shocking treatment of women by the Taliban and her immediate response was that the women must have done something to deserve it. What have thousands of women done to ‘deserve’ the treatment? We need not be feminists to degrade it, we just have to be human.
---Shwetha

Blurred Boundaries

Mother’s Day has come and gone. Many asked me why we should celebrate this Day when we have always revered our mothers in various forms or any such Days of western origin for that matter. I asked them why we should celebrate festivals of Gods when they are being worshipped everyday.
When I asked my mom if Mother’s Day is necessary, she replied, “If mothers are necessary, Mother’s Day too is.” I asked many women the same question. Their replies were unanimous and synonymous with my mother’s. Those simple women, with no education, no sophistication, have so much wisdom, intelligence and the capacity to think clearly on any issue. But I am pleasantly surprised to see the abundance of common sense in the most illiterate of women. We always take our mothers for granted as we know they will always be there with us, as a shadow, a little-seen presence protecting us, taking care of every minute detail.
My mother once told me of an incident that happened when she was in high school. Her classmate, a girl, always wet herself and her mother came to the school to clean her up. She even dirtied herself. When her mother was told of this, she came running to the school, apologised to everyone on her daughter’s behalf and cleaned up without even scolding her daughter. She cradled her crying daughter, consoled her and took her home. She repeated this with patience and love every time her daughter repeated this. Not once was she humiliated or ashamed. The patience of such women who had neither much knowledge of the outer world, nor any education is rarely seen now.
Earlier, a man, because of his nature and physiology, had several avenues to prove his virility and strength. For a woman, it was limited to her ability to demonstrate her motherhood. With the society too expecting the same from her, motherhood naturally became an important aspect of her life. I read some-where that there is only one pretty child in this world and every mother has one. A woman, in a mansion or a slum always thinks highly of her child. Women and their opinions have undergone several changes as time has passed. Yet, motherhood and its happiness remains the same.
In Rig Veda, motherhood is referred with respect to earth and Goddesses. It is ironical that our ancient scriptures including those of Greeks and Romans fail to highlight the importance of a real mother, focusing more on Goddesses. Till the 1950s and 60s, women, irrespective of the countries they lived in, believed that children are God’s gift and that abortions or using contraceptives are sins against the word of God. The realisation that begetting more children increases poverty, thus causing a scarcity of basic necessities, sank slowly. This led to a revolution in the usage of birth control in the recent years. Mothers had stayed home for centuries; tending to their large family, their cattle and the agricultural fields. Now they have come out and have started remaining out for the most part of their lives. They are enjoying the respite from the kitchen, gardens and the suffocating fences. They are even enjoying a respite from giving birth. Surrogate motherhood is now a common trend. Women from other developed countries are entering India with the hope of adopting children or getting children through surrogacy. Women in India are readily renting out their wombs for the sake of money to foreigners. Surrogacy will, however, turn dangerous if followed due to a dislike in pregnancy and its affects on beauty other than just physical problems.
The tendency of women in leaning away from their family and towards their professional lives has decreased the population of Japan and Australia at an alarming rate. Their governments are trying to coax people into changing their minds to beget more children. India and China are in sharp contrast. But our country may one day join Japan if people continue to be more economy-oriented and less family-oriented. Fortunately, if women have changed, it is in their choice of begetting a child, not in being a mother. Of course, being a mother and bringing up a child was easier earlier due to large joint families. It is now considered by working women a hurdle in their already difficult life. Interestingly, the women from middle and lower strata of life are still the same; being a mother, loving it every minute of their life; bragging to whoever cares to hear about their children and their little achievements.
Animals can also be so surprising with the protective-ness they show towards their offspring. I remember reading about hilarious incidents of jungle fowls and rabbits behaving in the most irregular manners, running around, dancing in front of strangers, making strange noises to shoo the strange humans away thus succeed-ing in protecting their young ones.
Unfortunately, this protectiveness is not reciprocated by the children of either animals or humans. A week ago, I saw an old woman in rags in the Mysore city bus stand. She sat on the stone bench and took out her single worldly possession, a cloth bag. It was full of old, discoloured clothes. Digging further, she took out a plastic cover filled with rice and curry, kept it on the stone bench, mixed it and started eating it. It was evident seeing her that she had not eaten for some time. When she saw me observing her, she hid her food as if I would snatch it out of her hands. After her eating, I asked her if she had any children. She said her children had deserted her leaving her to fend for herself. I have seen parents being tossed around like balls among their children. Now, old age homes have become popular. Even some parents are volunteering to go to old age homes to lessen the so-called burden on their children. It may be because of the easy life they can have there without any worries.
Two days ago, an old woman came to my house from Srirangapatna. She wanted money for her eye operation. My parents asked her about her family. She said she was not married and had raised her sister from age three, got her married, and looked after her children, gave her all the money, land and love she had. But now that she is in no position to look after herself, her sister had thrown her out of the house. Now she had nothing. As far as I have understood motherhood (which is not much), a mother need not be and cannot always be a biological mother. It is saddening that not many people have understood this.
We are borrowing the whole lock, stock and barrel from the West. But the Western honey has been tossed out and the refuse has remained in India. The Westerners keep the love and respect for their parents alive even if they stay away from them. Once we Indians change our homes, we also change our views and attitudes, isolating our own from our lives. Our mothers (and fathers) have now remained reverent just in the early morning mantras.
The still budding generation has gone a step further. As I see on a daily basis, they do not resort to quarrel with their parents. They just neglect them.
A mother’s role too has changed now. She has to be there for the kids in their small joys and triumphs. But she is finding it increasingly hard. The present generation cannot imagine a mother who always stays at home, cooks and cleans after them. They are adjusted to the fact that their mothers will not be there to pick them when they fall, that they cannot go to their mom for every small bickering and fight with their friends. The youngsters have matured beyond their age; but their maturity has taken on a wrong and dangerous path. Only the lucky ones whose mothers are housewives get all the attention they need.
Unwed women adopting children is already a passé. Some such well-known women from the glamorous tinsel world are Sushmita Sen, Angelina Jolie, Madonna… It is now common to enjoy being a mother by having children outside wedlock and remaining unwed for as long as they like. Such experiments are also restricted to the celebrities who think of themselves as liberated from the rules of the society which binds the common people. The traditional India still reveres motherhood as sacred, divine and special.
It is a very popular saying that there can be bad fathers in the world but there can never be bad mothers. As there is an exception to everything, there are mothers who can abandon, if situation arises, kill their children just like a mother rabbit could abandon, ignore or even eat her young ones if she is frightened. We Indians are fond of eulogising many things and that includes the revered topic of mothers. No one can blame a mother and get away successfully. Even though, eulogising is not necessary, mothers deserve our respect and love more than anything else.
Showing love for our mother mechanically and fashionably with cards and gifts on a single day and neglect her on the remaining 364 days is the outcome of the ‘new generation Mother’s Day.’ We can make the lives of our mothers a little happier by small helps, a thank you and a smile and look after them when they can no longer look after themselves. – Shwetha

Are there any lesser humans?

Saartjie Bartman at University of Cape Town library

Is there a lesser community in this world? Are there any lesser humans? Ask these questions to any seasoned orator and his answer will be both yes and no according to the situation he is in and according to the power and money gain his answer gives him. But are there really lesser humans?

Yes. That was my answer when I first read of Saartjie Baartman, a woman from South Africa who died in 1816 at the age of 27. She belonged to a tribe called Khoisan in South Africa. She was taken to Britain, caged and exhibited naked around the ‘land where sun never sets’. All because she had a trait peculiar to their tribe- protruding buttocks (Steatopygia). After the Britishers got tired of her, she was sent to Paris for exhibition, where she died of cold. The men who taught civilization to the world did not stop with her death. She was dissected and used for medical research, a plaster cast was made out of her remaining body, painted and put on display in the Musée de l'Homme in Paris until she was cremated in 2002, 186 after her death. We may feel repulsed, but this is where issues of human dignity comes in. But she was not treated like a human, only like an animal, and animals don’t have dignity.

All these happened many years ago. And now after all these years, even if we don’t put human beings in cages for our ‘knowledge and entertainment,’ we still do not deserve to associate the word dignity with humans. In India, the ‘lesser’ humans are still being paraded with little clothes on them, punished publicly for small mistakes as violating untouchability, drinking from common cups … These practices are getting lesser and are condemned by the public at large. But there is still one more practice that is more heinous and more blatantly ignored in some States of our country. Manual scavenging has not got wide publicity and wide-spread public condemnation, not because it is not undignified, but because we don’t bother to oppose those practices which are useful for us. Manual scavengers, or carriers of night soil as they are called, clean the dry toilets with brooms, carry the human excreta in baskets on their heads and dump them almost every day of their lives. One of these ‘lesser’ humans says, “…when I return home I can hardly eat because of nausea. The men are lucky, they can drown it all in liquor.” They are exposed to the most virulent forms of viral, bacterial infections of eyes, skin, limbs, respiratory and gastrointestinal systems. The practice is still prevalent in Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and some other States, but has been fortunately banned in Karnataka in the 1970s itself. Unofficially, there are still nearly 10-12 lakh manual scavengers in India, even after public toilets were introduced. One of the major employers of these workers is the municipality, which is a government body. The Railways, however, is the biggest violator of human dignity with nearly 30,000 passenger coaches fitted with open-discharge toilets. The irony is that there are people who even support it. It seems there is no end to the shameful practice. We are again proving that there are still ‘lesser’ humans amongst us who do not deserve our fair treatment. It is not often the lack of resources that is the root cause. Often, it is the lack of concern, competence and even character.

To most people in India, such traditional works can be accepted without any remorse and carried on. It is no use to blame the government alone when people themselves seem satisfied with their conditions, though not in disgraceful practices like manual scavenging, atleast doing the works of their forefathers. Some years ago, I used to teach a few children in my grandparents’ house in a small village in Dakshina Kannada. They used to skip school and go to work around the village. But they did not dare to skip my classes because my mother would scold their parents. But after sometime, they stopped coming to me too. I went to their houses and asked the reason. Their parents said they had gone to collect firewood and that they will not come to classes again. When pressed for reason, they said it is enough if their children learnt to sign their names. They asked me what do they have got to do being educated? It is enough for the children of their community to study till 4^th and if the child is very intelligent, till 10^th. I tried vainly to convince them. Now, the boys are working as waiters in a Bangalore hotel. The one who studied till 10^th std. has ‘fortunately’ gone to Mumbai and become a technician there. I know of three more such children whose parents stopped their studies not because they did not have the money, but because it is enough for the likes of them. Their parents are happy if their sons earn and send money back to them, it does not matter what they do to earn it. Many such people in India do not think that even heinous practices such as manual scavenging is bad and should be stopped. For them, it suffices that this is their duty as it is the work of their caste.

Now, the United Nations has chosen ‘Dignity and Justice for all’ as the theme for its 60^th celebration of World Human Rights Day this year. But in our country even terrorists are entitled to dignity and human rights, but not the ‘lesser’ humans. These well-intentioned themes are ignored even by many of the United Nations’ member-countries. Japan still has a community called ‘Burakumin’ who are treated as untouchables. Dignity and Justice for all will remain on paper for a long time to come.

Remembering Ramanujan

Famous Mathematician, G. H. Hardy, told of S. Ramanujan, "This poor and solitary Hindu pitted his brains against the accumulated wisdom of Europe". Srinivasa Ramanujan, as most of us know, was one of the most brilliant Mathematicians, 20th Century Europe and the world collectively saw. But most of us don't know much about his life. Most of us probably wouldn't understand anything of his work. His intellectual products in maths field are still being explored by modern Mathematicians. Prof. G. H. Hardy told the world that he did not discover Ramanujan, but Ramanujan discovered himself.
Srinivasa Ramanujan, born in a poor Tamil family steeped in traditions, was nonetheless stubborn, adamant in his views on religion, vegetarianism and Hindu values. But he also had an innocence which made him likeable in the eyes of everyone who met him. He failed in all subjects except math, failed to obtain a degree even after many attempts. Without a degree, he could not work, nor could feed his family. He applied for help to every noted person in Madras and landed a job as a clerk.
Almost after 10 years of working on Maths, his theorems and results were thought as the work of a crank. Only Hardy took it seriously. Through Hardy's help, he could go to Cambridge. Even though English understood his worth, they could not make him comfortable in an alien weather, culture and customs. It is said that a Bengali student of Cambridge, P. C. Mahalanobis once went to see Ramanujan in his suite on a cold day. He saw Ramanujan shivering in cold in front of fire looking pale and haggard.
Then, to his shock and dismay, he found that, Ramanujan, ignorant of the customs of the British, slept on the mattress with the blanket underneath him, shivering the whole night, every night, since his arrival. Such was his innocence to the ways of British. Yet, he astonished the most profound Mathematicians by his intuitions, which he called “inspirations and dreams from God”.
India, in past and present, is a country which has always remained uncaring about its geniuses. Intelligence, especially in scientific field has gone almost unnoticed in our country. We always recognize genius after it has been applauded in a foreign land. That is what happened in the case of S. Ramanujan.
He begged for recognition here but got it in Cambridge. Indians recognized his worth only after he received scholarship to Cambridge, received the Fellowship of the most prestigious Royal Society and Trinity. If Prof. Hardy had not helped him, he would forever have remained an obscure clerk.
He died at a very young age of 33, unable to adjust to English weather, to change his habit of South Indian food, avoiding outdoors etc.
He lived for Maths, working till his death. His obsession with Maths was entirely spiritual, as he himself said, "An equation for me has no meaning, unless it expresses a thought of God".

Pinjrapole, A Silent Service

In our country animals are revered, yet we get to see stray animals, healthy and injured, hungry and destitute on roads and in other public places. These animals die of hunger or disease, get hit by speeding vehicles, get transported to slaughter houses as soon as they get old as they turn useless for humans in terms of economy. Such animals in Mysore get shelter at The Society for the Promotion of Kindness to Animals, in common parlance called the Mysore Pinjrapole Society.
Mysore Pinjrapole Society was established 71 years ago in 1938 by Maharaja Jayachamaraja Wadiyar. Since then it is taking care of destitute animals; handicapped, injured, weak and abandoned animals, by providing feed, shelter and medical care.
Pinjrapole is one of the prominent societies in southern India for taking care of seized cattle illegally being transported to slaughter-houses, rescued and recovered with assistance of Police and handed over to the Society for caring under Court orders. Thousands of animals have been thus protected by the Society. At present the number of animals in the Society is reaching 2700,
nearly 1053 animals brought in by the Police after rescue. The first branch of Pinjrapole, situated on a 62-acre land on Mysore-Ooty Road at the foot of Chamundi Hill, has a serene atmosphere in the midst of nature. A second branch was established to accommodate the increasing number of
animals, in 2005 near Udbooru Gate, about 10 kms away from Mysore on H.D. Kote Road with an area of 36 acres; the land is popular as Ahimsa Dham. A large number of animals found in Pinjrapole are cattle; but destitute or injured sheep, goats, dogs, cats, birds, etc., too reside here. Even peacocks come for food from the surrounding areas and Chamundi Hill. Mostly cows,
buffaloes and such cattle are brought there by the Police who seize the animals on way to slaughter houses.
All expenditures of Pinjrapole — looking after the animals, labour charge, fodder, maintenance etc.— are sustained only through donations. They do not receive any fund from the government, according to Society’s Secretary Shantilal Choradia.
Medical Facility: The Society has appointed a Veterinary Doctor and two Supervisors as his
assistants. An emergency ward has been constructed to render immediate treatment to severely sick animals. A separate maternity ward is maintained for cows.
Green Grass cultivation: Green grass is cultivated in 15 acres of land at Mysore branch and 5 acres of land at Udbooru branch for cattle feed. As such they are self-sustained to a small extent.
Vermicomposting: Pinjrapole is using earthworms to prepare vermicompost and use it for farming. They grow organic vegetables and fruits with the help of vermicompost. Their organic foods, with no harmful chemicals which are injurious to health, are consumed by the labourers and members of the Society.
Improvement brought about in breeding: To improve the breed of cows, Kankrege, Harianvi, Hallikar & Sahiwal bulls have been brought from their places of origin. At present there are 120 cows of these improved breeds.
Milk Production: Every day 650-700 liters of milk is collected from healthy cows which are sold among the members and the revenue collected is used for betterment of cows.
Gobar Gas Plant: There is one gobar gas plant each at both the branches each of a capacity of 80 CuMs. All the employees' quarters have been provided with gobar gas facility for cooking. Cutting down trees for fuel has been totally prevented, thus protecting the environment. In emergencies, electricity is generated out of gas plant, from the generator installed.
Labour and Helping Hands: There are 18 families residing on the premises of the Society. They are provided with milk and rations at subsidised rates to prevent wastage of their time and money in going to market for daily needs. Their children’s education has been arranged by admitting them to nearest schools and educational expenses are being met by the Society.
Cow urine: The urine of cows, traditionally called gomutra, has been found to be medicative in nature. The age-old practice of consuming cow urine as medicine has now been revived in Pinjrapole. The Society has installed a distillation unit to distill cow urine and use it for treatment of ailments.
According to the Society, cow’s urine has natural medicinal qualities that can cure diabetes, asthma, chronic skin diseases, acidity, blood pressure, migraine and other headaches, constipation and even cancer. Two women in Pinjrapole, Sheena and Nandini, are trained in preparation of distilled urine called Arka, phenyl made out of cow urine and other products.
Sheena says she started working on these products after learning the procedures from a doctor in Pinjrapole. They started preparing the products about 3-4 months ago and the products have already become popular even among foreigners.
The Society prepares a minimum 25 bottles of distilled cow urine or Arka to meet the demands. According to Secretary Shantilal, Pinjrapole is the only one in Karnataka which uses modern technology to distil cow urine on the lines of Akhila Bharatiya Go-Vigyan Samsthan in Nagpur.
Shantilal says about 60 litres of urine is collected every morning from selected breeds including Amruth Mahal, Hallikere, of which, they get 30 litres after distillation.
Pinjrapole has various future plans like construction of shelters for more than 5,000 animals; preparing Pancha gavya from cow urine, dung, ghee, milk and curd, which has medicinal value; cultivation of organic vegetables and fruits in large amount; hi-tech rain water harvesting; training centre for rain water harvesting and preparing organic manure. They plan to start an
extensive movement 'Go hatya –virodh jana jagruthi andolan' to create an awareness about the ills of cow slaughtering. Pinjrapole Society is doing a silent and sacred service to voiceless, innocent animals and in turn a utilitarian service to all without any profit.