Its a regular Indian wedding.The bride is being petted and pampered.The groom's arrival is being anxiously anticipated.there's probably the regular shehnai playing in the background.But definitely the laughter of elated relatives fill the air.so what makes the wedding so special?so very unique?well,the groom is coming with all his pomp and splendor.What sets him apart is that he is the second groom to have married into the village of Devda,Rajasthan in a hundred and twenty years!Shailendra and Shagun are all set to be wedded in the very city which is infamous for its shameful and senseless ritual of female infanticide.Among the 70 Rajput families inhabiting the village of Devda,there are only 12 girl children.Infact,apart from the bride Shagun,there is only one girl,Chandra Kaur,who is above the age of 10.Panna Singh and his wife fought against all odds to help their baby girl live while the honourable Rajputs around them killed their daughters without emotions.Now following the footsteps of his brother (whose daughter Jayant was the first to marry in over a century!), he is giving away his daughter to her beloved.two words Panna Singh-Go You!
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/5578348.cms
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Domestic Violence Ad
ok.bloody brilliant piece!this ad was banned for its violent graphic content.please do not watch it if you feel it might upset you.this is kiera knightley at her best!
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
The Twinkle In Her Eye
I switch on the TV and hear a familiar song playing on Doordarshan after ages. "Nanhe munne bachhe teri muthhi mein kya hain?" croons the singer , "muthhi mein hain taqdeer hamari" chirp back an elated chorus of children. They're happy and secure. So happy that you cannot help but smile at their naive beliefs. You can't help but inwardly cringe as you think how quickly they will be disillusioned. Obviously they do not know big bad wolves really do exist.And Fairy Godmothers really don't. Obviously they can't even begin to imagine how many villainous brutes are craving to rob them of their childhood and make them work for their pleasure.Obviously they do not realise that in the world of grown ups they really have no peace.
13 year-old Mira of Nepal was offered a job as a domestic worker in Mumbai, India. Instead she arrived at a brothel on Mumbai's Falkland Road, where tens of thousands of young women are displayed in row after row of zoo-like animal cages. Her father had been duped into giving her to a trafficker. When she refused to have sex, she was dragged into a torture chamber in a dark alley used for 'breaking-in' new girls. She was locked in a narrow, windowless room without food or water. On the fourth day, one of the madam's goondas (thug) wrestled her to the floor and banged her head against the concrete until she passed out. When she awoke, she was naked; a "rattan" cane smeared with pureed red chilli peppers shoved into her vagina. Later she was raped by the goonda. Afterwards, she complied with their demands. The madam told Mira that she had been sold to the brothel for 50,000 rupees (aboutUS$ 1,700), that she had to work until she paid off her debt. Mira was sold to a client who became her pimp. (Robert I. Freidman, "India’s Shame: Sexual Slavery and Political Corruption Are Leading to An AIDS Catastrophe," The Nation, 8 April 1996)
Mira is one of the 1.2 million child prostitutes working in India. She’s a part of that invisible section of the society who we refuse to acknowledge and in doing so, refuse to help. At a time when the “usual” little girls grow out of cuddling their dolls and start getting interested in make up and boys, children like Mira are already nursing a baby of their own,wearing cheap lipstick and seducing their clients. By the time their more fortunate counterparts are passing out of high school, they are nearly dying with AIDS or other deadly sexually transmitted diseases. To many this might seem an exaggerated account of non existent lives,but to Mira and her friends this is a daily nightmare.
Needless to say the young victims of such outrageous exploitation never really are freed from their blighted past. The tortures inflicted upon their tender bodies and minds plague them for the rest of their lives if they are fortunate enough to be emancipated. There are a lot of NGOs across the country such as Sanlaap in Kolkata, which work towards rehabilitating child victims. Their work however remains futile till the time society refuses to accept them as one of their own. Their admittance and acclimatisation is a slow and painful process. Understandably the more they are shunned and stigmatised, the more they recoil into their traumatic shell. It falls upon the celebrated middle class morality therefore to drive the point home. We need to protest against the practise and stop marginalising the victims. So the next time they are asked “Bholi bhali matvali aankhon mein kya hain?” they can honestly believe “Ankhon mein jhume ummeedon ki diwali.”
Gory facts and figures:- http://www.uri.edu/artsci/wms/hughes/india.htm
Sunday, February 7, 2010
SIGHS,SALTS AND SINGLEDOM
Its nearly here. The nightmare week for all those who haven’t yet found their dewy-lipped honey-eyed soul mates. Where ever you go you see pink fluffy ribbons, red heart shaped balloons, cute naked cupid toys and pretty packed chocolate boxes up for sale. Possibly if you had been in a relationship before, you feel a knot in your stomach as you remember the red rose that had been put secretly on your desk or the glittery card slipped secretly into your bag or if you were lucky enough to have a rich partner, the candle lit lunch at the romantic restaurant. You watch couples going mush and you think “why am I alone?”. You sigh and turn away but there’s no relief. People everywhere seem to be in love. Suddenly your happy-to-be-in-love-thank-you-very-much friend calls you up and gushes “he did the sweetest EVER thing” and you smile. You want to take hold of a jagged stone and grind it on her and her “sweetest EVER” boyfriend but you just go “awwww”. Maybe, just maybe, you shed a tear or two. Or you cry a gallon and half.
Well. Get. Over. It. Look at those happy people once again!58 percent of them will be single before summer starts. The rest before summer ends. The successful couples will end up MARRIED!(yikes!) Or heck!perhaps 20 percent will break up by Valentine’s Day itself because they EXPECTED a proposal but didn’t get it! So breathe, smile and tell yourselves the words of the legen(wait for it)dary Barney Stintson-“My life is AWESOME”[How I Met You Mother in case you aren’t retarded enough]. And hey! don’t let those committed women with their strappy stags turn their nose up at you! We are happy you have a boyfriend. We really are. We just think we can do better! Be honest, do you really miss how you had to keep a plastic smile plastered while your love would breathlessly proclaim his love for you? Do you really miss having to worry about what kind of gift would suffice as a return to the hugely expensive stupid memento of love he buys for you? How do you even BEGIN to react to the cheesy bit of poetry he wrote about the mole on the side of your nostril? And incase you were a wannabe feminist dating a ball-less douchebag(happy memories of yours truly), then do you miss having to pay for that oh so pretty candlelit lunch? You don’t do you?(If you do please stop reading this and go cry to your pillow. it’s very interested in what you might have to say.) You don’t miss it because as Gloria Steinem said,”a woman without a man is like a fish without a bicycle.” Guys are like scabs!when the wound starts to heal the scab will by painful and itchy. Eventually it’ll just dry up and all YOU have to do is flick it!(“flick it.”heh!)
As a single girl you
-> get to flirt all you want(added bonus-check out any ass you wish).
->don’t have to make constant excuses to those whiny complaints(“why did you find Brad Pitt hot?why did you not receive my calls?why did you not reply to my messages?why did you not say my mom is pretty?why did you dress up so much?why aren’t you dressed nicely enough?why don’t you like my spikes?why do you have to be so loud?why cant you be more affectionate?why are you holding hands in public? ).
->can have FRIENDS, go out with who you want, when you want.
-> can do a smelly fart and not apologise for it.
-> aren’t accused of PMS just because you have an opinion.
-> don’t have to look interested to what they have to say about their jobs/hobbies/inane fantasies.
-> don’t have to pretend to find them geniuses though you know they are complete idiots.
-> don’t have to spend time with their even more stupid buddies while they proudly flaunt the “bros over hos” BS.
-> can wear all your heels without being too tall.
-> wax,thread and generally punish your body only if and when YOU want to!
->don’t have to deal with pscho ex girlfriends(or worse,present girlfriends whose existence was unknown to you)
->would totally be mysterious!
Let’s also not forget,boys are sweaty and smelly and love kills creativity(look at all those sonnets on unrequited love!).So this Valentine’s Day,buy yourself a Chocolate Tart(or popcorn if you are so conscious),watch Jerry McGuire(you can actually be excited about the “you had me at hello” bit rather than “show me the money” bit) and feel good about the fact that you’re definitely not getting dumped this valentine’s day(ouch to those of you who have been)!
p.s-the write up has nothing to do with salts.
Monday, December 28, 2009
Justice For Ruchika
We live in a country where the most sensitive of issues,no matter how upsetting, leave us unimpressed and indifferent.It is rare,very rare, that a case of woman abuse comes to the fore.And every time it does we realise how hopeless our condition is.the last case this hyped was that of Jessica Lal. And now we have the sad case of Ruchika Girhotra-a child of fourteen when she was molested or perhaps worse by the now SPS Rathore.
On August 11, 1990 Rathore visited Ruchika's house and met her father SC Girhotra. He told him that he should not send Ruchika abroad as she was a very promising player and that he would arrange special coaching for her. The senior cop also asked Girhotra to send Ruchika to his office on August 12, 1990 at 12 noon in connection with the same. On August 12, 1990, Ruchika along with her friend Aradhana went to play at the lawn tennis court and met Rathore.
On seeing both of them, Rathore asked Aradhana to call the tennis coach to his room. But she returned half way. "Is beech Ruchika ko akeli paa kar Rathore sahib aisi ginoni harquat pe uttar aye jo manavta ke liye kalank se bhi batar hai. Apni beti ki umar se bhi choti Ruchika se unhone chadechad ki. (In the meanwhile, finding Ruchika alone Rathore did a shameful act which is a blot on humanity. He molested Ruchika, who is younger than his daughter),"
Its been 19 years and Rathore is still unpunished.Ruchika's family however faced harrassment at an extraordinary speed.By September that year,Ruchika had been expelled from her school, the Sacred Heart School For Girls,Sector 26,Chandigarh under inane reasons which were later used by rathore's lawyers to their advantage.Rathore's henchmen continually harrassed Ruchika wherever she went ultimately forcing her to confine herself indoors.
Multiple cases of theft were filed against her then 10 year old brother Ashu.
On September 23 1993, Ruchika's then 13 year old brother, Ashu, was picked up in the market place near his house by police in plain clothes. They drove him in a jeep to the Crime Investigation Agency (CIA) Staff Office in Mansa Devi. There, he was tortured by Sub-Inspector Prem Dutt and Assistant Sub-Inspector Sewa Singh.[18]His hands were tied on his back and he was made to bend. His feet were tied with a weight. He was kept in this uncomfortable position for an extended period of time.[17]
After some time, Rathore also arrived there. Ashu was then tortured further. A roller, referred to by the police as "Mussal', was rolled on his legs and thighs after four constables boarded the roller. [21] [22]
While still in illegal confinement, Ashu was taken to his house and beaten mercilessly in front of Ruchika by Rathore. Rathore then threatened her, saying that if she did not take back the complaint, her father, and then she herself, would face the same fate. [19][23] Ashu was paraded in handcuffs in his neighbourhood.[24]
Ashu was picked up again on November 11, 1993. He was tortured again and was unable to walk due to the beatings. He was not given food or water for days at a stretch and was beaten mercilessly. He was repeatedly told to convince his sister to withdraw her complaint.[24] He was allegedly forced to sign on blank papers, which were used by the police to show his "confessions" that he stole 11 cars.[21] He would not be released until after his sister's suicide.[21]
No charges were ever framed in any of these cases filed against Ashu.
Her father was fired from his job and his house sold off forcibly to one of Rathore's lawyers.Harrassment also followed the Prakash family who supported Ruchika's case throughout up till now and Ruchika's lawyer.
In 1993,her brother still being beaten in the police lock up,Ruchika committed suicide by consuming poison.all records pertaining to her death fer forged by Rathore and his men.in 1994.Rathore was promoted.In 1999,the case was finally dropped.
After 19 years in 2009,Rathore was convicted for 6 months and out on bail within ten minutes.such is the horrifying timeline of Ruchika's tragic story.But let us fight together not just for the justice of this one girl,but for the safety of all the girls of our country.Let us rise as one and pressurise the corrupt system into giving Justice for Ruchika.
Join the movement.
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Iranian Virgin Prisoners Raped Before Execution
According to the "Islamic Law" virgins will go to heaven.a chance the Iranian law keepers are not willing to take.what is the solution?why,send them a temporary husband!give them a perfect wedding night!in short,rape em and then kill em.
Its a shocking case of how man can manipulate religion to suit his perverse sexual fancies.nothing in the Quran advocates this barbaric act,this brutal miscarriage of human rights.and yet it is perfectly legal.worse,justified.forgive me,i am not an Islamopohobe,But while the whole Islamic community would rise as one against Sarcozy's ridiculous burqa ban,why would no voice be raised against such heinous misuse in the name of their religion?why would no one step forward to protect these women?where are all the scholars now?Certainly the responsibilty for their release is not of the Islamic soviety alone,but that is where the beginning has to be.my earnest request to my Muslim brothers and sisters,come up.stand strong.show the unity you are so proud of. free these unfortunate women from the pathetic condition a false rendition of Islam has reduced them to!
It is known beyond a shadow of a doubt, that during the 1980s, the rape of women political prisoners was prevalent. It was so prevalent as to make Ayatollah Montazeri, who was Khomeini’s deputy at the time, write the following to Khomeini in a letter dated October 7, 1986: “Did you know that young women are raped in some of the prisons of the Islamic Republic?”
In response, Ayatollah Khomeini wrote, “Yes! Such rapes are essential to prevent those anti Islam females from entering the heaven. If they are executed as virgins, they will enter the heaven. So, rapes are extremely important and done to prevent such elements from entering the heaven.”
Even recently, according to Iranian Parliamentary investigation committee, protestors, jailed after the disputed presidential elections, were raped in prison. Defeated Iranian presidential candidate Mehdi Karroubi said in a letter to powerful cleric Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, "A number of detainees have said that some female detainees have been raped savagely. Young boys held in detention have also been savagely raped."
Karroubi's "confidential letter" was delivered on July 29 to Rafsanjani in his capacity as head of the Assembly of Experts, the powerful body which selects and supervises the activities of the supreme leader.
A police statement issued on August 6, 2009 confirmed that serious violations took place in Kahrizak prison. The authorities said they had jailed the head of the detention centre.
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