I'M A DARK SKINNED INDIAN GIRL, PROBLEM?

1 December 2013 Skin color is a big deal for Indians, well at least for some Indians, with fair skin being coveted and dark skin being less desirable. And, this is especially true for Indian girls. Just look at Indian matrimony ads; among the academic and career credentials of a potential bride, it includes skin color - fair skin is preferred. I wonder if they are looking for a wife or a heroine to make a movie in Indian cinema. The Indian cinema contributes a great deal to this scenario - while there are dark skinned leading actors (although fair skinned actors outnumber dark ones) there are only a handful...

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NEO INDIAN WOMEN AND MARRIAGE

Indian women are becoming more and more educated and successful, some, even beating Indian men in the climbing of the corporate ladder and also contributing to the 'lady boss' phenomena. Independent, confident and empowered Indian working women are focused on the acquisition of a house, a car and to be financially stable before thinking about marriage and the problem with marriage begins at this point. For an Indian woman to have a healthy bank balance that extends to necessitated possessions like property and vehicle, she will have to work for at least 5 years to at least have a decently filled billfold. Assuming a woman starts working...

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THE VALUE OF EDUCATION

Kids in one part of the world fight and struggle just to go to school; other kids in other parts in the world act otherwise; they fight and struggle as to not to go to school. Malala Yousafzai would make the epitome of the former sentence and Victoria Thompson is the epitome of the latter sentence. Malala was shot in the head when she was 14 by the Pakistani Taliban for being outspoken about how important schooling is while Victoria's dream was to drop out of school and have a baby at 15. Some kids who have it all -- loving parents who fulfill their every demand, good food, techie gadgets, video games, television, laptops, Internet...

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HOW SMALL CHANGES CAN MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE

People with special needs are perhaps the most sidelined people in society -- their existence and roles in a community mostly go unrecognized. It is very tough for people on wheelchair to go to places due to limited facilities or the non existence of infrastructure and when I say infrastructure, I don't mean costly, fancy and lavish amenities. Yes, toilets and parking lots that are reserved for the disabled are in manifestation but it is earthly anything but omnipresent.  Besides toilets and parking lots, the change that will change the lives of people with special needs are ramps and elevators.  Instead of stairs at the...

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PET PAMPERING: THE IRONY OF IT

Dogs are indeed man's best friend and having a pet, any pet at all, means having a living, breathing creature that is entirely dependent on you for its every need, every day of its lifetime. The problem starts when the needs of pets are replaced by indulgences.  While animal cruelty is one extreme, pampering pets with excess is another extreme. Yes, you have a dog or cat and you love her with all your heart and you show your love to her by feeding her your food, which is unsuitable for her. Your dog gives you a hopeful look while you eat your dinner and those soulful eyes melt you and you slip some scrumptious morsels of...

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INDIAN SOCIETY, "DON'T BE BOLD LIKE A BOY!" "DON"T CRY LIKE A GIRL!"

The Indian society is steeped in double standards when it comes to gender equality and it is most evident in households and in young men and women as well as the elderly, who conform to and conduct this gender bias. In a typical Indian household, the daughters are told not to be as bold and outspoken like boys while the sons are told to suppress emotions and not to cry like girls. That is the point where gender inequality begins -- girls who are bold and guys who cry are met with grave disapproval. If a girl is bold, then she is shameless and a hoyden and if a boy succumbs to emotion fairly easily, he is branded as a sissy. You might...

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THE COMPLEXES BEHIND CHILD MARRIAGES IN INDIA

A 16 year old girl recounts that her parents bartered her into a marriage when she was 15. Her dreams of completing her education by going to college and to provide a better life for her family were shattered. She implored her family not to marry her off but it fell on deaf ears. Komal, from India is now a mother of a child in a marriage she did not want. Since she became pregnant, she has hardly been allowed to step out of the house. She was blamed and scoffed for not producing a son by her husband and in laws and she said sometimes, when the others are not at home, she would read her old school books and hold her baby...

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COMFORT WOMEN OF THE WW2: A FORGOTTEN TRAGEDY

The following content is extremely graphic and it might distress some readers. Reader discretion is advised. We all know of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki nuclear bombing by the US which halted the Meiji Revolution and put an end to Japanese occupation and World War 2. We all know the atrocities committed by Khmer Rouge regime in Myanmar which left around 2 million people dead in the most horrific way. We all know of Sri Lankan Tamils being brutally killed by the Ceylonese government during the civil war between the LTTE and the Ceylonese army under the thumb of Rajapakse. But, how many of us know of some 80,000 Chinese women, gang...

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WHY RELIGION IS NONSENSE IN THE FACE OF MOTHER NATURE'S WRATH

You were minding your own business, studying, working, taking care of your family until one day, a natural disaster struck. Your life, as you know it, turns upside down; you lose your family, your home, your job and practically everything you have. Then, you look for something to blame or take solace for the misfortune and almost always, it would be the God of the religion you belong to. In the face of natural disasters which cause massive human crisis, religions and rites somehow become irrelevant especially when mass deaths occur. Every religion has its distinct burial rites -- Hindus cremate the bodies of the dead...

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OF TAMIL MOVIES AND REALITY

15 Nov 2013 It is a commonly known fact that the Indian movie industry is the biggest on the planet and movies are a big deal for the people of India. Indian movies are made in many languages like Hindi, Telugu, Punjabi, Kannada, Tamil and whatnot. I watch Tamil movies from India a lot and I like them as well. But, of late, it struck me how bad most Tamil movies are to the audience, especially for gullible youths. To understand the reason we have to go back to the past. India was under British rule for over 200 years, and many people of India back then were deprived of the most basic necessities and were unaware of tech...

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