ICC 2015 World Cup: Move on with dignity ..... its just a game India

India suffered a great loss in the hands of Australia yesterday. TVs were broken, jokes were forwarded and tears were shed. All because of our love affair with cricket. We love our cricket and we love our cricketers. SO why was there a need for security to be beefed outside Dhoni’s house in Ranchi or outside the houses of other cricketers? Come on India we are better than that!! We lost to a better team. SO loose like sports(wo)men do. Come on buck up… It’s just a game.

Frankly gone are the days when our national prestige was linked to our performance in a cricket match, the only place we had hopes to shine. India is shining and we are instrumental in the success. 12 men will not take India to victory the all 1.2 Bil people will. We are already winning. Our country is where everything is at… so stand up and be proud. We don’t need cricket to show the world our metal let’s do it with our success, persistence and will to win.

Win in the fight of ‘Swach Bharat Abhyan’. Image how cool would it be to succeed on this front by the next cricket 20-20 world cup. Let’s get angry and break the shackles of casteism to establish equality in our nation before ICC world cup 2019. Let wipe the tears of all the oppressed and uplift them from misery. Yes we have bigger issues that we can actually fix, apart of our teams performance in cricket.

On a more optimistic note, look at what’s happening around you …. The Indian women’s hockey team won the world cup, Indian women and men’s Kabaddi teams won the world cup, Saniya Nehwal well on her way to becoming world number one. If these are not our achievements as a nation what are?

Let’s bring the boys home with gratitude not hate. That does not mean we stop cracking jokes or the hilarious sarcastic comments but be sure they are not insults guided to demolish spirit of few. Meanwhile we get back to our lives and contribute to the economy. Basically … Move on with dignity!! 

By Snigdha

Does GOD need Defense !!

As life reviles its true meaning it makes concepts clear. To understand, one has to strip down to basics. One very lucrative topic of debate between fiction and reality is, GOD. Having thought about it for a while now, only logical conclusion derived is that if GOD exists its only in the emotions of believers, the true believers. Believers are individuals, not affiliates. They pray to their concept of GOD without doubt or expectation of subscription. All others are selling a product with mutually exclusive customer base, fearing the one with the minimum affiliation will go out of business. People, affiliates and non-affiliates, should evaluate their concepts with, internal & external, critique so that they are left with truth that 'they' believe in. My hope is this 'truth' will not require external endorsement or need affiliation and a true dialog towards peace can start. We can give our children a world where GOD not bound to religion nor humanity clutched by violence. 

How foolish is man who thinks some power who is capable of creating this Universe will need him to protect its respect.  If higher power exists probably his is quite at our misery because he has seen this cycle a million times before. 

Our present is only a fragment of of time. Even our culture, our religion, our gods, our languages, our history geography, our science are just a small cross sections of time. There were different gods before our history different religions even diffident countries with their kings. I am sure they were just as loved, respected and fought for like we do today.Waves of time swept them away, not even the knowledge of their existence remained until they were excavated as cadaver by the curious. If history is any indicator of the future we too shall be buried under the sands of time waiting to tell the story of our present. What will it be? War, disease, Tsunami, Earthquake, Melting ice, Famine, Economic crises , Religion, idols.... sounds familiar. 
So, I am not sure what it is that we are fighting to preserve, if its love, faith and security then we just have to look around and it is right here in the present. We are not immortal but nor is our Civilization .....




By Snigdha

Are women on firm ground ?!!

The fairer gender , the better half , the home minister... Society has given women many names. These names somehow find themselves playing the second lead in a story where 'the man' is the protagonist.Most part of documented history we find women facing heinous behavior from society. Behavior that puts humanity to shame. Power hungry masculine society has left a trail of blood for us to follow, that directly leads to the dark minds of people who were consumed by societal norms or greed and put the lives of their wife,daughter,friends on the line to prove some sadistic point. May it be the western 'Witch hunts' or the eastern 'Sati'  it the woman who has to pay the price for tradition.

I am a woman of the 21st century and enjoyed the privileges of a modern lifestyle. Where I had the right to say no!! Today when I think of it, who gave me that right? The answer is my Parents,husband and society.  Should this not be my birth right though? I don't agree something, I should have the right to say 'NO'. Will society respect my right if my background is not what it is.

Do other Girls have the right to say what the want ? In India there is so much discrepancy  in the way girls think or are brought up. There are girls who forge their own way and stand up for themselves, there are girls who are supported by their families  but there are sadly more  girls who are asked to bare their misery in the name of honor. 

Our freedom is not ours,in my opinion, but given to us by someone and until that is the reality, it can be taken away any time. What if one day the a large group of people come together and said, 'the old world traditions were better and we will follow them from today'. Meaning women stay at home under big "ghunghats" and men will be their owners. Some people might say, its outrageous wishful thinking, hahaha!!Well! Think again. Afghanistan. Did you know before the Taliban between 1979-89 50% of teachers, government employees and students were women, and 40% of doctors were women .  A much better statistics then present day India, so what makes Indian women so safe from a life as our Afgani sister are forced to live today. Religion? The the answer is "NO"? Sadly no religions or philosophy practiced by current human societies have been fare to women. In-fact some have called women the  the door to "Hell". Each human that has walked this planet, even a "Philosopher", was born born from the same hell.In spite of accepting the gift of life happily these people turn back and throw stones. 

In light of the above, my question, Are women on safe ground? or is our feminist movement an illusion. The answer is up to us, meaning to the so-called empowered women of the world, believe me, there are not so many.  We need to stand up, stand up strong and pick up others around us. Give them the strength within us, so that they can express . Give them the gift of knowledge and information that we have through our experience. Learn from them the meaning of life, love and devotion, because they can teach us so much, if we listen. What we want is to join hands and churn  this earth until all poison is out. We want to permanently change perceptions not patch problems. I am not asking women to wage a war with the male gender, that's what 'Men' do! I am asking women to get respect that is  owed to them. Stop accepting the crap that is given to us under the guise of tradition. This we need to do for our daughters who look at us a role-models and depend upon us for their future. The situation must change today, not in the next generation because for our mothers we are the next generation. Make the world more human, receptive, empathetic , helpful by being all of those things. Take responsibility of the society around you,  refrain from following blind traditions. Bring up better men with strong characters and deep emotions. Take a moment to connect with women that are different from you. Be open to new ideas and objective in their evaluation, change if it means progress. Remember if a tradition makes even one person's life miserable then its worth rethinking about it. 

Firm ground is when society understands the merits in equality, men are able to rise from their insecurities about equality. Acceptability is a norm. While we are at it lets revisit Cast, Religion, Color, Nationality , Race, Class and level the plane. Lets try !!

Common Man to blame for the Terror Attacks !!

All these years we have taken the easy way out. Every time we are faced with the option of fine or bribe we choose the latter. Its said "There are no free lunches in this world", hence the terror attacks are the price we are paying for cumulatively corrupting the nation. Politicians ,Cops, Government officers, Businessmen are not the only ones to blame, after all if they take or lets say demand the bribe who is giving it.

Every 50 Rs. we give to a traffic cop under the table is taking us closer to the next attack.
We have slowly and gradually poisoned our system and now its reached deep enough to show effect. If you let your home become week outsiders will take advantage. We have collectively spoiled the morel & values of our nation. How many of us get bothered if our neighbor gets robbed or if someone else faces injustice. Who removes the reflectors from the road, meant to warn the public in darkness.Who drives on the cycle track. Who builds shops on walk ways and who purchases merchandise from them. Why do we need loud speakers of infinite Hz at our events. Who purchases pirated movies FYI that directly contribute to the terror fund.  Do we ever stand up for anyone or even anything. What do we do to strengthen the Law and order. We allow the society to fragment in the name of religion, cast, sub-cast, gender and the newest one language. WOW. Have you ever heard a person from California complaining about people from New York migrating. Its ridiculous. The problem is not who is migrating to Mumbai the problem how many people can Mumbai's infrastructure support. We have collectively let our country become week, then why will our enemies not attack

We might  bad mouth the US and it might have ulterior  motives in everything it does, but they got the person responsible for the attack, that's the end of the story or at least thats what the world will remember. This is not because they are powerful it because their people are more politically aware, they are aware of their rights & most importantly of their responsibilities. They follow rules. Don't even try to counter me on this, any person who has lived in the US will agree that overall Rules are followed.

How many people follow traffic rules in INDIA or even know the rules. We  bribe our way to a license, then how do we expect traffic to get any better, it won't... EVER. The same is true of Education, Government Work, Infrastructure  and most importantly Security.The Common Man is suffering because he is the one who is bribing, it is his fault, Stop passing on the blame and looking for answers else where.

Our anger,unity, support is reserved only for terror attacks but should it not be expressed more often to help progress. Our incapacity to curb corruption is biting us in our ass in the guise of Terror Attacks. Its time to fix us first, then the things around us & then demand others to change. This is achievable cause we can, that's the beauty of Indians.The system will work  if the common man contributes by taking the time patients to  Understand it first hand i.e remove the middle man &follow it.

Its time the "Common Man" changes his image from being the bystander to the Protagonist & I don't mean in the cartoon.

By Snigdha

Are we like Fungus on Bread!!!

Today has been an eventful day,to say the least.Not getting into details,lets just say that what ever news I got today was bad.Then when I tried to make a toast the bread had fungus.Which got me thinking.I never leave the bread loaf outside,but I did and its due to this freak accident that life started growing on it. No devine intervention,just a freak accident!!

Since our childhood we are taught about good and evil,birth and death and all allied incidences are god's doings.When I was sad my grand mother would say  " God is testing me so I should bravely face the situation at hand and in the end my desire will be fulfilled".Where I come from God is the center of all happening and all events good or bad,are his doing so that a lesson can be learnt.I still believe in that philosophy!
Today when I looked at the slice of bread & couldn't help but think "what if we are the fungus on this planet".
What if it was just a freak accident due to which we evolved on this planet.What if there is nothing after death and there is no God.We live and we die, nothing before or after but all in between. Like the bread the earth caught us and then we just started evolving and multiplying almost like parasite eating the very hand that feeds us.

How many battles, murders/genocides and hatred could we avoid. Why does religion bring out the best and worst in us? Is believing in god so important that we forget our humanity or was god supposed to remind us of our humanity?
So running with the concept & not believing in divinity should really change a lot of things around. Sadly even that seem impossible since we will definitely  find another reason to feud over. The truth is no matter how much we trust in God a small part also believes that we could be just a "fungus on bread".

By Snigdha

A Woman in a Man's World

I always say I am a Woman in "A Man's World".

A discussion the other day about how women were doing better than their male counterparts in every field such as Education, Science, Business and Politics got me thinking, if it’s a good thing that there is more representation & is the XX chromosome finally getting its rightful place in this world?!! 

Scientifically there should have never been any question between the equality of Men and Women since evolution has given us the rightful position on this planet however the "Social world" is not that simple, it is in fact quite complicated and layered. Throughout History there have been examples where women have played the role of "The Insignificant half" in the family structure, only responsible of home and producing children, any intellectual contribution was frowned upon as being disrespectful and often deserving corporal punishment. True, we would like to think that we have come far from such practices in the modern urbanized world where women are viewed as "Sharks" if they do anything to get ahead in the professional world and sometimes as "Bitches" if they are straight, rude & curt, mostly "Un-dateable" and definitely " not marriage material', Cougars if they go for younger men and gold-digger if they go for older!

What makes a woman change her natural instinct and transform into a cold "bitch".

It occurred to me while walking down the road one day in an unfamiliar neighborhood with my hubby. While he walked fast, dashing through people as if he did not care (everyone was walking like that) I took time, almost confused as if thrown out of balance. Hubby got irritated when I could not keep up, it was only when I explained that not only did I have to walk through this sea of people but had to be aware of my surrounding, if any one was trying to be "too smart", did he stop making faces. I am confidant while most of the men won’t understand, all girls will identify with this. How many times have we caught some sicko staring at a place making us almost uncomfortable in our own skin? How safe do we feel in a crowd? Are we ever confidant that we won’t be touched in a crowded bus?  The list is not exhaustive but explains the general point that when in a crowd women juggle many variables that men can’t even conceive. It’s just as tough in educational and work places. I have been told that a girls taking up place in engineering colleges is a waste since they get married and sit home later, the saddest part of it was, I understood where that man was coming from. 

Girls have to fight & justify for everything that naturally comes to a boy. Parents let boys go out for parties faster than they let their daughters. Boys generally don’t have to clean up after themselves and girls many times have to clean up after their brothers!! This "man" centric philosophy is propelled by women too and every time a girl tries to stand up for her rights she has to fight not only the men but also the women in her life. Here I am not referring to fights with children out of concern of their safety but to the fights in which girls are accused of being flamboyant & vulgar just because they want to go out into the world to do something unconventional. They are made to feel guilty because they want to be independent & their wings are cut by either not letting them study further or getting them married. Fights make people tough and women who are able make it undoubtedly are tough. but it’s at the cost of having to hide their feminism in order to be taken seriously so that they are respected professionally. Life today is a race for everyone & women that train to win this race, do so at the cost of their feminism. We try so hard to progress and to get our rightful place in this world that we have no time to realize that this is after all a " Man’s world". All the rules, all of its philosophy is male-centric. Otherwise why would a woman participate in murdering another for dowry or help push her in fire in the name of Sati or torture another for a male heir. Agreed these are extreme situations but let’s consider this, if  a male candidate and female candidate are considered equally in the race of a senior management position, who has to work harder to prove their eligibility, persecuted for putting career ahead of family or genuinely feels guilty for not spending time with the kids. Women prove they are better than their male counterparts by beating them at their own game, without realizing we could do so much better on our own. 

This world is infested by so much wrong, war, diseases, global warming and  women have been bystanders to this destruction for better part of history but today, we are contributors. Who gives the man the right to kill another when he can’t even give birth, the right to destroy when he has no capacity to create?!! 

I wonder, if the world would have been different if it was ruled by Women, if its philosophy was inspired by feminism, not the feminism we know today but inspired by the true nature of women like fostering, careing, nurturing and peace.

My respected readers would counter me by the atrocious crimes women have committed over centuries and without denying responsibility for their actions, as a woman I just urge you to toil with the idea that  

"All this is a part of a Man's world could it have been any different in a Women's World"

By Adhira (Snigdha Barge-Narake)

Widowed at 16.....

I have very few memories of my infant years,one of them is the visits to the doctors.My pediatrician was also the doctor that delivered my mom during me and my younger sister.Actually he was more or less like a family pediatrician + Gynecologist ,almost all of my cousins were born there.I used to love to go to the doctors,since i was always a healthy child. I always passed in all my check-ups and got a sweet candy for being good.

Once I remember mom took me to the hospital and I thought it was a regular check up, so I was excited to get my candy, but instead the doctor came out with a big injection.I freaked and started shouting and running around.As I tried to get away from the doctor I ran into an old lady.She held me and told me that I will not even feel the pain if i do as she said.Miraculously I didn't feel any pain and from that day whenever i had to see the doctor I wanted that good nurse in the room with me.

Its only later that I found out that she was actually related to me.This lady was my Grandfather's older Sister.No wonder I felt so comfortable ,she was my grandaunt after all.Since then I remember her being there for every birth in my Family,she would stay in the room with the mother to be and personally take care of the new baby.With her as the Head Nurse in the hospital ,all of us knew that we would be taken care of.Whenever we entered the hospital my mom would go looking for her before the doctor.

As I  grew up I learned more about this sweet,helpful lady.Like she lived in the hospital itself, and she was a very important nurse there.I also learned although she did not have any formal education in the field, she had gathered a lifetime of experience and became very good at her job.But the only thing I never learned about her was her name,I always knew her by her Family title "Tai Atya"( Elder Sister + Aunt~ dads elder sister). 

At around 13,I went to see my new born cousin sister.As I entered the room I saw a thin old lady holding a beautiful little princess. I was so delighted to see the new baby that i ran and sat next to them.Tai-atya told me that she was the first one to hold me too and i was just as cute.Almost shy I looked up and smiled,i was amazed to see how old she had gotten and the stress of life had caught on to her.On the way back home I asked mom about Tai Atya in detail,who she was actually,where was her family ,her own house.What mom told me was shocking ,cause until then I was never exposed to the fact that there were people who were struggling, even in my Family.

It was the first time in life that I felt the pain of being a woman.


Her story goes ...

Born in a struggling household ,in difficult times of early 1900,in one of India's oldest town called Pune. She was the second eldest among 10 siblings. My grandfather being the 3rd.This was the time of the British Raj .The whole family lived in a "Chawl"(old style apartment complex) in the  buzzing area of the city called "Kasba Peth". 


One person earning and 10-12 mouths to feed.The requirement far surpassed the income,thus making it necessary even for the kids to make sacrifices.The girls were easy pray,their education was stopped to keep the boys in school.As if that was not bad enough ,these girls were married off young.In her case at the tender age of 12,the groom was 20 years her senior.By the time she was 14 she was pregnant with her first child and the second followed a year later.At 16 she had 2 children  and a house hold of which she was the care taker.

These were dark times,outbursts of contiguous disease was a common happening.Many would die,sometimes from the same family.In one such outburst TaiAtya's husband took ill.She tried everything doctor,prayer, superstition etc. to cure him,but as fate would have it he lost his battle to the illness ,leaving his 16 year old wife to support 2 kids.She took her two kids and moved back to her mothers house who's hands were full as it is.She did odd jobs to support herself but she knew as the kids grew up she would need more to survive and with the growing needs of her parent's family she could not live there forever.

She found a job in a start up hospital as a helper.The doctor taught her all the work and she worked there as a nurse. Realising she needed to stay long hours to make more money TaiAtya made the decision hard of letting the kids live with their grand parents and she lived at the hospital.From hear her life was full of turmoil,hardship and struggle.She worked long hours to put her kids through school,then settle them and got them married.All this with none or very little help and support of her Family.Her kids grew up,got educated and then married.They wanted their mom to live with them in their house.First time in many years, TaiAtya had a House she could call her own.A family to take care of her.Even then she did not leave her job and kept working , till she was old and could not work any more.

In her Life time she saw a lot of pain and got very little help ,financial or emotional,she on the other hand only gave "Good news " to her family.She was the first to know when any one from our family was pregnant or the one to bring out the news about the birth of the newest addition.She took care of all of us with love and responsibility as an elder family member ,not just a nurse.

Today TaiAtya is no more,all that remains is the memory of her smiling face. I often think about her life and feel sad that a women from my family went through so much. She was only 16 when she was widowed ,she was still a child herself.Why didn't her family get her married again ? Did she have to live such a tough life?

Once after gathering enough courage I asked my grandfather,if he ever considered to get her married again?He was surprised and I could see the pain in his eyes,he said~ he himself was 13-14 when this all happened ,old enough to understand the pain and still young not to be able to help her.As time passed it became normal to see her like that and even he became entangled in his family and the freedom struggle.Adding ,he said the times were so tough that supporting oneself was a fight, leave alone the rest of the family.There were sisters,daughters in every household going through the same circumstance. Even if he want her to remarry ,she herself or the society would never permit it,so he said it was easier avoid the topic.~.I could only estimate the intensity of the social pressure ,since if my grand father, a freedom fighter who faced the the British ,could not turn the society's opinion on widow remarriage,it must have been bad.I could see the pain I had caused him by my question,he was quite for the next few days,almost depressed.I realised I could not stand in the 2005 and judge a Family's actions in the early 1900's.These times were almost decades apart,might as well be centuries. SO my Grandfathers helplessness was understandable.
But What I could not understand was ,how we as a society be so cruel and force a person to live a life of trouble,struggle and sadness because of the Gender?If only she had been a man ....could her life be different?Every society,western or eastern,has countless such stories of women,with minor changes here and there.

How many TaiAtya's must have lived this life of misfortune?Spent an entire life time following ridiculous social rules which did nothing to improve quality of their  life.An entire lifetime spent in sadness and full of sorrow ,when it could have been spent in happiness.What did the society gain by making these women feel worthless or by pushing them in the circle of hardship from which they could never rise.To make matters worse, they were not even supported by this society ,not even emotionally. Widows  were treated like outcasts,sometimes by their own family.Not allowed to participate in festivals,or functions,all this due to no fault of their own.How it must have hurt?!!How much pain these sadistic practices must have caused . These poor soles,with their hearts bleeding with ever strike made by society, many times by the hands of their own family.Why could no one see them as Human Beings,who need just as much love and support as any one else?

I apologize to you TaiAtya,as a women from your blood line on behalf of others before me. You suffered in silence but with a smile.I never could see beyond that smile.All I can do is Promise you not to be a part of a society that makes people within it feel inadequate,not to suppress the weak  ,not to pass blind judgement on someones life .I promise to be open minded and see people as Human Beings with needs rather than just a "Relation".Try to be a voice and stand up  for the sisters who can't speak for themselves.I promise not to follow any customs or traditions that hurt someone else . 
 Lastly I promise to never forget you for the great women that your were ,a Hero.You stood your ground,found your way and lived your life by your rules.You almost effortlessly accepted your situation,made peace with the society's ways and found you own path within the frame work.You did not give up and made yourself independent in the face of such adversities.You were in all sense a career women,who unknowingly with your example made it possible for women like me to dream of a life beyond the bondages of the Household. 


So thank you TaiAtya for being such an inspirational  Role Model!!!

By Snigdha