A Literary Pursuit

Of late, I have been reading about the life and times of a great female author, Virgina Wolfe (1815-1941). Born to highly erudite parents, Sir Stephen and Julia Stephen, Virginia displayed her literary talents from early childhood. Her first endeavor into the literary world was a family news paper that reported the anecdotes of her family called ‘The Hyde Park Gate News’. That marked the beginning of her journey into a world that was thus far male dominated.

In addition to being a prolific writer, Virgina was also a great social activist. She strongly advocated women rights to participate in literary activities, to make intellectual contributions to the society and to also participate in politics. She was certain of the fact that if women were given a chance to prove themselves they would excel in their chosen field. Her famous work “A Room of One’s Own” tells in depth the urge she felt about the role of a woman in contributing to society; be it in the form of writing fiction, making intellectual contributions to the society or simply leaving a legacy for future women scholars to work on.

What motivated me to delve deeper into the works of Virgina Wolfe, is the realization of the fact that today, in the twenty-first century, we as women have abundant literary power.  We are free to read, free to write and free to make intellectual contributions. In terms of making a significant literary contribution to the future generations, we as women are no longer confined to any boundaries. The all pervasive freedom which generations of women before us have constantly fought for has been bestowed upon us and yet have we seized the opportunity and utilized it to the fullest? Do we present women authors or novelists of the current generation as potential role models to our daughters? Does our education system encourage creative writing, apart from the regular academic essays prose and poetry? The time is ripe for us to nurture our daughters to be the Virginia Woolf s or Harper Lees of the future. The twenty-second century will need some classics from this period to fall back on and derive life’s lessons from.

Isn’t it time to replace ladles with keyboards?

Happy Women’sday

The month of March brings along with it two things the onset of spring and the International woman’s day.  It is the time of the year when women and all other organizations across the world start their preparations to celebrate Women’s day on March 8^th.

To begin with there are various seminars, discussions, books and all the activities that could be give a new dimension to the spirit of womanhood. There are even grand parties to celebrate this occasion Doesn't that sound funny? A separate day to celebrate the joy of womanhood!!

The celebration of being a woman cannot be limited to a single day, it is endless. Come to think of it do you feel particularly empowered only on Woman’s day and totally helpless on the other days? What do such days or celebrations stand for? Do they symbolize the fact that woman as a separate entity do exist and they need and feel to be treated like one. We talk of equality in all aspects , be it work or at home the issue of equality of man and a woman always arises, but here too the men have an upper hand how many times do you hear of a man been abused, assaulted or raped?  Then why is it that when it comes to a woman there has to be a separate day assigned to celebrate her womanhood? And even if that day is dedicated what difference does it make? Does it lessen the severity of the brutalities that woman face? Does it help in keeping them (women) safer? Or does it inculcate sense in a man that there is a creation made by the almighty which is different to you in all aspects yet whose presence is indispensable and if not worshiped she has to be at least respected?

In a country like India, we have deities and Goddesses who are revered and worshiped, then why do we still have issues of female foeticides? Gang rapes and molestations? Is the normal woman any different from the idols worshipped?

In my opinion time has come when we need to move away from the concept of celebrating woman’s day and move on to celebrate man’s day. A day when men will be taught to behave like one, a day when they can show their valor by doing something man-like and not raping, assaulting or demeaning a woman.

Being a woman is a joy in itself which cannot be contained in a single day. So why not celebrate it everyday? Think about it!! Happy Women’sday.
 

To celebrate or not to celebrate??

Some days back on July 4th , America celebrated yet another independence day. Another lovely night where we were treated to the amazing sight of fireworks coupled with some live band performances. Sadly for many of us the Independence Day came on a  weekday thus postponing the long weekend plans.

As I observe year after year the Independence Day celebration here in the United States, I am always reminded of the Independence Day celebrations in my country, in India. The day starting with some patriotic songs being played on the radio, the flag hoisting in schools and colleges , the parade and the speech of the Prime minister. All this has been going along in the same  way  since 65 years- yes that’s how long we have been independent! However when I look back today, I often wonder besides cherishing the memory of our freedom fighters who fought the war for our Independence, what else have we done for 65 years? No doubt we are way ahead of where we were when we got our Independence. But today have we become truly independent so as to celebrate this day with usual pomp and glamour? Have we freed ourselves from the shackles of illiteracy and poverty? Have we made our country safer for women and children to venture out fearlessly? Moreover have we made it a better place than it was prior to independence or have we deteriorated it further?

It is not the celebration that bothers me, but the reason for celebration, some great men with their mighty deeds got us our independence, but should we become complacent with it? It has been sixty five years since sacrifices were made but does that mean we should rest on our laurels and keep singing accolades for what happened rather than creating new landmarks? There indeed has to be a celebration – when India gets freedom from corruption, when the entire country can fully proclaim itself as a literate nation, when we have the world’s best education system and much more.

These goals are not lofty, all they require is planning, which we sadly lack. So why not keep the Independence Day as a yardstick to measure how far we have come in our planning? If the target is eradicating illiteracy, so be it. Let us keep it as a target for next 4 years and take the Independence Day as an opportunity to announce how close we are to achieving the target. The Republic Day can be used to measure the bi-yearly progress; we can seriously do away with spending millions of rupees in guarding the VVIPs, the PM and other dignitaries. The funds spent on that day could be invested in achieving the targeted goal. The entire week can be used to identify and to rectify the loopholes in our system. The day this happens we will be truly Independent in all senses – we will truly make India Shining!!

Technology Then and Now

Today my daughter brought back from school a wonderful piece of art work, a bird made out of paper dish. It appeared a simple bird to my thirty plus mind, but no, it was no ordinary bird.

“It is Angry Bird” pointed out my four and half year old giving me a pitiful glance, how sad her mother couldn’t differentiate between an Angry Bird and a Normal one. To those of you who don’t know what an Angry bird is, It is a very famous online game.

I kept wondering, even after she left me alone and went to play with her friends, as to how I was when I was of her age, (I guess we all start doing this when our kids leave us dumbfounded!!!). Now, coming back to Angry birds, when we were growing up we only knew ‘Angry Mom’!! Forget about Birds, Angry Mom was more prevalent in every household than the birds and you got hit (spanked) unlike the birds which are a big Hit now!!.

Coming to talk about it, as I eyed things around my house I noticed that not many things were ‘i’ ed then. The telephone was a normal one not iphone, my writing pad was a plain one made with wood which could be banged to create some noise not the ipad. We were asked to maintain an eye to eye contact while talking not eye to iphone!!!

I guess our generation was one of the luckiest to have witnessed the technology change so dynamically ,We were so thrilled to get the first desktop , now we would be ‘outdated’ if we didn’t have Wii. It’s not only the ‘i” has changed but also ‘We’!! isn’t it?

Reach Out!!

The count Down to the New Year has already begun. With various sales promotions, new releases, Grand Openings. It sure does seem like indeed the entire world is waiting for the next grand year!!

The crowd at the malls baffles me, somewhere few days back I had heard about the recession, the downward economy etc., but what I see is people scurrying to their cars with carts full of shopping items and loads of presents being packed,. Do I believe my eyes or the facts about economy? Somewhere deep down each one of us has been truly affected by this economy -the question lies in how much have the so called ‘Bad Times’ changed each of us from within? Do we really empathize when we donate a dollar to the St.Jude’s Children’s hospital or any other charity of such sort or has that too become a second nature to us?

The good old fables teach us the moral lessons of treating our neighbors like ourselves, but with countries waging wars against each other, natural calamities befalling on some nations or political unrest; does the layman like you and me truly worry about the future of those victims? Sadly No, we hear the news, regret for some time, thank God that we and our family members are safe and carry on with our day to day life. Not that we need to raise a hue and cry every time a calamity occurs but the least we can do is stand for a cause!! Had Susan G Komen wallowed herself in self pity blaming her stars for causing breast cancer the fight breast cancer movement would never have seen the light of the day.

It is not what you stand up for but how far you can take it to support mankind that counts. The cause could be as small as stopping food wastage which could start right from home and spread across the community; just like the 11Alive’s annual ‘Canathon’ which collects cans from people across the state and donates it to the needy ones.

There is no better time than now to start something, the holiday season is here, a season to share, care and make new commitments. So why not make a commitment to ourselves to stand up for a cause and to reach out to those who truly need?

Get Hands-On….

A usual afternoon on weekdays, as I sat in front of a pile of washed clothes fresh from dryer waiting for me to fold them and keep them back in their place. I have always wondered if anyone has ever thought of any inventions to just fold clothes and stack them automatically, just as the washer washes the clothes and the dryer dries them automatically, what a relief it would be if such an invention was made!!

As I began folding clothes, I felt as though I was surrounded by a sense of calm and relaxation, I had been jittery before this, planning things one after the other and rushing through the day. However, as my hands were engaged in the process I soon made a sense of tasks I needed to accomplish and could sort them out mentally and felt a sense of relief.

Isn’t it a paradox that the automated machines which have eased our life and given us so much spare time on our hands have also added to the stress levels. How? By giving us more time to run errands, answer phone calls and thus trying to fit in more than we can in a single day!!

Way back some thirty forty years ago, during the times of our parents, things were pretty simple. They didn’t have the luxury of automated machines but they did have a simplified stress free life. Whether it was washing clothes or chaffing the grains or cooking, they always had their hands involved and minds engaged. Despite all the physical labor they did they weren’t burnt out like us.

A hands- on experience (literally speaking) always has the power to put the mind in a relaxed state.

Don’t believe me? Try it out for yourself!!!, the next time you are a demanding situation or going through a stressful period get your hands into something you like, say, gardening , knitting or cooking and you shall see for yourself the solution to your problem.

I found mine; Hope you can find yours too….

Greener Me!!

It all started one morning when my better half suggested we needed a new shower curtain. Get them from the nearby dollar store was his suggestion , it’s both economical and practical that you get such stuff from the dollar store or the 49/99 ones, use them for some time & dispose them off and then get a new one. Sounds so easy!! However that was not what I wanted, why settle in for something cheap now and then keep changing it time and again. More than that what really mattered was the fact that not only are you spending repeatedly on the same stuff but more than that you are ‘Polluting’ the environment with all the waste stuff.

Many of you would think how does that matter, when so many people are already doing it, why not me? Now put the question other way round, when so many are already doing it why can’t I be a harbinger of change? We can’t keep pushing responsibilities on others, the environmental concerns which we now face is the result of this attitude.

Just some days back we celebrated mother’s day with a lot of joy and pride. The retailers were keener on gifting all the mothers, with various catalogues, mailers & vouchers the mail boxes were stuffed. The amount of paper wasted in all this effort was phenomenal, why instead of wasting so many resources, the companies could have very well reduced price on their merchandises; they would have had greater profit margins.

We address ‘Nature’ as Mother Nature and is this what we do with her? Dump all the waste in the landfills, mess up with the oceans and constantly endanger the flora and fauna? How long will we keep doing this? Somewhere we will have to pay a price of our negligence, be it in the form of earthquakes or the floods or the tsunamis. Year after year we celebrate Earth day on April 24^th, discuss how to reduce the pollution, sign up treaties at various summits, but eventually end up doing nothing on personal front. Till each one of us realizes our responsibilities towards making our planet greener no amount of treaties are good enough.

Most importantly we have to realize that we need to conserve our earth not only for ourselves but for our future generations, as the Native American proverb goes – “We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children”.

It’s high time we all turn Green…..