The kolkata vibrancy!!!

Few days back while doing a documentation on a few buildings in kolkata I had to go in and around the city,take pictures ,make notes, I realized how vibrant life is over her..

Compare it to any other city it still has it differences good or bad..

Like for one you see those people who spend their life on the dirty streets ,mostly begging or selling petty items but have you ever noticed they have certain behavioural characteristics which they specialize in.They will talk in that same shrill voice,shout their lungs out to say the smallest things,make a hand bun with their hair which seems to stay for eternity without opening, those blue plastic covers they use to demarcate a place as their own,and lot more....

Those pan ghoomtis by the side of the street where you see even the most elite class standing and having a pan with their friends and they seem to enjoy it like its the very essence of life,same goes for the chai ghoomtis....so dirty and inconspicous still so full of fun and life...

Those murir tin ( made of tin plates) buses which inspite of being  overloaded and it feels like it would just fall off to one side ,it never does ,,instead it goes on filling up...

Those pani puri, matar and other food stalls by the side of the road with their almost unwashed crockeries and the food mixed with the dirt of their hands seem to be so delicious and lucrative .

The way the hockers try to attract your attention by saying something totally irrelevant yet it catches your attention succesfully.. Like I saw this hocker with his hazmi golis saying "dada ektu edike dekhben dupur bela bhaat khe uthe ki apnar pete jaala hoe,hoe ki na bolun? apni janen eta keno hoe ae je(and he takes out a big caterpilar in a bottle from his bag) ae j etar jonnoi.dekhun chinte parchen....eta k marar ektai upae ae j( and then another bottle with that hazmi) etai sudhu pare eder marte.. 5 ta guli 6 mas reta apnar pete konodin ashbe na" in short he said the reason behind all those stomach aches you have after lunch is cause of those big caterpillars in your stomach.and you need to have 5 tablets for 6months of that particular hazmi and you won't have it in your stomach ever again....

There are a lot more to be seen on the streets ones you reach this place....

Its vibrancy is in its life...

A 24hr city for all the reason!!!

The girl is still proud!!!

As I moved along my way wearing a full sleeves salwar kameez ,in a chilly winter night I happened to cross an almost deserted road with as few as 3-4 people, all guys.I kept walking looking straight up with a fear in my heart,a fear I can't describe in words,a fear which has no name but has been imbibed into our hearts by the numerous incidents happening around us, the fear was that of being a victim and not the one who is guilty ....

With each step I took I could feel eyes scanning me up and down as if ,if only they could tear my flesh and look through ( and they say girls should dress decently,if only they knew these guys would stare at anything).

Being an Indian, staying in this country for the past 20 years the one thing I have learnt is its always your fault, while you walk through a crowd and some pervert tries to scan your body with their hands its your fault, while you stand in a crowded bus in the early hours,trying to get to a destination and someone takes the opportunity to lighten up their mood for the day,its your fault,

while you walk through that street where a group of boys sit and chat ,they look at you and pass comments, its your fault,while you leave your compound and the security guard devours at you and when the guy from the neighbourhood who keeps roaming about the streets gives you a wicked smile while you go out to work,its your fault.

And who imbibed these fears in us???? 

It's we who did it..

Every time you went out with your parents they would hold your hands and tell you to stay away from that place,don't let someone touch you,don't go so close..

While they told their sons to go on out alone have fun.

While those incidents of victimisation happened all over the city, the government and the society all refused to take responsibility and instead blamed it on the girls..

When the criminals of the Delhi bus rape case were sentenced to death the country cried,a cry of happiness and pride for their own girl and yet, sitting right there in front of the television set some guy smirked and said "kya re babu? ladki ki saaza un ladko ko kyun?", the same guy would go out today and assault another girl....

This is what we Indian girls are expecting today every time we walk out on the street leaving our safety shell.

The fittest survives!!!

Survival of the fittest!!
 We have all heard about it some or the other time in the walk of life!!
and most of us have recognised its importance with time...for most of us when we were immature and in those tender ages of our life,our parents used to tell us about this ,but we never even tried to understand its importance or feel the worth of that time gained knowledge!!

After walking through so many years of my life I still do not say I understand all of it,but from what I understand is 'it is one of those principles of nature that we willingly or willingly succumb to.'

Now talking about why I choose to write about this.
A few days back, sitting at my verandah feeding the numerous sparrows who have made it their routine to come and sit there every morning and have their meal from my hands,I noticed one really fat sparrow scaring off the other smaller ones around it.. cause it probably thought the food was only his right,and not only that, the others eventually became scared of coming near him... this way he gathered his meal and all the others were left staring.....
 This continued everyday ,till one day I decided to shoo off the fat one and feed the others,though it was a difficult task,because the moment you try to shoo one of them everyone gets scared and flies away...

Then I wondered how many of us actually bother to feed the not so fit ones over the fittest survivor?...
How many of us realise,every individual is not the same? or rather not the fittest?
How many of us try to be human enough to help them make their space amongst the fittest ones?

Probably none..cause its human nature to to help the one who can survive on its own rather than surviving with others help...

This is probably why our parents or elders always wanted us to be the fittest!!!
Maybe this is why our class topper seemed to be our parents definition of the 'fittest'!!!
Maybe why they wanted us to excel in everything!!!

Be it any company or school or institution -they always prefer to take the best survivor!!!
Isn't it proof enough the others do not stand a chance even in other areas in life.. 

Probably this discrimination often results into stress from competition, depression from insecurity, and a lot of mental pressure- but who has the time to care ??

I wonder is it the 'survival of the fittest' or is it the 'fight to survive with the fittest'??

Proud to be a girl!!!!

We often see people giving big fat lectures on girls,their new found freedom,their hardships and their success stories..
And in the same country we regularly get to see newspaper headlines of woman being assaulted or getting raped,being burnt down to death and of course the age old dahej issue.. and then we see a certain class of people saying "it's the girls fault.. she instigated the criminals" or even better we get to hear "ladkiya paedaish he bojh hai... ladkiyan honi hi nahi chahiye... ladkiya nahi hongi to problems bhi nai honge"( girls are  a burden from birth...they should not take birth.... if there is no girl, there will be no problems....)
dude obviously there will be no issues at all cause you won't get another of those ******* ever again!

But amidst all talks about the crimes taking place at an increasing rate, we even find people wanting a girl child,making them as independent as a boy(maybe hoping  that in future they could avoid such problem in their own lives),getting them highly educated,and then getting them married to someone who could support the girl for a lifetime...

I don't say marriage is always a loss of freedom though it might turn you from a bird to an ostrich...
you still know you are a bird ,a highly proud one at that but you cannot fly so easily always..

Just the other day while waiting for a doctor at the hospital I saw a man and his mother waiting for a doctor eagerly... she started a conversation with us..while I just listened to everything she said,
She was one of those types who think this generation is useless, they can't do a thing' can't respect and blah blah blah...
 While she waited to discuss her daughter in laws case, who is pregnant and is admitted in the hospital , she made it very clear that all the pain of sitting there from the morning,taking care of her daughter in law all these months would be  worth it only  if she had a son...and the man who was going to be a father ,was so impatient that he said atleast 20 times  that ,its good she is facing all the pain because they have to wait on her from the morning and yet nothing is happening... did he even understand the kind of pain she must be going through..!!!!!
I pitied him... he who was supposed to be the father in a few hours was just not worth the respect...

On the other hand a few days back when I was travelling by a flight I suddenly noticed the announcement by the pilot.... she was a girl.... the way she spoke, so smartly... and it suddenly made me and even my father so proud to know that a girl was actually in charge of so many lives and she was actually flying high!!!she did it so well....
This might be a common sight these days to see girl pilots..but at that moment there was a certain pride I felt ,of being a girl....

And just today while sitting at my verandah seeing people pass by the road in front of my house I saw a post (woman)
Yes we have always heard about postman but I saw a post woman for the first time... and I knew its not only the elite class that is advancing... but all sections of the society is moving ahead in a similar footing..!!!

There are only few words to explain my pride as well as my fear today...
Pride of being a woman and  fear of seeing the society moving back in time,instead of moving forward,,, Cause of a few hooligans, who are respected as citizens (though they are not worth being called so), who are polluting the environment!!!

A bit of me!!!!

Where there is silence...
deep blue rivers and water falls,
with endless drops of water flowing past the cheeks of the mountain!!!
I find a bit of me!!!!

Where there is love for the living world,
and lots of different personalities.
I find a bit of me!!!!

Where there is uncertainty,
and lots risks to be taken..
I find a bit of me.!!!!

Where there are different thoughts,
and mind boggling ideas..
I do always find a bit of me!!!!!