Wednesday, March 08, 2006

On Women's Day...

Frankly speaking, I had forgotten Women's day until Puneet woke me up and passed on this article (Streets, stories and strategies)to make me feel something I am unable to put it in words. Is it pain? I don't know. Amit Varma puts it as (Of many violations) Bloody hell, I'm lucky to be a man; and a part of me says I should be ashamed to feel that way.

Being a man you're lucky not to go through some of emotional hell as women or girls or even female children go through. Reading such incidents make you feel their pain, although you may not totally understand their frustration, their anger, their embarassment, their pain that they suffer at one or other stage of their life. Most of them never speak. Neither to friends, nor to family. I have few bold female friends who have been brave enough to put their embarassing experiences in front of me. I have seen their faces while narrating, I have seen their anger, I have felt their pain and I will never be able to forget those faces. I seriously don't know how to conclude this. Whatever had to be said has been said here and here, but can only feel satisfaction to hear some instances such as Hemangi's Train to Chennai.

Link of the day : Blank Noise Project. A voice against street sexual harassment.

Update : Gaurav Sabnis aptly describes need and effectiveness of Blank noise project.

3 comments:

Uday said...

Anirban rightly posed one question. What can we males do about it ? Do such people read these blogs or stop doing it after reading them ?

First: Create enough awareness about it.

Second: Stop doing it if you are doing. Stop others doing it.

Third: If your friends are doing it intentionally or unintentionally, have a discussion session with them and convice its pitfalls.

It is morality that can stop this at a large extend. But even if it is law that is stopping poeple doing this, I would be glad enough.

Let us make this world a better place for all...

Who Cares? said...

You know I have read such posts so often lately that I am sure about two things now:
1. This is not a safe place for women anymore.
2. All people like you (pardon me) and me do is blog it and forget it.
3. What Uday has said is very correct but I doubt if any of us (atleast the readers of your and my blog) is into such activities or knows anyone thinking on those lines.
But then the question arises, how and why are such people born? They definitely do not appear out of thin air.

Let us "try" to make this world a better place to live! But then.. HOW?

Sujoo said...

Even in US I have encountered some staunch Male Chauvanists (MCPs)and they all are from India..desis. Whether or not you are in India doesnot seem to make a difference anymore I guess. And if we try to stand up against them, we are told, 'Stop being a feminist'!! So to make the world a better place..the question would be where do you start from?