Honour in the light

Came across demi ray's post about honour killing of 4 young girls in Pakistan. With the new year beckoning and with hindsight to our advantage, it won't be a bad idea to look at where we are headed. This sure might be an isolated incident, but an uncivilized one all the same.

These young girls were not simply daughters conceived by men. They were borne and nurtured into existence by a mother. She -- the mother -- could do nothing more than stand by her man as he slit their little throats.

To say there is an unhealthy, unrealistic perception of sex – as ‘sex’ is loosely defined as ‘women’ – is to put it mildly. For centuries, this patriarchal perversion has been festering in the dark like an ignored cancer, adapting to its debilitating pain and unsightly lumps, growing stronger in endurance, but weaker in health, isolated from examination for fear of the major surgery it will require to remedy it and ultimately, justified by the societal function this disease serves – the family unit, with a mother that will never run away from household duties.

That’s not exactly how women are inspired to unconditional love. It’s so easy to activate a woman’s loyalty and devotion, I marvel at the cavemen who think they need to cripple a woman in order to keep her around. And undoubtedly, that works, too. Women are abused to greater and lesser degrees all over the country and all over the world.

The criminal in this case, however, now has two sons to carry on his name with ‘honor’ in tact – and a criminal justice system that defends him. Matters like this are perceived as 'family disputes' and men are inherently the household disciplinarians. What have the sons just learned? The mother, has a private, silent psychological and emotional torment to contend with. Mothers don’t ‘recover’ and bounce-back from things like that. What has been reinforced for her?

We all find ways to justify our behavior – even cold-blooded ‘pre-emptive’ murder can and is justified in the mind of the criminal. He killed young girls who don’t even know what menstruation is in anticipation of the day they ‘will’ have dishonorable sex. For centuries, this deviation has grown and festered in the dark.

When the Qur’an was being revealed to the 7th century Arab pagans, one of their ‘directives’ was to stop burying their live newborn baby girls. That was a common practice back in those days. I don’t know how long it took to stop these live burials, but we don’t hear about this practice in Arab countries, any longer. However, if the root of what motivated this live burial of females is not eradicated, it could simply ‘evolve’ as another gender-based crime, such as burying ‘adulterous’ women in sand up to their necks so that stones could be thrown at the only exposed part of her body. This was a Middle-Eastern practice, described in the Bible as well, that Jews – and their counterpart Christians – have moved past.


Hang your head down in shame. We belong to the same race.
We can only hope such news does'nt make the headlines in 2006.

p.s: Police in Multan said they would complete their investigation into Ahmed's (the girls' father) case in the next two weeks and that he faces the death sentence if he is convicted for the killings and terrorizing his neighborhood.

Would be interesting to see how things turn out, the country taken into consideration

Santa's Letter

Christmas brings with it the portly figured, the jolly old, the one with the supernatural ability to ascend a chimney with a mere nod of his head, Santa.And with him comes aunty Claus with recipes so delectable, they seem like god's gift to the gastric juices.Yammy! But let Mrs Claus' recipes not make me wander off the subject of the post. So talking about Santa , although this guy is all fun to watch and talk about, i've never been able to come up with a satisfactory theory to support his existence. So when northpole.com shouted that one could write a letter to Santa and he would most definitely get back, i found the entire idea fishy.
Nevertheless, i decided to write the old man the letter and maybe take a stab at pulling his leg too. Following the specified links ,i reached the page from where i could send the letter.Send the letter i could, but not before i answered a few friendly questions.It asked if i've been naughty or nice through the year. Not the one to take chances, i decided that i was nice throughout. The next question, i should say, perplexed me a bit. Did i have a chimney in my house? Now these are times when Mumbai doesnt even have space for a gas-stove.So the chimney was no doubt a difficult proposition. I decided that the exhaust fan in the kitchen was a very good substitute for the chimney and Santa would be logical enough to understand. I checked "yes". Good enough. Next, i had to choose from a variety of toys, the one which i wished the most for Christmas. Not difficult given the options.Stuffed toys and toy trains being some of the choices. I chose cars and trucks. Next step, i had to enter my wishlist. After entering the initial four wishes, i noticed that the list was unfulfillable even by Santa's standards. I mean, even if he could, he would'nt. The four wishes were names of four actresses.(I would have named them . But going by the heavy popularity of this blog, i fear the people concerned might read this too and sue me for their own convenient reasons.) Moving along , i finally reached the " write a special message for Santa" section. I wrote, "Dear Santa, i hope the cars and trucks mentioned above are the real ones and not some stuffed toys. Am just curious how you are gonna come driving the cars and trucks via the chimney. Anyways, take care."
I sent the letter , hoping that my doubts about the old one's existence were wrong and that he came by on Christmas eve (via the chimney or wherever else he wanted to),the fleet of cars and trucks following him.
The letter i sent yesterday and the matter had slowly started to vapourise from my rather humble RAM that a friend of mine mentioned something about Santa today. Flicker-Flicker went the overhead tubelight and next second,i was in front of the PC. Sure enough, i had got a reply from Santa( supposedly him ). The letter went like this:
"
Dear Sujith,

Thank you for writing such a wonderful letter! We have had a great year at the North Pole. The reindeer have been playing reindeer games to get in shape for the long trip Christmas Eve, and the elves have been busy getting my sleigh packed with lots and lots of toys.

Once my sleigh is packed and ready to go, I'll be off on my journey around the world. I'm reading your letter right now, and it looks like you've been a very nice boy this year. That makes me so happy. Keep up the good work!

While you are asleep on Christmas Eve, the reindeer will land my sleigh on your rooftop so I can hop down your chimney.

I see that you like cars and trucks. I like cars and trucks, too. They are lots of fun to play with, and we have some very exciting new cars and trucks this year. The elves have been very busy this year making many new and different cars and trucks for Christmas!

Well, I must get back to my workshop now and help the elves finish up the rest of the Christmas toys. We have to have them ready to go soon--we don't have a minute to lose!

Ho! Ho! Ho! Have a Merry Christmas!

Your Special Friend,
Santa
"

I never thought "Dear Santa.....take care" made a great letter.Oh well.The next few lines seemed to be of little interest to me what with him blabbering about his reindeers and elves and sleighs and toys.He had already made plans to park his reindeer run sleigh on my rooftop and then come hopping down through the chimney. I hoped i could somehow inform him that i dint really have a chimney and he could possibly come down by stairs. The next para was to be the most important for me. But this one , infact, turned out to be the real dampner. The alliteration of "cars and trucks" confirmed my doubts about the fishiness of the entire "send a letter and we'll get back" thing. It was quite obviously a computer generated letter.;-( The spirits touching ground level i read the para once again, now replacing "cars and trucks" with "girls". This once done, the spirits had taken an about turn northwards and i could be seen smiling and beaming at every soul near me, strangers included,a fresh hope of the man in red turning up with all his "goodies" !

Merry Christmas Guys!

Blog-Hopping

Bloghopping can be fun.Especially when you use that top rightmost link of a blog to go to the next one.The catch being you seldom,very seldom land in an indian's blog.Even if you do, it would be a resume by an indian wannabe IT professional (mind you,just the resume.Not a word more, not a word less.And then exactly 1 comment saying that the resume is beautiful by the person himselves.)or another one which would be so devoid of any creativity(ok,might be asking for too much here.How about some proper english grammar?) you start scrambling for that top rightmost link.But the way i am, i love misery.I love to see people struggling to stay alive in deep seas by trying the butterfly stroke.Not that i am a sadist.Its just that the situations can be amazingly funny.Imagine a Laloo trying to speak with the Queen.The misery i am talking about.
And then,coming back,you also get to learn your basics of a myriad of languages.And then talk-back too with the comments section.Take for example a particular blog whose profile said the owner was italian.I merrily jumped into the blog which shouted this:

" dai mi fai entrare? conosco franco lo potresti chiamare? dai... La city dei locali fighetti regala sempre soddisfazioni ieri sera festone aziendale dei signori che offrono questa piattaforma...

The first line made me wonder if some tamilian was trying to make fun of me what with the word "dai" doing an alliteration.Further reading convinced me that it was not tamil.I read the stuff again and thought,"Can't agree more with the guy!". Then just to let him know that i had visited him,i posted a comment saying,"hey! nice blog!"

Another hop and i saw myselves in an aunty's blog.The aunty, it seemed had decided to get all naughty for the day by posting some pictures in situations which normal people,who have not decided to get naughty,wouldnt take.I could'nt resist myselves from commenting there too.
"hey!nice blog!"
If by any chance,this aunty decides to come to my blog and comment anything at all, i am sure i am gonna lose my already low readership (my previous two posts boasts of an amazing 2 comments each.Thanks Guys!)of cultured (zii...cultured can also mean biologically cultured if not mentally!) people.

At the doc

"Is it paining, Sujith?"
No answer.
"Come on Sujith, tell me is it paining?"
From whatever life that was left of me, I struggled to open my mouth wider than the dentist had already helped it to.
"Yeaah", and nearly fainted.
In between visions of Uranus and Jupiter and the other stars, I saw the letters "k", "u", "f", "c" floating around in the moonlit sky, with the third and the first letter getting disturbingly repetitive by the minute.
"What happened? You seemed to be in a lot of pain." The friendly dentist asked me while washing his hands in the basin.
I tried to smile which I am sure looked more sour than at those times when I had alum cubes mistaking it for lump sugar.
"Actually I dint expect you to inject me there"
He guffawed.
I smiled too, an evil one now.The thoughts on my mind clearly reflecting in my smile.
What if i took one of his injections and stabbed it into his gums, just the way he did, while he was laughing.I'll also have a great excuse not to visit the devil again.But, sadly enough my human instincts took over and so did my wretched worries.
My voice cracked when I asked him, "When is my next appointment?"
"Oh, come over the day after.We can set this permanently next time"
"Will I be injected again there?"
"Its like, I've never seen a longer root canal. It has to be perfectly clean before I start filling it up.And you are bleeding too. So I cant work on it long enough.Maybe just one more time.And then you are through."
The situation which I found myselves in precisely described when to have mixed emotions.The joy of being on a small vacation from hell,the thought of having to come back again and be injected and screwed and bolted again and then get a permanent vacation.The worser situations weighed down on me and I could feel emotions swelling up in my heart as I walked back. The swell gave way to tears when I saw mom.
"He fu....he doesnt know his work ma"
"It happens da.Just one more time and your through.Then you'll be all too fine."
"I have to. Or else the guy is in for some deep trouble."
Mom chuckled and I tried to chuckle too.

The dentist episode happened some months back.I never thought I would have to go through the situation again in my life.
A deep cut on my leg yesterday only helped relive the whole episode again. After dressing up the wound, I told the doc that I found the tape that he had stuck rather inconvenient.Before I looked hither and started to go back thither something happened which made me scream "oucch" and kick the assistant doc.
The guy, the very active guy, had pulled off the tape off my skin and in the process waxed that part of my leg.

Aloha Confusion!

I decided to sleep at 11 pm the day before the last exam and wake up at 1 am. Blankets on.Lights off.
Time: 11.20 The mobile goes beep.My jiju was online.
"Hello,suji"
"Yeah chettan, what happened?"
"You remember the girl you were with during the floods?"
I was not quite expecting two words which he said - "girl" and "floods". So after hmmming for 5 seconds i figured out what he was saying.Although i was with 3 girls on the day of floods, i dint want to argue about it on the phone with him especially at midnight. So i thought up about one particular chick among the three and continued the convo.
"Yeah,i do. What happened?"
"Her Dad called up. It seems she's lost her cell in the train and has asked her dad to ask you to ask the customer service to deactivate her account"
Confusion struck me right from the first line. Why did he call jiju and not me? How the hell did he have jiju's number and not mine?Maybe he liked him better. What the hell. Then again, why did she ask her dad to ask me to ask the CSE? Why not she do it herselves?And more importantly,why cant she call me up directly? Maybe she doesnt like me.What the hell.So i decide to call her up and clear things up myselves.
First call:
"hello. (Laughs). How careless can people get!" How did it happen? "
"Who the sam hill is this?"
"24XXXXX ? "
"NO!"
"Extremely sorry." (i say that with the meekest voice possible.)

Second call:
"hello.(doesnt laugh).24XXXXX? "
"Yeah,sujith. What happened? This time?"
"Yeah.Your dad called up jiju. How did it happen? "
"How did what happen? What are you talking about,sujith? And why would my dad call up your jiju? "
"Exactly. Why would he! But you should have been more careful yaar."
"Dude,you mind telling me where i was careless? Sujith, seriously are you drunk?" (chuckles)
"Looks like you lost your mind alongwith your mobile.Offcourse i'm not drunk."
"Mobile? I have my cell very much with me.Oh, so you want me to call you up.You are playing the fool 'cuz i've not been calling you.Right?"
"Not right.So you didnt lose your cell? And your dad dint call up my jiju?"
"No. No." (chuckles again)
"Okay.Nevermind.So hows life? Hows jayu? Not smsed her for a long time."
"Oh jayu, she boarded the train today from M.P"
Suddenly my tubelight tried to flicker and light up.
"Okie.Then probably jayu lost her cell.And probably it was her dad."
"Why are you behind everyones cell and dad? Am sure you are not in your senses today.I'll call you tommorow when you have got your sense back.Okay?
"Okay.Btw, im totally fine.You dont understand."
"Whatever.Bbye and goodnight."
"Bye."
Jaw resting on my palms,the elbow on the knees,eyes askance,i sit to think.Things had become just a bit more vague now. So in an attempt to sort out things once and for all,i tried calling up jayu's mobile.
"Out of coverage area", said the computer aunty.
Tried her landline number. Time: 11.35 pm.
"Hello?"
"hello?" (i hear a male voice.It was jayus dad.)
"Hello uncle, jayus there?"
"No, she's gone to M.P.Would be reaching here only tommorow."
"Oh i see.She called you up after boarding the train?"
"Yeah"
"So she must definitely be having the cell with her.Just wanted to call her up.Was not able to get through.Thats why."( Obviously i dint want him to be tensed about something which by now seemed an artwork of imagination)
"No.She called from her colleagues mobile.She lost her's."
"Oh really?.What happened?"
"Actually what happened na...wait...whos this? "
The last two words stunned me for a moment.In the heat of the moment,i had not introduced myselves and he had not noticed it...till that moment.
"Oh, im sujith"
"Oh, sujith! I called up your jiju sometime back.Actually jayu lost her cell and she dint remember any number.We had your jiju's number here but couldnt find yours. So asked him to inform you about it."
"Yeah he did.So should i ask the CSE to deactivate the account?"
"Yeah please,can you do that?
"Sure why not uncle."
"And you'll inform me after you've done it?"
"okay"
Now assuming that because it was her cell, the simcard would also be regsitered in her name, i called up the CSE.
After the pain in the ass IVRs and four failed calls, i finally got through to a human voice at 12 am.I explained the problem to him and he sounded only too eager to help me out till this happened:
"Sir,but for deactivating, you'll hafta answer some security questions about the number you want to deactivate"
Great! I almost always had trouble answering security questions about my own simcard,what with questions like the day of last recharged and stuff.But after all the trouble of getting through to the CSE, i couldnt just back out.So there i was answering security questions about jayus simcard.
"Sir, could you please help me with her address?"
Although i knew where she stayed,i dint know the area name, building name or any name except her name.But i had to answer it.
"Its...hmm...is it near agarwal hall?"
"Right sir. Could you please help me a bit more?"
"hmmm...agarwal hall...dombivli?"
"Exactly.Could you tell me the name of the building sir?"
"No, i dont know that."
"The last recahrge?"
"Sorry.No idea"
"Date of birth?"
"June 14th?"
"No, sir"
"July 14th?"
"No, sir"
"Some 14th.Right?"
"No sir."
"The simcard is registered to jayu(off course thats not her name!).Right?"
"No, sir."
"What???"
"Its registered to T.S.G."
"What???"
Not wanting to be reported for making hoax calls for deactivating peoples mobile account, i hung up instantly.I figured out that T.S.G would have to be jayus dad and her simcard, for some weird reason was registered in her dad's name and not her's.
So called up T.S.G. uncle a second time to take all the data that might be required.
Then called up the CSE again and finally got the account deactivated.Feeling mighty successful i called up T.S.G. uncle again to inform him about the deactivation.
"Thank you so much for all the trouble sujith."
"Oh,it was easy uncle.No problem at all."
Episode end: 12.30 am. Goes to sleep.Wakes up at 1 am to switch off the alarm and goes to sleep again.