Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Rants from a twenty-something!

It really irks to be an adult at times! It hasn't taken much time for my parents to be convinced that I am indeed ready for marriage and have even started hinting on applying for those 'grooms wanted' section in the Classifieds. And No, I am not amused!

First, just because I'm in my early twenties doesn't make it mandatory that I tie the knot as soon as possible! People! Marriage is such a big step! And right now, I don't even want to think about having to spend the rest of my life with anyone!

Secondly, just because I say no to the person you bring, dear parents of mine, doesn't mean I'm going to run away with my boyfriend. And just because I have a boyfriend doesn't mean I want to marry him as soon as possible! Sure, I might (stress on the 'might' part) want to settle down some day, I'll choose when!

And third, stop acting all liberal when you're not! You people are messing up my life as well! I feel cloistered and out of breath when I see that you want to push me off as soon as possible just because that is what the people around you want you to do! I mean come on! I have a life of my own and I don't care what everybody else thinks, I will choose who I spend the rest of my life with. And if I choose nobody, it just means that I find none of them worthy enough. As simple as that.

Why does everybody think anybody will be comfortable with sharing a bed with some random stranger! And the 'get-to-know-each-other' period in between the engagement and the wedding is hardly enough time to know the other person! I sometimes wish parents who are so intelligent and smart in all things under the sun, would grow a brain in this matter! After the wedding, all relations vanish politely leaving the newly-weds alone and believe me, I might just hack the poor bloke to pieces with my stress levels alone!

I am not meant to share my life with a guy.... yet. And moreover, there are so many things I want to do. My parents have controlled my social life for so long and they've hardly understood me in the process. I wonder if their selection would be any different? I don't want to leave the firm clasp my parents have over me just to be in the even tighter hold of a husband.

Sometimes, I wish I could just run away from it all... just fly away to some distant land all alone and never return! What is so wrong with wanting to be by myself?

P.S. I think I just broke my toe. JUST FRIGGIN' AWESOME >-<;;
(This post was supposed to make no sense whatsoever! And if it did, don't shoot the blogger! =P)

Thursday, May 7, 2009

Helping women.... the Tamil Government way!

It's been quite the debate for as long as I can remember that women empowerment should be brought out to the foray. And well, being a lady myself, I second that!

But... In Tamil Nadu, the way the government's been helping women is... well... a little unusual to say the least. I'm the only daughter in my household and we all know that for someone to be empowered and independent, they have to have access to quality education. And giving out scholarships is one way of encouraging people to stick to studying. And there are many states in India that offer scholarships to the only girl child who goes on to complete higher education. And that is a smart move. Not only does it encourage people to have girl children, it also encourages them to stop with one if they do.

But in Tamil Nadu, the government's taking empowerment (if you can even remotely call it that!) to a whole new level! You do get financial aid and stuff if you're a woman. But there's just one small itty-bitty catch to that. You need to be pregnant to actually claim it.

Yep! You heard it right! Pregnant women get Rs.6000 from the government to cater to their 'requirements'. And when they say requirements, do they actually mean the requirements of the woman and her unborn child or those of her husband and his entire family? My mother works in a nationalized bank and one should hear the tales she brings home to tell!

People come with their newly wed wives claiming them to be pregnant... three months into it, and ask for an account to be opened in their wives names with the husband as the benefactor. And most of these women are so illiterate, they can't even sign their own names in the forms much less fill it up! And the husbands are so keen on knowing when the money will materialize and when they can come collect it that in their earnestness 'we' becomes 'I'.

Another deplorable fact is that most of these women are barely eighteen making their marriage border on legality! I ask this government. Is this what empowering women mean to you guys out there? Having late teenagers pregnant with hardly any financial security and education to speak of? And this scheme is valid for all pregnancies that the woman would go through. And isn't that quite the incentive for the husbands to try for a second.... or a ninth.... or a hundredth? What of the woman's health? What of her mental peace?

Is it because the government seems to think that in these households the women vote to whichever party their husbands tell them to? (This is infact true in many houses including that of my house-maid's!) Some democracy we boast about!

And I'm glad I've enough sense up my brains to know the political rights from wrongs. And rest assured, no man shall ever command me to vote for some smartass party he favours! And nope! I am not going to get married or get pregnant when I'm not even financially or emotionally ready for such giant leaps just because some jerk can enjoy a round of whiskey and come home and try for another child all because he wants the money!

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

For the sake of Humanity, STOP IT!

A sombre hello to everyone out there. I know it's been way too long since I've updated. Well... I was a little tied down with University and my semester exams. And they're over now. Now, one might ask. If exams are over, people tend to shout their guts out in joy and run around in circles screaming! Well... I was doing all of that... until... I came across this website:

Animal Saviors

What I found in this website was more than enough to sap my joy and happiness away!

Cats and Dog being skinned alive... just so the fur would come out more easily and cheaper! Makes me wonder.... are they humans? Do they have something that even closely resembles a heart? Before any smartass can make any comment that they're just animals or that just knowing it hardly changes matters, I'd like to say that I have been against animal products since I was ten and still am. And that I know that I can't herald a revolution all by myself. But I am doing all that I can and will continue to do so! It is much better than to sit, in a closed room shrugging off saying you can't do anything about it!

I can't believe what I see and read there. But I have crosschecked and this vile and cruel practice has been happening for quite some time now!

One would think that in the tens of thousands of years that we spent 'evolving', we would've developed a deeper understanding about life and how valuable it is; how we are not the only inhabitants of this planet and that pain is something any creature can feel. But I guess all we're going to be bothered is how good we look when we drape that fur coat around us... Let me tell you... when you know that some creature's been tortured to death so that you can look good, it makes that fur coat look like something that's disgusting; doesn't it? And if it doesn't, please by all means stay in your little bubble. But tomorrow, I am sure such people who don't care will have their children (or the younger generation, for those who'll counter saying they won't have kids - don't expect to live in outerspace now do ya, smartass?!) look at them with such disgust and disappointment.

Shouldn't leaving a better tomorrow be one of our most important duties? Shouldn't the future generation understand love and compassion? And where will they learn it from if not from us? And how can we tell them to love unconditionally when we commit such heinous acts of callousness?

It's about we do something... for the millions of lives we lose to this practice and for Humanity that dies a little everytime this happens.