Fight against extinction!

Some of our fellow creatures are facing extinction from the face of the Earth...

Save the Tiger!

Save the Polar Bear!

Save the Leopard!

and...

Save the girl child!!!

She needs all your help to survive the battle of extinction. Spare a moment to pledge for her. Log on to www.laadli.org or SMS LAADLI to 575758. Please lend her a helping hand!

Save Her... please!

Let her play.

Let her read her book.

Let her hold on to your hand.

For you may not see her ever again…

Female foeticide is wiping out the girl child at an alarming rate.
Your opinion matters.
Take a stand.
Vote.

Log onto http://www.laadli.org/ or SMS LAADLI to 575758.

Save the girl child.

Playing the Mother's role...

I must write about a small incident that happened at work today. We had gathered to have lunch, when a senior colleague of mine started talking about her son. She told us that her son had been showing symptoms of behavioural problems at school. His teacher had reported that he had suddenly started doing certain things which were quite unlike him and had indicated that he probably needed more tending to.

My colleague said that ever since she had been feeling extremely guilty and was thinking about quitting. On second thoughts, she wanted to be working as well, probably be engaged with something light, for a couple of hours on the weekdays, that would afford her more time with her son.

I have been thinking ever since that such is a mother – who would not think twice before quitting an extremely well paying job to be with her child. But do we respect her for this decision? Do we ever understand what a great sacrifice it is? Instead we take these things for granted and come up with something like “it’s not a sacrifice – she’s just doing what a mother should do!”

We have gotten so used to taking the contribution of women in our lives for granted that sometimes they just cease to be individuals. They are more of a prototype whose fate it is to suffer certain things. What would the world be like, if tomorrow, women stop prioritizing their duties and family? Well, maybe we’ll get to see such a world soon – not because women will stop being selfless, but because there will be no women left!!

Female foeticide is killing off the girl child in millions! Join the march to stop this cruel practice. Log on to http://www.laadli.org/ or SMS LAADLI to 575758 and take the pledge!

Pictures speak a thousand words

I was browsing the internet for pictures yesterday when I found these.

What’s the first thing that comes to your mind when you see this?

How about this one?

And this one?

What if you were given a knife in your hands and asked to kill one of them?

Did that shock you? It shouldn’t actually, considering that every year a million female foetuses are killed.
It’s time you take the decision – let’s all join together to stop female foeticide. Log on to http://www.laadli.org/ or SMS LAADLI to 575758 and take the pledge!

Proud father of twin daughters!

Roger Federer is the father of twin girls and he is proud. "This is the best day of our lives", is what his reaction was after the birth of the twins. It felt so wonderful when I read his reaction early yesterday morning over my daily cup of coffee. And this reaction to be coming from a man who is now acknowledged as the greatest tennis player ever, felt even more special. I’ve always felt that the birth of a child is the greatest feeling that a person can ever have and Federer’s reaction only reinstates my belief… love, faith and goodness are still not lost. Let’s all join in to repeat after the late MJ… “Heal the world, make it a better place for you and for me and the entire human race…”

Speak up! It's the only way we can make a difference.

Yet another act of cowardice...

New and more shameful atrocities on women never seem to stop. Little did I know, when I was writing the entry yesterday, that I would be coming back to discuss another act of perversion today. All of you must have by now read, heard or seen the incident of a woman being molested in full public glare in Patna.

The most disturbing and shameful part of the incident for me was the silent crowd, which stood there witnessing the whole incident. Did no one feel that the act was wrong in every possible way and that it needed to be stopped? Whatever the woman might have been by profession (in this case, she was a prostitute if sources are to be believed), no one has the right to publicly molest a fellow human being like that!

Standing quietly as a spectator and not raising a voice is equally pathetic and reprehensible as doing the act itself. We live in a civil society, which is defined as a collection of human beings living together and abiding by certain laws, norms and conditions which may be written or unwritten. Which law in a civil society gives a person the right to strip another fellow being of her dignity?

Is this what men consider as “mardangi”? Is there someway in which men can be rescued from this trap of an exaggerated notion of manliness, where they think that just because they are men they can do as they will with women?

Do you feel the same way as me? Please raise your voice and take a stand against these acts of gross injustice. Please join me in my march.

Do men need help?

There is a growing feeling among the urban working woman that she is coming under the ‘male glare’ increasingly. The situation should have improved with the increasing number of laws being passed in favour of women and the growing number of organizations coming up, calling out loud for women’s rights. But a closer look would reveal a very different picture.

While we feel that a growing number of legislations and women’s rights organizations would make us safer, we don’t realize that the sudden splurge in these activities indicates at something darker. The number of atrocities on women being reported is on a steady rise, not to forget the numerous incidents of violence that happen everyday, but don’t get reported.

It probably also reveals a lopsided attitude that men have towards women. Their notion of a woman is still guided by and confined to medieval parameters. The woman is still probably a piece of property, who is passed on from one man to another. And anyone who dares to defy this notion makes herself available to the public censure. Men feel they have the right to grope such a woman visually and physically.

Laws in the country should not only empower women but also look to rescue men trapped in a medieval mindset. The current scenario is pushing them further into the defensive, whereby they would tend to reciprocate with increased violence.

Take a step forward; click http://www.laadli.org/ or SMS LAADLI to 575758 to pledge against female foeticide. Remember, you’re just a click away from making an impact.

Looking forward to your comments all my freinds and visitors!