K.M.Venugopalan says the institution of the hetero-sexual family plays a pivotal role in ’selectively sanctifying certain kinds of economic, social and cultural activities of people‘:
The politics of claiming autonomy over bodies cannot perhaps wait, until all the fears associated with morals and culture are settled forever. It is imperative to talk about how deeply [...]
Archive for the 'Society' Category
‘Gendered’ majority
Published by May 11th, 2008 in Caste, Culture, Society, Women and sexuality. 0 Comments‘Despicable Separation’
Published by May 10th, 2008 in Democracy, India, Patriarchy, Religion, Society and Women. 1 CommentNiven Charvet tells his Indian friends why he prefers China to India:
My belief in humanism, my love of my own language, a certain libertarian cast of mind – none of these could really explain why I am more comfortable in China than in India.
To me India is a land of separation, China a land of [...]
The gold rush on Akshaya Tritiya
Published by May 7th, 2008 in India, Religion and Society. 5 CommentsUntil now, I had no clue as to why we celebrated ‘Akshaya Tritiya’. I still think its a commercial scam to make people buy gold. Here’s what a few bloggers had to say about the festival;
Vijayan Krishan writes;
Akshaya Tritiya, is a very auspicious day. The significance of the day is attributed to the event of [...]
Female sexuality through a woman’s eyes
Published by May 4th, 2008 in Feminism, Literature, Patriarchy, Society, Women and sexuality. 3 Comments‘Is it risky for a woman writer to deal with female sexuality in India’? Sarojini Sahoo, feminist writer in Oriya, tries to answer that question:
”Yes, it is risky for a woman writer to deal with these themes in an Eastern country, and for that I face much criticism? But still I believe someone has to [...]
Insurance for sex workers
Published by May 3rd, 2008 in Business, Human Rights, Society and Women. 0 CommentsLIC introduces an insurance scheme for sex workers- ‘let’s revel in the news’, says Premasri :
To reiterate, this represents a tremendous victory for sex workers, as it symbolizes an eventual shift towards a rights-based framework, which recognizes sex workers as workers with the fundamental right to basic services such as savings accounts and life [...]
When I learnt that Davis was getting married, I asked him whether he was doing that out of compulsion from his mother. He was not. The truth is, he had enough of all the unstable relationships and was wishing for some stability in his life. So here is a guy who knows his ways with [...]
Fellow Blogbhartian Shruthi on why she decided to become a Stay-At-Home-Mother (SAHM) and quit her work, at least temporarily:
People ask me all the time why I chose to be with home with my baby after being so vociferous about women standing up for their rights. Please understand - working out of home does not imply [...]
When the best payments are the ones made in kind…
Published by April 23rd, 2008 in Misc, Personal and Society. 0 CommentsGowri reminisces about the two elderly characters at their tea estate - the cook and the carpenter.
The poor old man would arrive at work early in the morning, hunched up and shivering. He’d go home for his breakfast and bath and come back at around eleven o’clock, now walking straight, and actually looking younger. We [...]
Who cares if its a girl?
Published by April 21st, 2008 in India, Patriarchy, Prejudice, Society, Women and sexuality. 0 CommentsIn a really heartbreaking account, Roop Rai chronicles the unfortunate state at the RSRM hospital at Royapuram, Chennai where two families who have had children born the day before laying claim to male child, while nobody wants the female one.
“We paid them money at every stage. A ward boy took Rs 300 saying it was [...]
MAC Attack
Published by April 16th, 2008 in Appeal, Community, Feminism, Personal, Prejudice, Society, Women, sexual harrassment and sexuality. 0 CommentsEllie posted about her encounter with one creep on her blog:
Only last week, the Sunday evening was beautiful and at around 6:30 in the evening, in broad daylight, I decided to walk down to Dodo’s place, less than a km away from my flat. I put my really wasted jeans and a very un-flattering kurta [...]
Prajakta shares her experiences and a FAQ of sorts about her twin sister and their growing up together:
“When is your birthday?” And then turning to my sister “And when is yours?”
heehee…that’s dumb! Nevermind…happens! :D
Well, Both of us share the same birth date…and obviously the same birthplace…
I think some people are so thrilled to have our [...]
Mandal lives!
Published by April 11th, 2008 in Caste, Human Rights, India, Justice, Policy, Politics, Prejudice, Society and public space. 6 Comments I started out with the intention of linking to both sides: blogs that oppose reservations and those which support them. Less than two pages of Google Blog Search results yielded these reactions:
Jasdeep feels reservations won’t undo the damage done by a poor public education system:
Revolutionary changes needs to be done in Education system, But [...]
The sands of time
Published by April 11th, 2008 in Culture, Development, Globalisation, Indiaspora, Photoblog, Society and Travel. 0 CommentsMala visited Kolkata recently, for her vacation. In a very detailed post, she sketches the changes she perceived in the city, and also portrays how she (and her own life) might have changed in the perception of those at home:
Its always a treat catching up with everyones lives. There is one thing in common between [...]
The children of one India
Published by April 10th, 2008 in Education, Government and Society. 0 CommentsAnouradha, of projectwhy, opines ‘the children of India - oops I should say the children of one India - have been let down by each and every one’:
One would be justified in thinking it was a joke of some kind but sadly no! The pictures actually showed children giving their Board examinations with their feet [...]
In Bihar, do not drop surnames
Published by April 9th, 2008 in Caste, Politics and Society. 0 CommentsAvinash Kishore tells you why people do not use surnames (that indicate caste) in a ‘place like Bihar where caste-identities are so strong’:
Now, it is neither the inspiration to create a casteless society nor the fear of caste discrimination that motivates people not to give their family names to their kids. It is just the convention in Bihar and [...]
Conflicts of caste
Published by April 8th, 2008 in Caste, Cinema, Dalit, Democracy and Society. 0 CommentsOut-caste analyses the ‘portrayal of the conflicts of caste’ in a few Indian films and documentaries:
In Arohan we witness the continuing struggle, symbolic of the endless battle of the underprivileged and the landless, for justice. Parai reveals the status of Dalit population in India with the South Indian village Siruthondamadevi as a classic example. “An [...]
‘A world of crashing cultural plates’
Published by April 8th, 2008 in Globalisation, India, Language, Religion and Society. 0 CommentsTwo posts on languages, religion and identities. Razib foresees more intense conflict, in a globalizing world, among civilizations:
Though language is emotionally salient for many, that is really not what I had in mind. In The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order Samuel Huntington presented a thesis which used religion as the major [...]
String theorist/ Physicist Sunil Mukhi writes on ‘Marxism and Intelligence’, check out the comments on his previous post too.
Further to Cheeta’s comment on my previous blog “Communists and freedom”, about the distinction between communists and Communists, I was reminded of the late D.D. Kosambi (a colourful personality who was a TIFR mathematics professor as well [...]
Deep realizes ‘now things are very different’ on Indian roads and …not so different:
I also realize that woman don’t wear helmets. So I ask my driver why that’s the case — he says, “oh the ladies were furious that their hair was being messed up. Woman have many rights you know. Men in the goverment [...]
‘Of Laws and Lawmakers’
Published by April 6th, 2008 in Government, Justice, Prejudice, Society and Women. 0 CommentsThe Government of India woke up to the fact that the Development of Women and Children is important enough to be granted a Ministry of its own, only in 2006. Before that this onerous responsibility was carried out by a Department , which did not exist before 1985. No better source than the horse’s mouth. [...]
Indic Twitter
Published by April 6th, 2008 in Blogging, Community, Personal, Society and public space. 1 CommentThe joys of Twitter are many. As Kiruba Shankar finds out,
Another reason why I like Twitter because its a place where I can write down things that I think are too frivolous for a blog post. “Crap! The crow just shat on me!”.
Sometimes, it can be a place for me to type my thoughts down [...]
Why did they fight, Ma?
Published by April 2nd, 2008 in Geopolitics, History, India, Society and South Asia. 1 CommentManpreet’s little daughter Rasan tries to understand the partition of India and Pakistan:
“I hate England.”
“Why?”
“Because they divided India.”
“Well, they didn’t. Partly it was our own fault. We allowed them, so they could.”
“But they ruled over us. Why did they have to rule over us?”
“You like to mind your class, right? You like to be the [...]
Science, State, Market, Society, Caste, Gender…
Published by April 1st, 2008 in Capitalism, Caste, Development, Economy, Policy, Poverty, Science & Technology and Society. 0 CommentsMelkote attends a talk titled ‘Science, State, Market, Society and Ecology’ and thinks: ‘the problem with science and technology in India seems to be that their main focus is either the State or the Market’.
The market angle is even more apparent: our best minds working to solve problems which will make sharper videos, clearer sound, [...]
AMIT Budhiraja and Rinku Sachdeva had everything: good jobs, a nice flat, money to splurge, and a future that beckoned with promise. Or at least that was what the world thought. It is now obvious they were leading tormented inner lives before Amit killed her and hanged himself on Sunday.
Ramakrishna SR asks: do these murders [...]
“(Yo)nifying with the self”
Published by March 28th, 2008 in Culture, Feminism, Personal, Society, South Asia, Women and sexuality. 0 CommentsAfter much debate with her inner voices, Sunshine finally submits her scripts for “Yoni ki baat” a play inspired by Eve Ensler’s “Vagina Monologues”. Some of her scripts were accepted and she’s now rehearsing for the play.
More than reaching out to the South Asian community, I have reached out to myself, in some of the [...]
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