Tag: Delhi

A Long Awaited Tryst With Laurie Baker.

Way back in July 2011, I had written about a Laurie Baker Home in which my friends Neena and Anil stay. In that post I had mentioned that I hoped to visit their home at the earliest.

Much water has flown down the Mulamutha and the Yamuna since and I finally was able to make that wish come true.

I have just returned from a six day visit to the Hebles and I can assure my readers that everything that is written about that home is understated. I was made comfortable, mollycoddled by Neena engaged in verbal duels by Anil and thoroughly spoiled by their lovely daughter Anisha and lavished with a whole lot of love by their three dogs.

It was with much regret that I left them this morning to return to Pune.

Thank you Neena, Anisha and Anil.

Sexual Harassment.

I was under the impression that Indian cities were the worst in the world for women due to sexual harassment that they face. Here is a sobering thought about the situtation. It is also another fact that among all the cities in India, Delhi is the worst with one in four registered complaints coming from that city, our capital.

So, this article in the Guardian came as a complete surprise to me. My memory of the London of my visits had not prepared me for this shocking news.

Our two capitals seem to compete with each other for the fist place.

What is it that drives these men to such despicable acts? The most reasonable answer that I have received is that they are frustrated in their personal lives and take it out on women who are perceived to be easy targets and fair game. I suspect that there is more. In the case of India, single men migrate to cities to seek some kind of employment not available to them in their native towns or villages and are subject to loneliness, and also the very suggestive Indian films and television programs that make it appear as though securing the attention of women is very easy.

Whatever the reason, quite why this should happen in London is beyond my understanding. Continue reading “Sexual Harassment.”

Sex, and the feminist’s new clothes – II

My earlier post generated some heated responses and since then, the matter has got a lot of momentum. Indian ladies in Delhi plan to take out a march on June 25, 2011.

Delhi is the pits for safety of our women. When we lived there in the early eighties, my late wife tried to reach her studio by public bus to economise, on a couple of occasions and got disgusted with the behaviour of the males in them. She finally
agreed to my original suggestion that she take the car and driver whenever she wished. It is not a new phenomenon and it would appear that it has just got worse since then.

In the meanwhile, another aggressive writer of the Independent has thrown her hat into the ring with a different take than the feminists. Yasmin Ali Brown does not mince words either and she is worth a read.

I would reiterate that I have personally nothing for or against the marches. It is increasingly women who are talking about the problem for and against and that is the way it should be. In India, as Yasmin says, a woman can be in a burkha and still face problems from very brutal/frustrated men, some of them sadly enough who are paid to maintain law and order. Here is a news item that has shocked the nation.

Just to make this a bit even handed, here is another story with another angle to scantily dressed women. I leave it to my readers to decide which way to turn!

No, it is not easy being a woman.