Irony

I just glanced at the back cover of 'The Wish List'. The tag line reads 'Who says a modern girl can't believe in fairytales?'. :O The universe is mocking me!

(refer to my previous posts)

Tormented by bad chick-lit

Oh my god! This book is becoming torturous to complete. I do like my share of chick lit once in a while. But this one takes the cake. 3 women living almost 'Sex and the City' style, based in Australia. And it is written as though a 12 year girl would write a romance novel about the cute boy she has a crush on. Does it get any worse?

Fairytales

One of the most depressing things in life is learning that nothing around you turns out to be a fairytale. Families aren’t perfect, friends aren’t perfect. We usually, then, tend to focus on what we feel we have more control on – our careers. When we face hurdles there, the fairytale comes to an abrupt end again. But the one thing that hurts most is relationships.

Call me a hopeless romantic, but isn’t love supposed to be like it is in the books and movies? Fine! I know I’m in dreamland. But I’ve always had a certain idea of a perfect relationship. Recently I thought I had finally hit the jackpot. By ‘recently’ I mean about a year ago. But as always, things have to go haywire and the good times give way to bad. The fairytale seems to be ending here as well. What else is left to still dream about?

Old Habits Die Hard...This One's 6 Months Old...

Thanks to the Pakistani band, Jal, for this one. They make awesome music.

Aadat

Na jaane kab se umeedain kuch baaki hain
Mujhe phir bhi teri yaad kyun aati hai
Na jaane kab se

Duur jitna bhi tum mujhse paas tere mein
Ab to aadat si hai mujhko aise jeene mein
Zindagi se koi shikwa bhi nahin hai
Ab to zinda hoon mein iss neelay aasman mein

Chaahat aisi hai yeh teri badti jaaye
Aahat aisi hai yeh teri mujhko sataaye
Yaadein gehri hain itnee dil doob jaaye
Aur aankhon mein yeh ghum num bun jaayein

Ab to aadat si hai mujhko aise jeene mein

Sabhi raatein hain
Sabhi baatein hain
Bhula do unhein
Mitaa do unhein

Ab to aadat si hai mujhko...

Men...

Can't live with them, can't live without them. However, at the moment I am inclined to wanting to live without them. A couple of events on campus at L have forced me to revisit my feminist days at college.

Fresh out of school, quivering and secretly excited at the thought of all the freedom college life brought to you, 500 girls walked into the red building that would be a second home to us for the following 3 years. The famous "cafe", the lush green lawns, the "ruins", the comfortable common room, and sitting in the "gazebos" in the rain are memories that cannot be erased. On the first day of college, we collected in the "audi" for the orientation speech by our principal. Her long speech was the standardized sermon that all orientations demanded, but one of the sentences she spoke made everyone forget their fears and applaud. She said something to the tune of, "We're not feminists here, we can't be, because we can't deny that we love men!!!" I was home...

5 years later, I doubt I can ever look at a man with respect anymore (barring my father, grandfathers, et al). I cannot comment about men in other countries, but Indian men I can definitely talk about. Brought up in a society where female infanticide and female foeticide are terms used nonchalantly in conversations, it isn’t surprising that men consider themselves to be the superior gender. Nothing in this country points towards putting men and women on the same platform.

Whenever a woman is raped, the first reaction of men is that “she asked for it”. How on earth can a man even think that way? How low can one go to disrespect a woman?

Look at L itself. With the women constituting barely 10% of the population here, it is pretty obvious who wears the pants in this community. While men walk around in shorts and singlets, looking their worst, women are looked down upon for wearing a sleeveless top. I talk from personal experience when I say that I was pulled up for wearing a top that was considered offensive by some. A plain white top which fell off my shoulder showed as much skin as a regular top would. But some men were offended and chose to complain to student authorities and I was told to “dress more tastefully”. Funny though, my opinion was not asked, nor was I asked to explain my situation. The men were considered right. And if you think that was justified, I leave your opinion to yourself. But what baffles me is how that incident warranted a topic of discussion on the social community Orkut portraying me as the most “dirty” woman on campus. Only when it was brought to the notice of a “special someone” the posts were removed.

Rumours galore fly around campus, always about the women here. The new batch has been here all of 2 weeks and there are horrible, false stories about the girls everywhere. Harassment is an understatement here.

“Sour grapes” is the only explanation most of us have for these deprived, low, shallow men. And I hand it to all women, who manage to live through leers, whistles, eve teasing and harassment every single day. With people like this around me, it only goes to prove who the weaker sex is.