INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY

8th of March every year reminds me of my niece Shayari who was born on this day. It is also International Women's Day. 1975 was the year when United Nations declared this day as the International Women's Day. The theme this year is "Women and men unite to end violence against women." A very apt theme, as violence has always been perpetrated against women, be it physical or mental, and perpetrators have been both men and women.

Men and women were born equal in this world. Social norms decided a code of conduct. In a world which was ruled by the dictum of "Survival of the fittest", women the physically weaker person fell back on the path of progress and took the second position.

In India in ancient times, or the Vedic times, we had very well educated and emancipated women who were second to none as far as their wisdom was concerned. We have the example of Lopamudra, Maitreyi and Gargi, who were all well known for being outstanding in the art of debate, were philosophers and were wise. Lopamudra challenged Yajnavalkya to a debate on Atma and also yoga. There are ten hymns written by Maitreyi included in the Rig Veda. Gargi composed hymns that questioned origin of all existence. As time progressed women were given secondary position and she became the shadow of her husband and had to follow in his footsteps. We have Sita who was repeatedly tormented by her husband, abandoned, and had to keep proving her virtue until she could take it no more. Draupadi who was lost in a game of dice. Kaikeyi and Manthara were depicted as scheming and vile.

Meerabai who composed beautiful poetry was abandoned and had to drink poison. Any woman who tried to raise a voice and say something was done away with. There have been only a handful of women rulers down the history of this nation. Razia Sultan, Chand Bibi, Ahilyabai Holkar, Laxmibai, are the names I remember. Women were never in the lineage to the throne. A male heir was always needed. Even an adopted person could be the heir to the throne but never a daughter, except in matrilineal societies.

In spite of these disadvantages, and retrograde pattern of society, women have managed to remain afloat. The different practices that were followed of sati, burning of witches at the stake in the western world, the atrocities on widows, and child marriage, was a systematic destruction of the wisdom and resilience of women.

Women were indoctrinated to believe in all these practices. They were the worst victims and yet the worst perpetrators of torture and crime against women. Through the fear of religion and scriptures they were trained to follow the rules without questioning anything.

Even today the TV serials are nothing but a total destruction of the self confidence of women in general. They are shown as either the always tearful, sacrificing, totally devoted to the family woman or the absolute scheming monster who is out to destroy everyone. It appears as though there are no normal women in these serials. It is such a powerful media and yet it is sadly misused. A country which watches and learns, needs more responsible programmes on TV.

There were some film makers who made women oriented and good films (in the good old days!!!!) like V Shantaram. His women were always strong. Others who made meaningful women oriented movies were Aruna Raje, Sai Paranjpe, Shyam Benegal, Aparna Sen, Mahesh Bhatt.

Times have changed and women today are emancipated. The present generation are reaping the benefits of my generation. When I joined The State Bank of India as a Probationary Officer in 1975, we were only six ladies in a total batch of 300 Officers. In service, I noticed that we were always given positions which were desk jobs. Touring and Field jobs were usually not given to us. The attitude was quite patronising. We had to fight to get field postings.

At home the attitude of the in- laws was that they expected the daughter- in- law to cook in the morning, work in the office during the day and go back home and cook dinner. She was told categorically that she worked because she wanted to and no one had asked her to work. She therefore never got any help in the management of the household. Life was very tough for working women of my generation, as we had to prove that we were efficient workers in the office and an efficient bahu in the house. There could be no compromise anywhere. We worked because we had to prove to ourselves that we "existed" and that we had our own position in the world, not merely as the wife of Mr. so and so. The women of today are treated better in their work place. They have more understanding in- laws, as the women of my generation who laid the path to today's progress are the in- laws now.

Yet, even today there are a lot of women who are not really treated as equal. It is for us to show by example that we are equal, we are neither superior nor inferior. We must demand equality and fair treatment. Equality in words, deeds and thought, that is the right of a woman. Both men and women need to realise this and make some changes in their life and thinking to make the world a better place for everyone. No patronising attitude (eg "Oh she is my better half") and nothing derogatory ("Oh she is my getter half", or "must be a woman driver") should be tolerated by women. Perhaps then as we evolve, there will be a day when true equality will be achieved, and there will be no violence against women.

MONTREAL- FRENCH AT HEART

Do you know which is the second largest primarily French speaking city in the world after Paris? I didn't know until I visited Montreal, a city in the province of Quebec in Canada. It is indeed Montreal. It was originally called Ville Marie or City of Mary. Now it's name is a derivation of Mount Royal, the hill in the center of the City.

The original inhabitants of Montreal were Iroquois people. They dealt in fur. They grew corn, squash and beans which was enough for their sustenance. Jacques Cartier a navigator from France arrived here in 1535, and the place came under the French rule in the sixteenth century. It was surrendered to the British in 1760. Yet look at the influence of the French, the roads are named in French, the people speak French and French is the official language. There are 60% people who speak French, 20% speak English and 20% speak other ethnic languages. All shop name boards have to be in French, and if one wants to also have the name in English, the alphabets have to be half the size of the French letters. Within themselves the city appears to belong to the French rather than the British. All children with few exceptions have to attend French language public schools. In fact all immigrant children have to compulsorily study in French, again with a few exceptions.

The city is rather beautiful. It is more European in style than North American. The city is so beautiful that a lot of American films which need to show Europe are shot here. It seems to have grown rather than been constructed. Houses have more character, streets do not appear to be geometric. It has a distinguished air about itself. A unique place to see are some very colourful "Houses of the Plateau". The architectural beauty is enhanced manifold by the brightly coloured exterior of the houses, which are all in varied colours (picture on top).

The Mount Royal can be seen from everywhere. There is a rule that no building can be taller than the Mount, therefore one does not see very tall sky scrapers here. The Mount is also a major cemetery. It has a 30 meter high huge Cross which also is visible from a long distance.It also has the Saint Joseph's Oratory, which is well known as a place which has healing powers. A lot of people perform their pilgrimage on knees, such is the belief and faith in this place.

Old Montreal is historic. The streets are cobbled, and their are quaint shops here. It is a delightful experience to browse through the shops. There is a Notre dame Basilica here. This Basilica has Gothic architecture and has a very beautiful ceiling. It has a very grand interior and is worth a visit (photo of interior given on top). In this area near Jacques Cartier Street, twenty years back a few street performers who performed near the Nelson Column started the "Cirque Du Soliel." A fantastic circus which has become world renowned now.

The river St. Lawrence Canada's second longest river, flows near the city and the Olympic village is next to the river. The roof of the Olympic stadium is shaped like the helmet of a cyclist. The 1976 Olympics were hosted by this city. It also has the tallest leaning tower in the world which has 175 metres elevation and has an incline of 45degrees. The leaning tower of Pisa has an incline of 5 degrees.

The city has a lot of churches and Mark Twain had said of this place, " This is the first time I was ever in a city where you couldn't throw a brick without breaking a church window."As is usual in French influenced places the bakeries here are divine. The aroma wafting through their doorways are out of this world. There are nice cafes and food is delectable.

Walking through the streets is a pleasurable experience. There are a lot of parks which remind one of the commons of London, but these are on a smaller scale. The city has a Botanical Garden which is the second biggest Botanical garden in the world. The biggest is the Kew gardens in London.

Shopping is a pleasant experience with French designed clothes and lots more . Keeping the conversion of foreign currency in mind, it appears cheaper too. Walking along streets lined with cafes on the walkways is an interesting experience. Montreal has very long and extremely cold winter. To enable people to continue to shop even in these circumstances, underground markets flourish here. This underground market is spread under a large portion of the city. There is a huge pedestrian network with passageways which are about 30 kilometres in length. There are shops, cafes and it is well connected by the underground metro

Canadian Grand Prix is held every summer in Montreal.

Montreal is beautiful during fall, when all the leaves before falling, change their colour and look vibrant in yellow, orange, red and maroon.

If one wants to see the heart of France within British rule, then Montreal is the place to be in.

RANDOM THOUGHTS

Life does not give us a second chance. We only live once. The eternal truth is that whoever is born will eventually die. No one is immortal.


"I will pass this way but once, if there's any good that I can do, Let me do it now for I'll never pass this way again" said Glen Campbell.

It is deeds which keep us alive in the memories of people eternally. Al-Sikander or Alexander, Ashoka, Chanakya, Gautama the Budhha, Socrates, Archimedes, Plato, Michael Angelo, Leonardo da Vinchi, Milton, Byron, Keats, Shelley, Raskhan, Tulsidas, Surdas, Mirabai, Tukaram, Gyaneshwar, left indelible marks which have immortalized them. They gave to mankind thoughts, leadership, hope and used their language to show us the beauty of nature, and the finer qualities of life, love, devotion and a fight against the strictly laid down norms of society.

We are bound by the society in which we live. We are conditioned by the rules and boundaries set up by the social norms that are in practice. Rules are made to make life more organized and to follow some common practices and procedures. Rules then turn into rituals. Some of our great Indian poets and philosophers found the need to revolt against the strict norms of society. They brought about changes and improved the lives of a lot of people.

The birds, bees, animals, and all forms of life, rise when the sun rises and go to sleep with the coming out of the moon or setting of the sun. Their life is governed by the light of the day. The bigger animals hunt when they are hungry. They live peacefully otherwise. Their life's purpose is to eat and rest. They also nurture their young ones until those young ones are capable of finding food for themselves.

We humans have evolved to such an extant that we can govern our entire life. Each one of us has the capacity and intelligence to think for ourselves and decide the course we want to take in spending the time between birth and death. We only live once. If we remember this eternal truth may be we would like to live our life in a slightly different manner.

Once we have sufficient to sustain ourselves, perhaps there is a need to look at the direction where we are headed. Changing course or taking a better path to enjoy the beauty of nature and live happily may not be too difficult. It is a wonderful world and we have the capacity to make our lives more useful and beautiful.

Time and tide wait for no one, it moves on. We have to move with it or we get left behind, and we may wake up like Rip van Winkle and not know the world at all. How fast time moves and we move from one decade to another, is visible when we see those who were born in front of us, move from school to college, to a career. That's the moment when it suddenly hits us that we have advanced so much in life. The first time I realized that time had moved on was when my son Anurag passed out from School, it hit me then that my child was now moving out in to this world, where he would fend for himself. A part of my life was going away to find a separate foothold in this world. Then when my daughter Chaitali decided to pursue a professional course and not do ordinary graduation, another part of my life went away. She was deciding her course of life. (On the left is a picture of me with my mother and daughter.)

Looking back sometimes we cannot see where the years went and how we spent that precious time. Longfellow said: “Lives of great men all remind us, we can make our lives sublime, and departing leave behind us footprints on the sands of time."

Beautiful thoughts, provoking thoughts, leaves me with the thought that there is no other time but NOW. One can make a beginning "NOW" to make this world a better place than how we found it. Finding a goal, wanting to do something new is often daunting and looks too formidable, scary and unachievable, but then it is just one step that is needed to be taken to begin an arduous journey. It is possible. One step at a time is all that is needed to undertake the longest journey.