You can put the Blame on....

When I came to Mumbai, I got mixed reactions from people regarding how safe Mumbai was compared to Delhi!

Some people said that it was very safe compared to Delhi, some said it was as bad. Fact is, 5 months on, I don‘t know what‘s true!

Yes I agree, people in Mumbai are less judgemental than those in Delhi. And I'm not just talking of those roadside romeos - I'm talking about people in general - girls and boys. I would feel far more comfortable wearing a dress on the roads on Mumbai, than in Delhi!

Now, after there have been 2 horrendous attacks in the capital, the question becomes even more pertinent. Why do people is Delhi a sort of Rape capital? To put it more crudely - why are men in the capital, and actually all over north India, more desperate than men in the rest of India??!!
Talk of any sort of sexual crimes and the cities in the north come to light before any other part of the country?! And that‘s where they worship female deities the most!

Is there a connection? I wonder, if we implemented the kind of punishments meted out in Arabic countries, wouldn't it help?!

In December after the first incident took place, there were thousands of protests across Delhi and many other parts of the country. Now, 4 months later, with all the new laws and regulations in place, we still had an encore! Why?

Is it just the police? Is it just the government? I'll bet half the people who took to the streets have some sort of eve teasing record to their name! So why is it, that every time we start the blame game, we tend to turn to the police or government? Is it cause we don't know who else to put the blame on?

Well for starters, how about upbringing? How many kids (esp boys) in India are taught that if they are not given something when they ask nicely, they should learn to stand up and demand it, until they get it - stand up for your right? Well, from a rapists perspective, he demands that the girl sleeps with him, if she doesn't he will stalk her, and if she still doesn't then... sounds absurd right?

How many people in our country still believe that men can (and have the right to) control women? When I say people here, I mean all genders!

Fact still remains, we don't know who to blame when a man violates a women - sexually or mentally!

The Bong Connection

Before coming to London, I thought I should try and get back in touch with the 'Bong' side of me.

Having been brough up in Delhi, I hardly kept much connection with either the bong side or the konkan side of me! It's not like people living in another city lose connection with their roots. It's just that since your peers are from that area, you tend to find a midde ground!

Just celebrating the same festivals is not really understanding a way of life! festivals and occasions are just a minor section of it! To understand they way people live, you need to 'live' the life they live!!

Just before coming to London, I thought of going and spending time getting reconnected to my bong side. (For those of you who don't know what 'bong' means, it's basically a slang for Bengali)

I wanted to go to Kolkatta to say bye to my relatives before coming to London. It might surprise most people that the way life is in Bengal is different from the way life is in Delhi! However, I was in Cal for only 2 weeks. I was happy that I finally got some time to understand their way of life. What I never thought of, was connecting with the modern Bengali way of life. That too, I did not learn this in India; I learnt this in London!

Many of you might be aware of the traditional culture in Bengal, but how many of you know about their real way of living? Bengali music is for instance always associated to Rabindranath Tagore. Not like that's a bad thing, but that's like associating English literature only with Shakespeare!! While traditional songs are a part of Bengali music's history, it is not the only Bengali music! People hardly know about the upbeat bengali songs! All this, I learnt after coming to London! In fact to be honest, I have never interacted with so many Bengalis in my life (other than my family)

Some Bengali movies, are so much better than Hindi ones I've watched!! But sadly, only Hindi movies seem to portray 'Indian' movies to most of the world (other than film buffs who would know of other films too)! It's true with Marathi movies too, and I suppose with movies of other languages too.

I must say, I'm looking forward to going back and discovering the Konkani side of me next!!

Festive London

I have been in London for more than a month now. The start was super-exciting (if that's a word!). With time, it just started feeling like a second home. I'm sure eventually it will feel like a home, but as of now, it still hasn't taken that place, my 'home' is still Delhi!

I had thought that I would miss all the Diwali fun, but the fact is, I am not... surprisingly! I went to the 'Diwali on the Square' festival a few days back, and I realised that here, Diwali is far more than just being the 'festival of lights'. There were so many (should I call them) 'foreigners', who were dressing up in Saris, and trying to get a flavour of India, that I completely forgot it was a Diwali festival, it seemed more like a Cultural Festival!

This weekend, we are starting of Diwali celebrations at 'home'... Although the actual festival is still a week away, the festivities here tend to kick-off much before (or in case of the Eid festival much after)! I have loved every minute of it. The whole of London seems to be keen on discovering everything there is about other cultures--and that's what I love about this place!

Soon after I had come here, I had gone for an Eid Festival (although Eid was almost a month before the event) at Trafalgar Square. I had the same feeling then, as I had at the time of the Diwali festival. Everyone was having fun, listening to music, some were dancing, some were just photographing others--It was beautiful.

While on the one hand, Diwali celebrations are in full swing, preps for Christmas have also begun! Oxford Street has already started putting up lights. They turn on the Christmas Lights and officially kick-off the 'Christmas Season' sometime in late November. Although for me, it is just like back home, the festivities don't stop till New Years!

A Day In

I spent my day at home today... why? No class! YEY for that! I had to work on my blogs, this one, and the one for NOAH. First helped my uncle clear out the dishwasher, and then went to my room and started on my work.

Every morning, the first thing I do is go and check the number of followers on the Facebook page. Even 1 follower up and I am happy! It in a way makes my day! So coming back to why I chose this topic for my campaign. For those who do not know me, I am from India. I have seen many animals out on the streets. But I have also seen people helping them. Often the feeling of being of no use would overcome me, when I passed a pup begging for food on the street. The next day, I would find the pup dead!

The thought always daunted me; I kept wondering how I can give them something to comfort them. The fact is even when you send them to an animal shelter, they can hardly stay there for long. I know for a fact that the animal shelters in Delhi are flooded with dogs, but the workers don't give up. They try taking every dog off the street.

People may talk about spraying and neutering, but that is a far fetched option for most places in Delhi, I cannot even think about other parts of the country! Why? Not everyone would like to contribute to getting their neighborhood dogs/cats neutered!

Personally, though I have not calculated it with formula, I can estimate that if 1 person gets 1 dog neutered every year, it would solve the problem of 'stray dogs'.

The problem is that in a lot of places, across the world, there are dogs who get abandoned by owners. For countries that don't have a stray dog problem and where the local animal police are very active, this tends to be a much smaller problem than for many other countries. The animal rescue organizations always try to make it a better place for these voiceless beings. However, they often face problems.

I realized that through social networking, we get connected to people who live in different parts of the world. Some folks in Ghana know people in China who know people in Canada who know people in Brazil who know other people in Ghana! So say there is an animal in Ghana who needs help, and a local rescue group has posted it on their wall, through the network, people could actually share the same post and that animal might get the help needed!

This was why I started NOAH. To link those people with the same mission! The second aim is to connect individuals and organizations in developing places to people in places where they have learnt how to get that help!

So that was what I did pretty much the whole day (apart from having some yummy lunch and dinner!). My first stage is connecting with organizations who help animals in different countries. And believe me, it is not easy finding animal rescue set ups around the world when you don't know half the languages they use -- it is even tougher to share their content in English! For now this is it.

I want to watch Castle and relax for a while, before crashing!