Foeticide, the word makes me cringe with so many strong emotions. And every time it’s talked about feels like I’m helpless. It’s really true that the man to woman ration in India has fallen over the last 20 years and continues to do so. I wish this was a lie, a lie that never existed.

I struggle to find answers for questions like why is the girl child still a 2^nd rated citizen here? There cannot be a woman who has at some point, for a few seconds maybe, wished she was a man.

If it is true that woman has been able to break barriers, she did it without invoking love for self. Her existence is still needed but existence which circles around the needs of the world where she has very little place.

The liberated woman today too kills her girl child. She is still told to bear sons. She is still told that she has not been of much good if she is not the mother of someone who takes the family name forward. Technology now helps kill a teeny little heart which still runs blood inside and outside it. Do you think the smaller the embryo is lesser you will feel sorry killing her?

What else does a woman need to do to get the status that a man still enjoys? It’s strange how India as a country has given some of the best brains to the world yet has managed to evolve such sinister customs. As if Sati wasn’t enough, which is still actively practiced in many places across the country, female foeticide is the new rape of the day.

As we have been moving towards liberalization and have been de chaining a woman from the so called customs we have missed the basic counseling and similar activities for male and others in the family to help them cope with this emergence. As a result of the dearth of this very important awareness education more women have been consumed by hateful acts by fellow humans, the number of males has gone up.

Practice of dowry system is still flourishing. It’s strange that families that kill the fetus are in fact loving parents or relatives of existing female offsprings.

Here are my 2 cents on eradicating this sin from this pious land;

1. Ban sex determination. It needs to be an absolute NO NO.
2. Free education to girls till post graduation.
3. Do not marry girls into households having only male child or having majority male child. Chances are they might have sinned on what we have been discussing. With this some innocents will suffer but it’s a start atleast to ensure people realise having girls is just as important as having boys.
4. Extra benefits for homes having only girl children. Like Tax benefits or daily commodities for cheaper prices as compared to homes having male child or only male child.
5. Finally, time men stand up to their parents who advice them against having girl child. Tell them to take a hike. Warn them you will not take care of them when they need you.

I know some of what I said may sound harsh. But if you do not take these harsh and strong steps now we would have succumbed to this evil and many more thriving on women. Sati, dowry system, girl child murder, female fetus murder … just how many more rapes do you think this sex can take.

She will love you the most

She will learn from you the most

Just let her live for she is the girl child who is asking you to want her the most.

Popularity: 15%

I come from a region, no, country, where Rajnikant a.k.a Sivaji needed to go in for a facial to become ‘white’, to woo his lady love, and the naïve Suhasini a.k.a Arkani unknowingly smeared shaving cream all over her face in a bid to impress her fair husband. And this was only in the movies- in the real world, things are magnified hundred fold. As much as we’d all like to convince ourselves that our thinking has broadened, we all know deep inside, it is all bollocks- the Great Indian Fair-Skin Obsession hasn’t waned. Not even a bit.

Fashion pundits will proclaim, “Dark and dusky are the ‘in’ colours right now.” They will also helpfully point out to you how the Indian models who have made it big on the international arena (like Lakshmi Menon, Tinu Verghese and Ujjwala Raut), are dark, “not even dusky!”

But let us take the example of the Menon and Verghese girls. They probably made it big because of the exotic element, or whatever. But show their pictures to an average mallu, and you will see them cringing, “She’s a mallu ah? No way! She’s sooo black.”

While it is a totally different matter that we South Indians don’t have a taste for the ‘starved’ types, the point is- the average Indian associates ‘fair’ with beauty; even in this day and age, when every Tom, Dick and Harry walks around with multiple degrees.

Education in the country has done nothing to season minds. We are fed with stories of fair princesses in gossamer gowns right from the word ‘go’. And to this day, when we look at a dark beauty, all we can condescendingly say is, “For that colour, she is quite nice looking.”

Sure, we may occasionally wear those bronzing lotions; but we will still, at the end of the day, daub on those fancy night whitening creams.

With every passing day, the number of these ‘colour enhancing’ products is increasing and after Fair and Handsome for the men, one wonders, what next?

Bleaching products for our pets, to keep them fair and glowing, or will we be so kind as to spare them?

Take a look at the marriage scenario.

If the girl is ‘blessed’ with fair skin, her ad will proclaim, “Fair, beautiful girl looking for suitable boy,” while for a dark girl, the ad will read, “Intelligent, well-educated, helpful, kind, homely……,” blah blah blah. Note the omission of colour.

Are we ashamed to proclaim our true colours?

You may cry hoarse that you come from a forward-thinking family, but come on, can you actually see your parents saying on a matrimonial, “Wanted dark and dashing man,” or “Wanted dark and beautiful girl,” ?

I think not.

Even in movies, the division is clear. The dark ones invariably get edged off into ‘parallel’ cinema. We are definitely not mature enough to accept a dark heroine like Nandita Das doing an out and out glamorous role; running around trees et al.

Even as I write this piece, I am reminded of the numerous occasions where, as a kid, I was treated differently because I was so ‘horribly’ tanned. See, I was just a young girl living up every minute of her wonder years on the tennis court, not worrying about all the annoying sunscreen lotions that were in the market then. But then, to the world outside, I was the girl who looked like roast while her peers looked like fresh orchids. Outsiders and third persons politely suggested I use sunscreen, but my more blatant relatives lamented openly about how I looked awful. But that is the beauty of childhood; I didn’t give two hoots about what they were saying. I continued playing my game, minus all the suggested anti-tanning and de-tanning measures.

Those were truly the best years of my life.

Now that I play the game no more, the tan has vanished and everyone says, “You look so nice now. I can’t believe it is the same you.” And I try in vain to look indignant. But in all honesty, I am a hypocrite. I now try to stay away from the ‘harsh and damaging’ rays of the sun, and when I have no choice, I take all the necessary precaution; sunscreens, caps, umbrellas…the works.

I wish I didn’t give two hoots about my colour now, but sadly, I do. I, by the way, represent the India of today.

Image Credit: Bionic Hedgehog

Popularity: 11%

Last couple of weeks, two multimillion dollar news/ reviews caught my attention – Multimillion dollar stories of a dog, a shoe and the many games people play.

One was of course of “The Bush Shoe” and the other was the latest movie going the rounds- Slum Dog Millionaire

US President George Bush was attacked with a shoe by a Cairo based Iraqi TV reporter Muntadar Al-Zeidi. The shoe has gained tremendous popularity – in the middle eastern world and the western world. Although shoe throwing is considered as an insult in many parts of the Middle East, this particular incident was an exception of sort. There was allround praise for Mr.Zeidi. In fact I even heard the news of a Saudi man willing to give $ 10 Mln to get his hands to those “Godly” shoes

In his last days as President, Mr. Bush has certainly earned the respect from his followers so much so that it took a shoe for all the talking. Apparently the Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al- Maliki had clearly heard the thrower’s accompanying cry of “This is a goodbye kiss, you dog”

Check out the many shoe games that has come to the market post this incident. There are many, here are the top five

1. Sock And Awe

2. Bush Bash

3. Flying Babush

4. Bush’s Boot Camp

5. Can You Throw a Shoe at Bush ?

What a mess indeed, huh ?

Talking of dog and of course the million dollars, it seems Slumdog Millionaire has caught its viewers by surprise.

Slumdog Millionaire is a story of a Mumbai Boy who won the Hindi version of famous reality show “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire”. The film is directed by Danny Boyle and written by Simon Beaufoy and is based on the book Q and A by Vikas Swarup.

The story sound simple – Jamal Malik  goes into the Hindi version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire and wins it. How can the illiterate boy from the slum with zero knowledge win such a prestigious show ? Things get complicated when the producers of the show do not believe that the boy indeed won it fairly.

Will that deter the boy from reaching his ultimate goal ? What is his ultimate goal ?

He loves a girl from his childhood days and has lost touch with her. Now he wants to get reunited with her. He knows for a fact knows that she watches every episode. Inorder to find her he goes to the show and wins it.  What mattered to him was the girl and not the million dollars that were waiting to be taken.

The Director Danny Boyle revealed on MTV Movies Blog that it is a true story. The movie stars Dev Patel, Freida Pinto, Anil Kapoor, Irrfan Khan. Music is by A R Rahman.

I browsed around to get see what others are talking about the movie. And here are few of those ketch ups

1. Although set in India, Film’s appeal are universal

2. It is a Crowd Pleaser

3. One of the most dynamic and exuberant underdog stories

If you are keen to take a sneek peak, watch the theatrical trailer here.

Image Credit: Wikimedia

Popularity: 19%