For the past several months I have neglected this blog. No particular reason. I just didn’t feel up to it .
I had made several starts and then stopped mid-sentence or mid-blog completely convinced that blogging was like flogging a dead horse.
I tried reading the AtoZ blog entries but couldn’t get past the first blog. My apologies to you dear bloggers, it has nothing to do with your content. It was all to do with my head. Something kept me from doing everything except eating and sleeping. And the effects are now beginning to show.
Finally, I decided to take up my mobile again and begin flogging my blog – even if it was paralysed into what seems like an irretrievable coma.
Fee Fie Fo Fum
So what brought this about?
A strange smell in Prima Donna’s bathroom. A smell that was unmistakably foul – the smell of vomit.
A thorough search under the cabinet, behind the water closet and even the gap between the wall and the mirror yielded nothing.
Then I spotted a ziplock bag filled with a pale blue substance that was neither solid nor liquid. I held it close to my nose and almost gagged.
Then I remembered. It was something called OOBLECK– a non Newtonian fluid (whatever that means).
I always thought that OOBLECK was a word to describe something akin to playdoh in the twiblings’ fantasy world of DEDARA.
My two grandchildren born six weeks apart are neither siblings no twins but TWIBLINGS a word coined by the family to describe their relationship. Bonded as they are by their almost twin mothers, they share a common language called Dedo or Pinkemoon ( depending on the mood ) so I imagined OOBLECK was a substance in their imaginary world .
“No Aji, “ protested Ma Papaya repeatedly when I insisted that there was no such thing as a substance that is neither solid nor liquid. After all, I had studied science till pre-Med level and had never heard of such a thing when we learnt about Matter .
“I heard about it in EPIC ,” she insisted, citing an Internet source that was sanctioned, nay, encouraged by the school.
I still had my doubts ( being the all-knowing Adult in this situation) and it was only today that I actually checked and found out what it was all about .
Now I have to find out what. Non-Newtonian liquid is all about! Why didn’t Isaac just eat the apple quietly instead of wondering what made it fall on his head !!!!!!
Ciao
With schools breaking up for the holidays you could easily try this activity to keep the little ones busy. But : Remember to keep a watch for a strange smell after a few days !
Pedder Road or Dr. Gopal Rao Deshmukh Marg is one of the main arterial roads of Mumbai. And if you don’t know it , Mumbai is the Financial Capital of India. That is why its streets are paved with gold .
Peddar Road has seen a lot of VIP movement right from the Pope in his Popemobile, the Queen of England, the daily trips from Mantralaya to God Alone Knows where by God Alone Knows Who, and Heads of State, zooming down with screaming Pilot cars including our present President’s latest visit that brought local traffic to a 2 1/2 hour halt.
Well, in a country of 1.3 billion souls,2 1/2 hours is nothing in a lifetime especially if your life is hanging by a thread and comes to an end within minutes because you have missed your scheduled life-saving surgery.
Pedder Road was once lined with elegant bungalows nestled in wooded compounds Today most of the bungalows have been replaced with a hodge-podge of buildings representing Mumbai’s architectural journey – right from Art Deco to modern kitsch. Also most of the time the road is lined up with bored policemen waiting for the VIP movement to pass.
So one would expect that the pavements of this Very Important Road would be well maintained and standable for the policemen of not walkable for the pedestrians who use this road.
But nay, pavements are NOT meant for pedestrians. Whoever thought of that is a total moron!
Mumbai Streets are paved with GOLD.
Come January and the roads are frantically prettified once again ensuring that the annual Municipal Road Maintenance budget is depleted and ready to receive replenishments on April 1st.
As a matter of fact, currently,a swanky new public toilet is being constructed on top of a side lane Murli Deora Marg leading off Pedder Road, for the convenience of numerous policemen patrolling the area. Long needed though it may be, ( the place is crawling with security men in all kinds of uniforms). It won’t be long before the Chowk on top is renamed Sandas Chowk in honour of the new toilet and possibly the Eau de Toilette that will soon waft upwards to the upper floors of buildings whose windows remain steadfastly closed keeping in the cool air-conditioned air..
The more than 1 foot high pavement that has no tiling to speak of. Guaranteed to be a slush machine in the rainsPavement that has a drain cover, uneven surface and broken tiles with wires to trip you up if you haven’t already fallen down
Since most of these people who live in high places have swanky cars to take them even a foot away, there is obviously no need for pavements.
That is why the pavements are made specially to provide the hospitals nearby with enough patients who trip, fall or are killed outright on the road because there is no pavement to walk on .
show me the pavementso much space to squeeze in just hop off the bus and onto the roada pavement is a good place for a junction boxso is the treecovers? broken gutter sloping pavmentfootpath entrepreneursfree parking !garbage tucked away from VIP eyespipe pops up to trip you upfree accommodation on India’s expensive real estatemore free parking
Pavements to walk on are a hangover from our colonial past. And like everything that is British or foreign finds no place in new India which is writing its own history so too are Mumbai’s pavements.
Mumbai pavements are paved in gold.
You can spread out a mat and sell random stuff like underwear or kitchen knives as well as essentials like fruit and vegetables. A pavement shop requires very little investment apart from a petty sum to grease some palms. Besides this is known as doorstep shopping – step out and buy your stuff.
So when pavements are NOT meant for walking, it matters little whether they are paved with pavers or uneven covers of various utility channels running below the street. Not to mention that they are occupied by bus stops or milk booths or trees, or even beggars who own cell phones ( establishing their address proof thereby). And it gets even better when the pavements are a foot high or non-existent in parts.
And if you thought the pavements have it bad, just imagine what goes on under the flyover – the first flyover in Mumbai. It has an entire family living there, working industriously on stuff to sell or just watching serials on their smart-phones !
I just can’t wait for the rains when the water gushes down and camouflages the 1ft high distance between the pavement and the level of the road. That will be the true test of a die-hard Pedder Road Walker who can figure out where the pavement ends and the road begins.
In the meanwhile, I urge the government to make it mandatory to warn everybody
Walking is injurious to health. You are walking at your own risk.
As always, we will celebrate March 8 as International Women’s Day.
This Saturday, our Club which was the bastion of male supremacy till as late as the last decade of the last century has organised a a day long series of events like beauty spas, cooking workshops, etc organised for women. But as I mentioned in my post last year , do we really need a special day to commemorate women?
International Women’s Day (March 8) is a global day for celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. The day also marks a call to action for accelerating gender parity.
Indeed, a curious Ms Papya also wanted to know why?
I immediately Googled it and I was surprised to find that it was on THIS day in 1917, that Russian women textile workers exhausted with WW1, food shortages and the tyrannical tzarist rule, took to the streets of St.Petersburg clamouring for Peace & Bread. Surprisingly enough, these agitations sparked the February Revolution and compelled the Tsar to abdicate in favour of the Provincial Government!
Despite women having such an earth-shattering effect on the social fabric of a very orthodox and patriarchal system, women today still are not completely in charge of their destinies.
The pictogram in the Thursday edition of the MINT, shows that gender parity is a long way off.
This year’s theme for International Women’s Day is #BreakTheBias. And we have been urged to plan events to celebrate this day in a way that will break the bias and
Forge a Gender Equal World
Celebrate Women’s Achievements
Maintain Gender Equal Mindsets
Call out gendered actions or assumptions
While I am in no position to organise any event, I am sharing my thoughts on the above.
Maintaining Gender Equal Mindsets
I must confess that I am not a “working” woman – I only work at home and from home. However, I am aware of all the prejudices that women face in the workforce and the hurdles they have to battle to prove themselves better than their male counterparts, having heard countless stories from my working mother, working daughters, friends and several other members of my family.
But many women in the world aren’t so fortunate. For them, life is a struggle dealing with subjugation, inhuman living conditions and discrimination in the workforce. While the suffragettes won women the universal right to vote, very few women enjoy the benefits of feminism and women empowerment.
What is really surprising is that it is the women themselves who often sell themselves short- accept lower salaries for “part-time” work which often has them working longer hours and enjoying fewer benefits than their male counterparts or even other women. They tacitly accept any reductions in privileges or even the ridiculous explanation that they are given a loose rope only because they are women. For instance, a woman who comes late to work because of a sick child is reprimanded while a man who uses the same excuse is praised for being a good, hands-on dad!
To my mind, working women don’t need parity, they need MORE than mere parity. Working women are more diligent, more loyal, more conscientious and work longer hours than most men, since they also work at home.
But of course, before the seesaw tips the other way, the wages have to be balanced first. It is time women’s work be recognised and their contribution to society acknowledged and rewarded. After all, as Chairman Mao always said : Women hold up half the sky. However, as Ban Ki-Moon, the former Secretary General of the UN said:
Women hold up more than half the sky and represent much of the world’s unrealized potential. They are the educators. They raise the children. They hold families together and increasingly drive economies. They are natural leaders. We need their full engagement… in government, business and civil society.
Ban Ki-Moon
Doesn’t that entitle her to an equal wage at the very least?
Celebrating Women’s Achievements
Like the Soviet women who in a way ushered in IWD, women in every society have fostered social change. Women have been leaders and game-changers in every field ranging from the arts to the sciences. There are several women in my social circle who have changed the world with their actions. I would like to share with you the stories of two such women with whom I am still in touch albeit more through our school WhatsApp group and the occasional school reunions.
Mira, the handloom crusader has been working tirelessly for over two decades reviving the ancient craft of handloom saris in Maheshwar. These gossamer-thin saris are exquisite in their subtle colours, shaded weaves and intricate, borders and motifs woven in gold thread.
Education is the cornerstone of progress and educators like Swaroop Rawal who has revolutionised teaching with her unique methods, need to be recognised. Today Swaroop is one of the many advisors called upon to re-design and modernise our education policy.
Forging a Gender Equal World
Men are from Mars and women are from Venus
Coming from a patriarchal family with strong women, I sometimes feel that feminism sometimes goes over the top. Gender bias? Of course, it exists. In my family, women have a distinct advantage. The girls in our family are encouraged to do what they want to do (education, music, athletics) not because they are women and need empowerment but because they have the aptitude to do so.
Similarly, the boys are encouraged to help around the house, even taking on major chores like laundry, grocery shopping and cooking.
But who are we kidding? There are inherent differences between men and women. There are certain characteristics that are typically female and those that are typically male.
My two younger grandchildren are just five weeks apart. Strangely enough they seem to be connected and when one of them sneezes, you can be sure the other one is also coming down with something. They both are wise beyond their years and have a distinct sense of humour that was apparent even when they were toddling out of infancy. Both were given gender unspecific toys. But strangely enough, the boy prefers cars while the girl prefers books.
So my own personal observation is that there are gender-specific differences in terms of attitude.
And let’s celebrate the differences rather than try to make both men and women into androgynous creatures in the name of feminism.
Calling out gendered actions or assumptions
Every day there are any number of instances where women have been the target of women gend bias. Be it honour killing, subjugation of their rights, sexual assault, body shaming, denying them access to health care, education and freedom of movement, every social media platform highlights these problems.
Sadly, no amount of calling out of these reprehensible actions has prevented them from happening.
Which possibly means that International Women’s Day will have a place in our society for as long as atrocities against women exist.
What do you think? I would love to read your comments .
For all you women out there, keep safe and be happy.
Twenty- five Seven 