The Weaker Sex??

Amongst all the jubilations and ecstatic outbursts over the freedom of Egypt from a tyrant, there was a blemish to spoil the celebrations. It was really sad to hear about a female American journalist being sexually assaulted repeatedly, before a group of women could free her. Is this the way men show their happiness and joy? It was ironic that the only way for them to enjoy their newly gained freedom was by having control over someone else's liberty.

What was worse were the reactions and statements made by some. When a woman goes through something like that, she would want nothing more than anonymity and respect of her privacy. Instead of that, she got nothing but disrespectful comments and debates on public websites like Twitter. It was some of her fellow reporters who had some ugly comments for something which she had no control over. People had a problem that her case would be given so much more importance just because she is a 'white' woman, whereas hundreds of women face the same world over and never come to the forefront because they have no voice. It is so unjustified to have a comment like that. Wronged women are just victims, they are not white, black, colored or anything else; they are just women. And it is equally sad when any of them are mistreated.

In India, where it is a taboo to talk about rape or molestation, many women never come out to talk about it, because of the fear of judgement. They fear the public scrutiny, which more often than once goes against them to hold them responsible for their fate. But, what took me by shock was, when the same things happened in a supposedly "developed" country like America. It was appalling to read irrational statements in tabloids, linking her past relationships with this incident. What a woman does in her life is her business. There is no way a horrific act can be justified by what her past has been.

We never hear of men being judged by what they wear or how they behave and then, being adjudged of deserving mistreatment. So, how come the rules are different for men and women??? During the same time, when reporters were covering the Egypt protests, two male reporters were hit and hurt badly. Why were they not judged? I did not read any comments about how they had brought this on themselves, or how their actions were responsible for the mistreatment.

We have supposed to have come a long way from the times when women had no voice, but to think of it, do women really have a voice today? Even if some women have a voice, do they have the liberty of speaking out, without being judged??? Judgement is the worst deterrent of courage and if it were not for that, things would have been a lot more easier. If a woman in a country like America, where women rights are pretty strong, had to face the wrath,  I can only imagine the fear women must go through in places, where there is no such thing as rights for women.

What was worse was when other women reporters, came out to say that all of them had faced ugly experiences. If it wasn't for the love for their job, they would not have gone back to this profession. Isn't is sad that in a time, when we give so much importance to human rights, women do not even have the freedom to chose their profession, without the fear of being aggrieved? What freedom are we talking about, when a person sometimes is kept from doing what they love, apprehending the consequences???

And do not be hasty to think that it is just this field that brings you face to face with such dangers. Women being ill-treated has got nothing to do with their jobs, what they do or what they don't. It is the twisted mindset that comes into play here and for which there have to be stricter rules. A perverted mind has to be nipped in the bud before it targets the "weaker sex". I fail to understand how something can be labelled 'weaker', when it takes nothing but exceptional strength to endure humiliation, disrespect and mockery and still champion the causes for others in need!!!

Education Vs Effort

The other day I was looking outside my window at the pretty white snow, accumulated in the parking lot, on the roads, everywhere. I was busy admiring the beauty of nature and the various forms it takes to awe us with it's fury. That is when this pretty picture was disrupted by cars breaking down and getting stuck in the snow. It is also when my eyes opened and went beyond the beauty.

However beautiful the snow looked, it did cause practical problems for everyone. And somebody had to take care of it. So, out came the snow plows, the snow blowers and all the heavy machinery. It was snowing so hard that one could hardly see across the street, it was so windy that the wind was cutting into the face like needles. Even with that, I could see maintenance workers on their snow mobiles trying to clear up as much snow as possible and getting stuck cars out into safety. Looking at all the effort they had to put in, and that too in such extreme conditions, I would think that they were really well paid. But this is only if pay was proportional to efforts. Unfortunately, today's society works in a way that skill outweighs mechanical labor.

It is sad to see that jobs requiring the highest amount of labor and physical strength, often pay the least. Because, according to some, those jobs don't require skill. Some of the riskiest jobs pay you just enough to sustain a family. No wonder, most of the youth aspire to become an engineer, or an accountant. Nobody aspires to be a fireman, or a maintenance worker or even an armed forces officer. Those who do, are great men with exceptional mental strength and grit. Because all of these jobs are either risky or involve a lot of physical labor and are not as rewarding as one would expect them to be.

So, how is the pay scale come up with, would be my first thought. How much menial work would be equivalent to talent and knowledge??? A lot of people work extra hours to get that extra income, and still do not earn as much as an engineer. How many hours would they have to put in, to deserve a good pay? I understand that education is being given importance and is considered to be an asset for high-paying jobs, and rightly so. But that does not give us the right to ignore the efforts put in for the less-paying jobs.

It is a known fact that college teachers are much well-paid as compared to kindergarten teachers. Now, any person who is sane, can obviously see which of the two requires more work. It becomes difficult for parents to manage their own children and yet a person who is taking care of 20 such kids, has their worth go unnoticed. I can only imagine how much stamina and patience such a job would require. As opposed to which, a college teacher has much more responsibility in terms of assignments and what not. But, she has the privilege of mental peace. And yet she gets paid more.

So are we saying that the only thing valued today is education and skill? If so, why can't we take better measures to make everybody aware of the worth and benefits of education??? In a country like America, there are all grades of people and every job is appreciated, but it is also true that appreciation cannot feed you. In a capitalist society like ours, it takes much more than appreciation to make lives better. It takes a better education, value addition and self-growth to make you survive the rat race for a better paid job. But has anyone thought, that the whole process of acquiring knowledge also requires a lot of money and that is where some are left behind unwillingly. It then becomes a vicious cycle. You will not have a whole bunch of money in your future, because you didn't have it in the beginning. So where does this end??

I think every person should be entitled to a good education and should be made aware of the perks, so that they can make a wise decision. And having said so, there will always be people who take care of the more exerting jobs, because if they didn't, we would have to do those ourselves. So, next time you see someone who makes your life easy by making theirs tougher, be sure to thank them. Appreciation surely cannot feed the stomach, but can feed the heart and bring a smile to faces. And sometimes, it is a happy heart that goes a longer way than anything else.

Need for High Entropy!!!

"Want perfect hair?", "What is the secret to a perfect marriage?", "The Perfect man/woman"...

Do you see how much focus is given to perfection these days and the idea of perfect?

Models strive to possess that perfect body, most people are in search for the perfect job, others are looking to attain the perfect life. But, isn't all that relative???

When women are flaunting their beautiful hair for the 'perfect' hair products, the hair type varies between straight or wavy, short or long, and these days there is a wide range of hair colors too. So who is to say, which one, amongst the so many depicted, is perfect? And is there really anything called as perfect???

This may come as a shock to the many people who know me and classify me as a borderline case of perfectionism and uptightness. But, I truly have started thinking of perfect in a different light. It took me quite sometime to understand that, when I expect something to be done a certain way, I can expect that only of myself and nobody else, because their definition of perfect is different and they are fulfilling it. For others, my perfect might not be good enough. So, why bother thinking about perfection so much? Why can't we have enjoy the imperfections too???

If everybody were to have a perfect marriage, imagine how boring and monotonous, daily life would be. Disagreements and arguments add spice to life, and make everyday a little different from the previous one. We look at the absolutely happy and smiling families and wish we could be more like them, but maybe they want to be more like us. Maybe they are tired of being the picture of joy and want to be the 'real picture'. We can never know what perfect means to different people. But, one thing I know for sure is that nature wanted us to be imperfect. If I remember some of my physics correctly, every particle in nature is supposed to tend towards higher entropy, which in the layman's terms, means that every particle moves towards a higher level of randomness.

So, my thought is, if every small particle was intended to behave accordingly, it would definitely be expected of humans, made up of so many little particles, to work towards disorder!!! Why waste energy in being perfect, when you were meant to be whimsical??? The fun part of life is all the craziness that being imperfect, entails.

Just yesterday, I was driving on a road with no bumps, no potholes, no honking and cars moving at a designated speed maintaining a perfect line. This is like heaven for drivers in so many countries, where driving is an adventure in itself. Can't say much about other countries, but just from my 8 years of driving in India, I can say that driving in the United States is much less taxing and exhausting as opposed to the feats we would have to perform in India, just to report for work. But, somehow, when there was utter silence around me and I could hear the sound of my own breath, I felt uncomfortable. I missed the horns, the stray animals coming in the way of traffic whenever they wanted, cows camping up right in the middle of the road, pedestrians and cyclists considering themselves kings of the roads, appearing out of nowhere and everybody else trying to win in the race to outrun everybody else. I missed the chaos. Where was the thrill? Not that thrill is always good, it could be dangerous too. But, those are the entropy levels, my body particles are used to and they are confused now, as to what I want of them: orderly behavior or the innate chaos!

I am not saying that we should stop trying to be better, but don't consider that the only important thing in life. Because, life is going to try to throw in some obstacles and create ataxia, so, put up a fight for achieving what you believe is organized and proper. Don't think too much about perfection, because imperfections were expected of us and we will be tested time and again for it. Embrace the disorder for a moment and start your uphill task of being the 'perfect you', rather than be the 'perfect copy' of someone else.