India: Truths from Behind the Veil

In Saudi Arabia, women constitutionally or legally are unequal to men. They do not have the right to drive a car, for example. They are socially restricted, unless if they are pre-pubescent or married and accompanied by a male relation. They have fought and acquired the right to education, and to work, but are segregated from men in the workplaces. A woman in Saudi Arabia is born unequal, and is trained through practice to be inferior. 

In India, women are born legally equal. In fact, the dominant religion holds women in high esteem, and some might argue, in higher stead than men. She is educated, grows up with personal and professional ambition and of course, can drive any car she wants. Some of the largest states of our country are led by women, and it is popularly believed, that the country itself is run by a woman. We have prominent women in all walks of life – business, entertainment, politics, police, journalism etc. and a girl child looks at these examples and may dare to dream.

We are clearly the fairer society. But are we? There are ~25k reported rapes in India every year. Given the closeted nature of our society, and based on media estimates, the real number is expected to be as high as 250k. A woman is raped in India every two minutes. Only about one fourth of rape cases lead to convictions. That effectively means that a rapist only has about 3% chance of being convicted. Great odds, eh? In the glorious capital, only 1 guy was convicted for rape in 2012, 600 rapes were reported. Though it is positioned as the flag bearer of India’s rape culture, it accounts for ~3% of the total. It doesn't just end there, 90% rapes seem to be registered against offenders known to the victim, often family members. This is just like Saudi Arabia now, isn't it? No. Saudis don’t harm their own children, they might marry the nieces though.

We let our women out on paper planes, and then we let ourselves loose on them. We tell them that they are free and equal and we want them to outdo us, but we can’t tolerate it. If they win, we lose. Even the women who have made it rule insecurely, wary of other women joining them, making their feat smaller.

It’s not just men, and it’s not just men who rape women. We, as a society, pull our women down. And the fact that we position ourselves as liberal and progressive and equal is typically characteristic of India, isn't it? 

We live dirty lives under a just, self-righteous veil. Just like the Saudis now, eh?

It disturbs me immensely that scores of women were raped in India, in the time that I spent writing this. There is something desperately wrong.

Sometimes its hair, Sometimes its not hair

I often talk about my passion for cultural tourism, and my fascination with the wide variety of social systems that exist around us.
Kenyans have much rougher hair than the average Indian. It makes it tedious to maintain, and hence you see a lot of women braiding their hair. My natural reaction was to admire the ones who did not braid their hair and chose to make the effort to maintain it.

One afternoon, I was walking to lunch with a group of friends when I saw one of them had stopped behind us. One of the braid-less ones. I turned to see a pony-tail on the floor next to her, and as I looked around in gross bewilderment I found that nobody bothered to give it a second glance. Surely, it has to some shock value when you find your fine-haired friend was literally wearing a pony-tail, I thought. She, noticing my discomfort, scurried to pick it up and re-attach it, while laughing at my state of confusion.

I was later told that there are no admirable ones. They are all wearing some kind of hair-extensions. Its not a wig - which covers the whole head, but an accessory. Majority of these extensions are made with hair from India. 

If you have the hair for it, you could sell it for $100-$1000. Though the higher price is mostly reserved for exotic Peruvian hair. 

Brand New Year

A year well lived = a day of fond reminiscing

The New Year comes with an optional blank slate. If you accept it, you choose to drop your baggage, and travel light, again. Will you?

Here’s what I have in mind for this year (though of recently I have been way off on what I expect from my own life) –

Spring in Africa – If all goes as expected (it probably won’t), I might end up backpacking in South and East Africa to mark the end of my current volunteer stint, and spring

Summer in the Far East – Take the train (there is such a train, yes) from Beijing to Moscow through Mongolia, and then to Siberia, and then ferry to Japan and Korea

Autumn in India – There’s so much to see in dear old India, including my peeps

Winter in a Cold Country – I've never seen snowfall, ever. I need to get rid of this dubious distinction

Cheers to a Brand New Year!