One more girl attacked near Mount Carmel college

That's 5 in a row if any one's counting. This time it was a journalist from Tehelka who was returning late from work. Here's The Hindu report on it.

All those people who are out there who've been screaming hoarse about this being a trivial issue, you still think so? This is not some class based issue that the elite (which basically means independent women with means to wear western clothes and probably own a bike or a car in this context) women are facing. This could be any woman on the street! And you still think it's too small an issue? WOW! How frustrated must that soul be by the progress of women? Seriously!

One more young girl was beaten up for wearing western attire

This was on Cunningham road yesterday. That stretch of the road could not possibly be more crowded at 6 and still no one helped the girl. The curious behaviour of the bystander continues.

The other interesting thing that's happening today is the sms doing the rounds asking women to be careful of their "dress code" due to these attacks. These are messages forwarded by "well meaning" women to warn their friends. Well no one's going to help and one cannot learn martial arts in a day so lets be safe seems to be the thinking. I cannot ask these women not to behave so. I have no solution for them or myself.

This prejudice against jeans i find it very funny at this point. I have been wearing jeans since I was 17 that's practically a decade and a half ago. My mother and I went to sale and Safina Plaza and bought my very first branded jeans. I had worn trousers before that but jeans this was the first. I didn't have to fight anyone for it. My mother was as enthu as me about it. My dad didn't think twice about it. It was just another outfit they were buying for their daughter. And they are as "Indian culure" oriented as one can get. Wearing them hasn't come in the way of being an Indian in anyway so far. They never for once thought this would draw more "attention" to me because they knew it wasn't true. If anything by my experience and theirs my worst nightmare happened when I was wearing a saree.

I have celebrated almost all festivals since then. I have cooked and cleaned my house, got married and now even going to have a baby. I know that's a very shallow description on the culture but that isn't mine it is what everyone tells me Indian culture is, so am just going along with that for now. But wearing jeans is still a big cultural change for many women even in a city like Bangalore even today. It is a big change. Some have to fight for it for some it is natural. But at the end of the day it is comfortable outfit. Of course right now it is taking on almost political role.

A lot of the people (needless to say mostly men and shockingly some women too) are finding this whole "hullabaloo" about the freedom to wear western clothes by women extremley silly and even irresponsible. We have bigger issues to worry about like falling GDP and the farmer suicides in vidarbha they say. My question is none of these men who are leaving scathing comments on blogs or the ones attacking the women are wearing dhoties and being shirtless are they? Nor are they using bullock carts to go after these women. Strange. Since when is trousers, tshirts and SUVs for men part of indian culture?

Being harassed on the streets is not new to any indian woman. At some point of time every one of us have been through the humiliation of "eve teasing." Some took it quitely, others rebelled and a few others killed themselves over it. This recent incident of mangalore pub attack or the attacks on the women in Bangalore are just the last straw we can take. And for once it looks like we might not be alone. That we might have a chance at being safe in our own bloody country without looking over our shoulders all the time or having to carry pepper spray or pocket knives and hope to hell that we don't have to use it. How are we women the lesser citizens of this country?

Female foeticide, infanticide, dowry, rape, molestation, sexual harrasment and now getting beaten up for wearing jeans. You are basically telling me I have no rights to live. I am not going to take that lying down. I have worked my ass off and fought a lot of battles to be who I am today and no one but me worked hard to buy those friggin branded jeans and I am keeping them. You can take a walk.

More blasts - this time in Ahmedabad

I have no words to describe the anger and frustration I feel about the Ahmedabad blasts. As of this morning 46 people have been killed! What on earth is the logic behind this mindlessness?

Only sane thing I did was to stay away from the damned news channels. I cannot be angry at more than one thing at a time!

The blasts and the blasted TV

13 phone calls, 32 sms and 5 emails later, I know that all the people I was worried about are safe and sound. But the fact that V is still not home (stuck in traffic jam) and I can't reach his mobile at all is freaking me out.

My heart goes out to those caught in it all...9 blasts in a couple of hours. It killed 3 and injured about 15. They can call it low intensity but it is scary, nevertheless.

And I am mad at television channels because they don't seem to get the facts right. All the English channels didn't even get the names of the places right till 3 hours after...Audugidi & Sarjipura for Audugodi & Sarjapura. Since most people in Bangalore aren't localites, I have been getting questions about these locations!

The Kannada channel TV9's anchor was worth being lynched with his inane questions. Sample this, he's questioning some eyewitness on phone and he asks "Bangaloreans are not used to such things so how was it to hear the blast?" What the????

Then he also says that the bomb doesn't look like it was made by professionals (HUH???). And goes on to spew his theories...if they were professionals he says, they wouldn't put the bomb near the naala (this is near audugodi) where no one is bound to get injured. I wonder if he worked with the bomb squad before shifting to this glamorous profession of news reading!

Then they went off to Mallya hospital to question one of the guys who got injured. The guy's obviously shaken, he hasn't been bandaged fully yet, he's pressing cotton on to his right arm and there are 3 mikes thrust in his face!

All channels without exception were quite happy to speculate as to who put the bombs there. And all the usual suspects were named. Of course by evening they said this was not an international action but someone local was involved.

I agree there is a need to get the information, but why jump the gun when you have no clear information? And really please can you not think before you speak / ask questions? There are people watching you on live TV and hoping you know your jobs for godsake!

And what's wrong with the aam junta? Minutes after the blast, one would think that they would stay put at homes / offices where it is relatively safer. But there were 100s of people out to see what happened. Curiousity has brought them out, one reporter said. I don't get it.

Then of course the clincher, someone from the centre said, the last 2 blasts (now Bangalore and Jaipur 2 months ago) have happened in BJP led states! Apparently indicating the ineptitude of the party. Nice time to take potshots and the opposition.

I AM SO MAD!

Correction: Only 1 was killed and 8 injured in yesterday's blasts!

What is the priority???

Scarlett Keening, a 15-year-old girl, was sexually assaulted and murdered in Goa. And of course media is going crazy over it. They have enough masala coming their way what with coverups and counter coverups over who did it and who didn't.

But of course this isn't enough. They have to get personal. British media is talking about what an irresponsible mother Fiona has been. That she didn't bring up the children well. They've put the pictures of Scarlett is skimpy clothes and her room that's very untidy to prove this. Sometime back I saw a report on one of the Indian channels saying it was irresponsibility of the mother that led to the murder of this kid.

The guy(s) who drugged the kid, assaulted her and left her to die isn't in the picture anywhere. The fact that Goa which thrives on tourism is becoming unsafe for tourists is not in question. But Fiona's lifestyle is. Whether she let her daughter wear swimsuits or brought her up in a dirty single room...she just lost her little girl while she was on a holiday. How can you justify murder? And that too media?

Hole in the earth - part II

More details about the tree cutting here

Hole in the earth

138 trees on the St John's hospital road (Koramangala) have been marked for cutting for widening of the already wide road.

The trees that lined the Golf course on the Windsor Manor road have been chopped off for road widening.

The lovely big trees on Hosur road (between Madiwala junction and St john's road on the right) have been marked for cutting for road widening I suppose. Only a few of those Banyan trees are left now. I don't know for how long.

I saw a large hole in the earth where a tree used to be at Malleshwaram circle (for flyover this time)

I cannot explain the feeling of emptiness I feel when I see these holes. These trees have been around or were around before I was born. I have no idea how to save these trees. Bangalore, I am told needs more space to breathe. But what are we going to breathe? Oh we are going to pay so dearly for all this callousness.

I don't see a reason why I should continue to defend my decision to stay in Bangalore. Actually I do have a line of defence...a known devil is better than an unknown angel.

Mumbai molestation case - update

The 14 people arrested in the case were put through an identity parade today. That's all the reports say.

Update on "Mumbai molestation" case

Today Mumbai police announced a prize money for anyone who gave leads on the case. Thye now have a complainant and so they can take action. They are using the pictures taken by Hindustan Times to identify those among the mob. So far 13 people have been arrested and 2 have have surrendered.

Surprising that this has not hit the headlines as much as anything else in the last 2 days. National dailies haven't covered as well (not on front page).

And most people including women's reaction to the incident - "why the hell were they out so late at night. What else did they expect?"

Well today they did at midnight if you don't check it they'll do it in broad day light is all I can say!

I am too disgusted!

"Two years in a row, New Year revelry in Mumbai has gone awry. This year, in a city which boasts of being safe for women, a mob of 70 to 80 men groped and molested two women for about 15 minutes on a busy main street in Juhu early on New Year's Day. " More details here

What's with the men? And 70-80 men going after two women just because they dared to step out after midnight? Seriously sex is the only thing on mind anytime of the day whatever the occasion huh? While going to work if a woman crosses by whistle at her. Comment on her breasts and bottoms while she's trying to get on a bus who's window seat you are sitting at. She's trying to drop her kids off at school in a car say she's too hot to be a momma. She's waiting at the bus stop to be picked up by a 20 year old son, hover around her giving her leery looks, making her nervous. You are walking along with your friend after work and a girl walks by and you have this sudden urge to push your friend on to her and laugh about it.

UGGGGGH disgusting! And anyone who dares to say that it is because of what women wear you have another thing coming!

!@#@$@!$@#$!$#$!$#@$@#!$!@ Bloody hell!

Globalisation of a different kind

It always scares me to hear about all the bomb blasts that happen all over the world. I believe it is the single most senseless thing that mankind has invented. But you never really understand how terrifying it is unless it touches you. When I was younger I knew very few people and whoever I knew were all either in Bangalore or Belthangady. Nothing much happened around then. News of one odd accident or an unexpected death was all that came along once in a while to disturb us. Then we moved on.

Now it is different I have made a lot friends and work with a lot of people in different parts of the country, world even. I always felt it was a good thing. But then when terrible things happen in those far away places and you worry about your friends or colleagues it isn't so good.

First time I realised this was when I met a young Kashmiri student years ago who talked about militancy that almost ripped his family and identity apart. I met him just once, I don't even remember his face or name but everytime I hear some news from Kashmir, I wonder about him.

The bomb blasts in Delhi, Mumbai and Assam always worries me. I know a few people there. I am not touch with all of them but it scares me nevertheless. The mindless shooting spree in some part of America, forest fires that go out of control, the cyclones that threaten an entire coastline all these are not just news one hears on TV anymore. It is much more personal.

Srilanka was another country that just fascinated me after I read Ramayana. Then I met two girls from that country who cried when they watched "Kannathil Muthamittal" and told the everyday horrors which shook me up so much I didn't sleep for days. Now I worry about that country too. These days a friend travels to Colombo often on work and I send out silent prayers.

Sometimes I feel I cannot take this anymore. This mindless blood spilling that's happening everywhere it is affecting me. And then I think if this is how I feel when I am miles away from there, what goes on in the minds of people who see this everyday and watch helplessly as violence disrupts their lives?

midnight ramblings

Its almost 1 am and I am up leaving comments on nostalgic posts of strangers from the blog world, making myself oggarane haakida mosaranna for the second dinner of the night and walking up and 4 floors to the terrace and back to see if the traffic's moving. There is no cable and the house running on a DG am clinging on internet because Hemingway is unable to engage the mess that is my head right now. No I am turn into an insomniac lunatic I am waiting for V to return from work. No this is not one of those project deadline days. He is on the road somewhere in his second attempt to get home tonight. His first attempt was at 9 and he didn't even manage to get out of his office compound for the first half hour. Once he hit the road he spent the next half hour trying to go back to office because the damn road was jammed all the way till Silk Board flyover. So he started the whole exercise 3 hours later only this time in taxi. In all the excitement to get home he parked the car in the office basement and now we are wondering if we'll have to call the insurance guys tomorrow because it is still pouring.

As per the latest SMS from V The taxi driver does not know where he is!!! I am trying bloody hard not to freak out.

This is what Bangalore is become...rain means traffic jams nothing but traffic jams. I've spent my whole life in this city and till 2004 I had seen just one flooding that was probably in 89-90. That was an exception. The same year Ulsoor lake walls had breached and had flooded the whole area something that's almost a certainty during monsoons these days. Of course the flood in 2005 was the mother of all and we had not moved into our new home but water did. House stood in water for 4 days and we couldn't even get to it. Someone sent me the pictures of the time and till date I have shivers every time it thunders.

Okay V has found the main road and now I wait...again...because they are now approaching the house from the opposite end which means an additional 20 kms!

Why am I doing this running commentary? I guess I have to say to someone what I am feeling. Can't call Amma at this hour and freak her out...

And for once in my life I am grateful for cell phones else if V had vanished for this long without it I would've been waking up the neighbours by now (not that it would help)

This is not the Bangalore I grew up in and fell in love with madly and threw away careers for...And no I am not talking about the traffic jams. This city is a different woman now.

Will I have to put her in a time capsule too? Like all those friends and good times I had here? I don't see any other way.

I say this everytime something unbangalore (at least in my head) happens but next day someone will talk about malleshwaram or Tata institute or cubbon park or sankey tank and I will tell myself I don't want to live anywhere else in the world.

Postscript: V reached home at 2 in the morning. He didn't go to office this morning (I am aware that there 100s who do not have this luxury) because last night's traffic jam continued till 12 today and the tiny road that leads to the main road is full of water . Both of us are sitting at home watching the rain havoc coverage on TV9 (of course Rahul Dravid's decision to resign brought down the fervour of live coverages). But I can't help wonder at people's enthusiasm to bring home Ganesha despite all this. I mean I am seeing people wading through knee deep water to get him home.

And I wonder how long BBMP will keep saying we were not expecting this sort of unprecedented rain!

grrrrrrrrrr

I want to watch a movie on a weekday at 10 pm and there are no tickets
I want to eat at some decent restuarant on a weekday at 9pm and there are no tables - "you have to call and book madam"
I want to go to Kerala any time of the year and there are no tickets - "weekends madam we cannot promise you anything"
I want to return home anytime of the day and no autos agree to come - "too much traffic we won't come"
I want to get out of house at 6.30 pm there are no autos available (well they would be available if they come in the first place to return)
I want to work from home and half the day there is no power - "no load shedding" the CM's been harping.
I want a taxi to pick me up from the airport in two hours time and there are no taxis - "all are busy madam" (this at midnight on a bloody working day)
I want to get a hair cut at some half decent place and there are no appointments during the week or the weekend - "summer is always like this sorry"
The well known brand of soaps or cream I picked up last month is not available anywhere -" short supply" is the cryptic answer I get.

What the bloody hell is happening? Where have I landed?

Things I heard on a Sunday afternoon

"I should've listened to you"
"How could that b****** do that?"
"Are you sure he is the one?"
"Are you sure that's what he was trying to do?"
"Yeah otherwise there is no need for him to be there, we know but still..."
"It shouldn't have happened. But what can we do?"
"Bhagwaan kasam humne kuch nahi kiya"
"You say he was the one, but don't beat him up. No we can't beat him up either. It will be an offence on our part if we touch him. We will just fire him from the job."
"Why call the police? They will let him go."
"This won't even stand in for a legal case. You will be the one embarassed about it."
"The same thing happened to my wife you know. I didn't do any thing, what could I do?"
"Beating up people is not for us; we are educated folks."
"You go around the city by yourself, what if he comes after you holding a grudge?"
"You should've been more careful. These criminals will keep on doing these things."
"No don't call the police we will just ensure he doesn't come back into this building."
"Well we know that he can go and do this somewhere else to someone else, but it won't be us."
"Don't be emotional about this. They are psycho men. we have to learn to deal with it."
"Why do want to make yourself visible for wrong reasons? Do not complain."
"You can't change the world. Don't be silly, you just make sure you are safe."

I just have one thing to say to all these men. "Spineless *******"

Bloody hell!

They were just going home finishing their work. Looking forward to a fresh bath, warm food and a quiet evening with the family. Many of them even glad for the fact that today is over, tomorrow is another day may be better. All they got is a bloody carnage. Many of them didn't live to tell the tale. Those who did, their trust shattered forever.

It is all so pointless. True they will pick themselves up today and move forward, in their famous mumbaikar stride. How far though? Till the next blast?

It is that simple and easy to kill hundreds at one go eh? All in a day's work? The people who planted those bombs did they go back home tell their family "My day was good today; I finished what I was supposed to do"?

In all the carnage I saw on TV, one thought occurred to me. People in that far away Kashmir, witness blood bath like this everyday may be not on this scale, but blood bath nevertheless. We don't see the kind of outrage that Mumbai blasts caused yesterday. Is it because we have become used to the news of violence from there? Will we reach a stage where we will react to this kind of news with a “tut tut” and move on, even if it is in our neighbourhood?

Just like the fact that in the neighbourhood women are being harassed, houses burgled, young men beaten up and killed for mere mobile phones, does not move anything in our hearts, anymore. One day the violence of the scale like that in Mumbai will also mean nothing.

Blood will run cold soon and not because we are dead.

GRRRRRRRR

This article is on rediff!

"There's something about a perfect female posterior wrapped in a tight red skirt that just makes time and space melt away. There are airlines and there are airlines, and then there's a breed of bearded business moguls who like to admirably concentrate their energies on making sure they have the finest stewardesses in the land." for more read http://in.rediff.com/getahead/2006/may/23don.htm

Helpline - Part II

I had written about my woes with Standard Chartered Bank a couple of days ago. Yesterday I called them again, because there is no sign of my statement soft or hard copy. I had this absolutely mindless conversation with one Mr. Raj.

R: You have updated the address on 26th Apr and our statement delivery date is 22nd so you will not recieve the copy this month.
Me: Ha ha ha well then I will not pay any money to you let alone the fine and interest you are bloody charging me.
R: If you subscribe for email updates, we can send the soft copy right away and then you shouldn't have any problems paying us.
Me: Yes I shouldn't but guess what? The last time I called I already did that and I cannot open the bloody attachment you have sent me.
R: Oh that's simple you have to type your 16 digit card number to open the attachment.
Me: But nothing was happening.
R: You have to type your 16 digit card number to open the attachment.
Me: But you see there was no box that will let me type in the numbers.
R: Oh so you cannot type your 16 digit card number to open the attachment?
Me: NOOOOOOOO
R: I will send it again then

By then I am too glad to hang up and actually thank him for letting me go.

Later it occurred to me that I was going through all this agonising experience to pay the Bank back. I was actually struggling to find a way to pay them. Good lord is this ridiculous or what?

Welcome to *****. How can I help you?

"We have 24 hour helpline over the phone ma'am" a refrain that makes me VERY angry these days. Sure, it was exciting a couple of years ago when they said it. Wow, I don't have to go to the bank at all you know I just have to pick up the phone and express my wishes and they shall be fulfilled, I told my techphobic Mom. Today, she has the last laugh. She does not have unexplained figures withdrawn from her bank account nor does she have to yell at some moron sitting on the other end of the phone, who has been trained only to say "ma'am your complaint has been registered and will be looked into it." Ask him / her why it has not been looked into that last six times I called, the answer would be "Ma'am we have registered a complaint." Moronic enough to make me want to throw the very instrument I am holding at her.

By the virtue of being cosmopolitan, tech savvy and very lazy person myself I've had the fortune to talk to the call centre employees of all companies, products and services one needs to live a normal life in the 21st century. I've spent many pulses on talking to Telephone Company, mobile company, Washing Machine Company, Credit Card Company, Banks, stove repair company, gas agencies, internet service provider, Home delivery guys, Apartment builders, home loan banks and countless other "service providers." And I can tell the number of times I've had an sensible conversation, let alone intelligent and got my work done in less than two calls.

You think I am exaggerating? Let me give you the latest examples. I've shifted my residence from TN to Karnataka recently so just before moving, very diligently in a very unpadma way I sent letters to all the service providers a letter requesting to change my contact address. Almost all of them took notice of them except standard chartered, whose credit card I hold. 45 days after I sent the change of address letter I called to check why the hell the address has not been changed? I had to select from the few million options the automated response system asked to me to choose from, enter all kinds of numbers from my credit card number to date of birth and finally the line goes dead. No "How may I help you?" just silence. I borrow some patience and try again. Same rigmarole of keying in numbers and this time a very pleasant sounding youngman with an accent from an unidentifiable phareen land answers my call. The conversation was heading towards disaster right from the start, when he said "How can I help you Mr. Ravi?" Read the full name damn it. But the remaining patience kicked in and in a very sober voice I tell him my problem. He listens to the entire story with utmost attention and then says "Ma'am we have received your letter but do not make the changes unless you call." By then a weird sense of calm prevails over me and I ask "can I do it now or should I call back in a better muhurtham" My sarcasm totally lost on the phareen accented guy. He then makes the changes and tells me they can send my statement on email too just incase the snail mail doesn't reach on time. I, ever sucker for technology agree. Then just before hanging up, very politely he asked me "ma'am do you need personal loans? we give it on very low interest rates" No thanks!

So much for customer service. And BTW very next day, my statement arrived on an email. But then I couldn't open it and so I wrote back to the customer service and they have now asked me for a fresh set of details only after which I can see my statement.

And yesterday to add insult to injury I found out that that I cannot take these guys to the consumer court for not keeping their promise :-(

"Customer is always right" Yeah right!!!