Night Shift ban

It has been a week since our beloved labour minister declared that women cannot work in night shifts. Till date there is no clarity on the issue. By Monday most people decided it is too ridiculous a measure to implement. But bang on Thursday the minister declares no it will be enforced and the governor has signed it

http://www.deccanherald.com/Content/May102007/state20070510811.asp?section=frontpagenews

In the same newspaper the minister also announces the most cliched but most preferred and revered reason for all this "it is against the Indian culture to make women work at night"

But there is some hope still. The women's commission is refusing to back down. Vimochana one of the NGOs working with women is contemplating a PIL. And according to today's TOI report Ansari is pretty much on his own in this brilliant move to protect the women and the Indian culture. Neither the governor nor some of the other ministers in the cabinet are with him. And even better the Labour commissioner is trying to get permission women work in factories at night shift!

Do these guys even talk to each other? What was the minister thinking after all?

There has been some noise about this the blogworld too. Here are some:

Apu 1

Apu 2

Bangalore Metblog 1

Bangalore Metblog 2

It is crazy how most women are NOT indignant about this. Most of them sound like they would be rather glad to just stay at home and cook. They however want to wear what they want, drive around, hang out and have all the fun - basically enjoy the fruits of feminist movement but gladly jump sides when they need to so something to keep this going for the next generation of women. Talk about shortsightedness!

I was talking to the domestic help Satya at my place about this. She's not educated, works in half a dozen houses to feed her her drunkard brother and aging father and believes everything that happens in the serial are real. I had to warm her up to the subject.

Me: What do you think about women working?

Satya: As long as it is to make your family life better it is fine

Me: For what else would someone want to work?

Satya: There are some who just like to show off, prove a point I don't think that is right

Me: So should they be stopped from working?

Satya: No how can you stop someone from working? You have to change her attitude thats all.

Me: Do you know government is banning women from working at night shifts?

Satya: Ayyo then what will happen to eshwari akka? she goes to cook dinner in that house every evening. And why should government stop her? Do you have to work at night?

Me: sometimes. you think I shouldn't do it?

Satya: no how can I say that? it is either you or your husband who has to decide if you should work at night or work at all not the government.

Satya an illiterate girl who has little lokajnana is saying that this is an individual choice and the state has nothing to do with it.

Are you listening Mr. Ansari?

Where did you leave your brains sir?

The news has been around for the last 3 days. And I have not slept peacefully for as many nights. Sav has been suffering too. I am certain that so are thousands of other women who realise the enormity of the stupid decision that the state government has taken.

I have couple of things to tell and ask the Labour minister of Karnataka.

Dear Sir, (mom always told me to be polite even when I feel like ripping off the....)

You are so concerned about the safety of women that you decided to ensure women are off the office premises by 8 pm. A very original solution indeed. But if the women are facing problems before 8 pm how will they sort that out? Or are you saying that woman being harassed during the day is better off than at night?

Assuming that women do get out of the office by 8 pm. Have you thought about how to keep them safe on the streets and public transports? What about protecting them there? Oh how silly am I But that is outside the Labour department! This will probably come under police department eh? Then in that case please do suggest that they should also ban women from streets after 8 pm. Then whom will the men mug, rape and murder? You've indeed struck upon the magic solution to this probelm sir. Then it is just the men who have to fight it out among themselves as to who will mug and who will be mugged.

And women can go home at 8 cook, clean and relax by watching all the fantastic saas-bahu serials and increase Ekta Kapoor's revenue.

Quiet an ingenious plan sir quiet an ingenious plan!

Thank you very much for taking the entire woman kind about 50 years behind.

Yours truly.

The bronze moon

Have you ever seen a bronze moon? When there is a full moon it sometimes appears bronze colored. Today it was almost golden. The most gorgeous sight amidst high rises without trees. Even more gorgeous is the sight of full moon rising above the sea. That view is simply breathtaking! The silver reflecting off the dark waters - the beauty has to be experienced.

I always loved the moon. I have watched thousands of full moons, half moons and crescent moons rise over the coconut tree from my terrace in Bangalore. But it was in Chennai I first saw the most spectacular show on earth - the full moon rising out of the ocean and I was hooked.

I was lucky to have people around me who appreciated these matter of fact yet magical moments. And they have made these moments even more memorable.

There was this one time when in Chennai a few of us from the hostel decided to watch the moon rise. So we noted the time and decided to go to Marina beach for the show (!) But as usual we were up against deadlines and seemed almost impossible to get there in time. Somehow just five minutes before the given time we managed to get into an auto and get there just in time. Once we got there the five of us were like little girls shrieking away with joy. Fifteen minutes later we were heading back to college in an auto that was blasting the latest Tamil Hits.

Later the same year I went to Marina with another friend of mine. He had apparently never realised that moon could rise. "It is just there at night" is what he told me. (V also had similar thoughts!) So I made it a point to take this friend along. And we sat there quietly for almost an hour and watched the magic unravel with hundreds of shrieking children (they were not shrieking at the moon but at the waves hitting them.)

There was this other friend of mine who bonded with me over the full moon too. Infact we bonded over sunset, rain, hot & sour chicken soup and rajnikant too. We messaged each other everytime the other couldn't see the full moon describing it.

V of course has not got to see the moon rise yet...we never managed to be near the east coast at the right time. But once we stayed in Alleppey at a beach resort. I knew it was full moon that day and so kept alarm at 3 am and woke V up and dragged off a groggy chap to watch the full moon set into the Arabian sea (as good if not better than the rising) Usually nothing can shake off his sleep but that day he was all bright eyed.

Over the years many things have changed. I don't get to watch moon rise over a coconut tree (any tree for that matter) any more. Some of the friends with whom I enjoyed these moments with have either moved away or become strangers...but the moon is still as beautiful.

The Hindu today

There are two news items that bother me in today's Hindu.

First headline "Pakistan paragliding Minister quits party post"

The Minister was forced to quit from the post of Pakistan Muslim league's women wing's head. This was because she hugged her paragliding instructor in france after a jump. The cleric said she had committed a very "obscene" act by doing so and so the need for dismissal.

Second Headline "Ire over Ahmadinejad gesture" (sorry no link available but report can be found on page 14)

The Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was criticised for hugging and kissing the hand of his teacher from primary school in public. The lady is 70 years old. The newspapers termed the incident contrary to islamic laws and called it an "indecent" act.

Closer home last week Richard Gere kissing Shipa Shetty was termed indecent and a case was filed against both of them.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!??????????????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Is all I can say.

To borrow the cliche "what's in a name?"

Well apparently one's ability to be a mathematician or a scientist. To be more precise a girl with a girly (!!!) name will shy away from maths and science. No I haven't lost my marbles (not yet). I have scientific backing for this - The Gaurdian published a report recently about a research that concluded thus.

I am not sure if you will click on the link but I have to repeat this part of it

"Parents are being warned to think long and hard when choosing names for their babies as research has discovered that girls who are given very feminine names, such as Anna, Emma or Elizabeth, are less likely to study maths or physics after the age of 16, a remarkable study has found. Both subjects, which are traditionally seen as predominantly male, are far more popular among girls with names such as Abigail, Lauren and Ashley, which have been judged as less feminine in a linguistic test. "

After reading the report several questions have been kicked up by my feminist side but for now I will leave them aside. I am more interested to see how this finding will work in Indian context.

Indian names don't need a linguistic test to prove their gender do they? We have very few names that are transgender (am not sure if this is the right word to use here nevertheless) Like for example Kiran is a very common name in North India for a girls and boys but rarely the case in South India. Even if it is a common name for both men and women there's a difference as in Kamal is a boy and Kamala is a girl (reminds me of my first hindi lesson in class 3. Remember yeh ladki hai iska naam kamala hai?) Anyways so is Kamal a feminine name and hence he will not do better in science or mathematics? Then how do you explain hundreds of men with names like Kamal, Parijaat, Madhu or Mrinal entering IITs and IISc?

And what about names like Radhakrishna or Padmanabha? They will take up science but give it up in later life?

Coming to the more difficult part of applying this theory...in order to produce more women scientists and mathemeticians we will have to name our girls Sunil, Suresh or in keeping with more modern times name them Rudraksh and Govinda? (yes these names are modern since I am meeting a lot of young men round about the age of 5 with such names).

The research also says that people expect girls with feminine names to not do well in these subjects hence building a pressure on the girls to underperform! Now seriously is that a problem with the feminine name or the feminity itself?

Who funds these researchs and more importantly what is the point of such researchs?

PS: I have a name that is as feminine as possible in the Indian context and I did well in science and I have chosen to blame my name for my poor performance in maths.

Disclaimer: There is one! I will let you know of you have a problem with the post.