A (bride) woman for 30,000 rupees

Violence against women has opened my eyes to the unthought acts of violence against women by human beings. One of the posts had caught my attention then, and I was also looking at the possible reasons behind why this is something which is resorted to. Why violence against women? Is it because women are seen as weak, easy to overpower...

Quoting a price for a woman, to sleep with, or to marry is I believe certainly a violence. A violence against women and human beings. Being a commodity and having no value for one and being compared to livestock is certainly a emotional violence as per me. 

As I researched about this, I came across many videos on Youtube, and I realized that violence against women is a major concern in most developing economies, but when it comes to female infanticide, I am not sure any country has seen the kind of numbers that India has been seeing in these years. And after female infanticide, men have the spine to go to other communities, where girls are not seen as as an fetus to destroy, and buy brides for themselves when it comes to satisfying their carnal pleasures and to ensure a progeny. Why don't these men resort to satisfying each other, as its a choice their kind made to eliminate females as they seemed to be a waste of time, a burden and so on. 

I think no community should sell their daughters to anyone for money. But, whom am I saying this to. A parent might think that, it would be a better option to give their daughter to another community as a wife, than sell her to prostitution. That it what I think would be the thinking when money is the most important necessity for many. It is difficult to understand the mentality, when we are not in that kind of a situation. 

I frankly do not know what is the solution to this.

Death by stoning

How are we any different from the Taliban in Afghanistan. A religious gathering is replaced by a khap panchayat in India and death by stoning is replaced with some other means to kill.

That's all I see as a difference.

19th Commonwealth Games - Where is India headed?

The Wall Street Journal carried an article on the upcoming 19th Commonwealth Games and how under prepared India was just 70 days prior to the start of the event.

Full article link

On reading the article, especially the line "Recent efforts by world peers—China's 2008 Beijing Olympics, South Africa's just-concluded FIFA World Cup—will be hard acts to follow." all it showed was that how much ever the corruption, bureaucracy and likes affected these nation internally, when they are to face the world and prove themselves, both these countries did it. All said and done, the question remains, will India be able to do it?

Moreover, the work that has been completed does not meet standard and quality. A downpour had the false ceiling of the table tennis arena crashing! Work which will for sure take more then 2 months, are going to be finished ( hopefully) within 2 months. This will result in nothing but below par stadiums, swimming pools and such which shall deteriorate faster than they were completed.

With work moving at the present pace, I wonder how many sponsors do they plan on signing up. Except for Coca Cola, Hero Honda and Reebok, there isn't a single big name yet. Will a big brand sign up at the 13th hour? How will they advertise?

Above all, where is the metro headed to? It was to be completed by the Commonwealth Games, which is what I distinctly remember them saying, when they started work in 2005, and that was 5 years back!

Mannequin Art

Fiberglass mannequins make the next art statement in NYC.

32 designers have been asked to each fashion a mannequin as they liked. Any theme, any fabric.The mannequins will be on display in the Garment District through September 3; after that, they'll be auctioned off and proceeds will benefit Materials for the Arts.

Click here to see the slide show of the mannequins on display on Garment District.

Child brides of Afghanistan

Here is the video released by the Human Rights Commission after the government has not be able to do anything worthwhile or take any action against these criminals. 

"I was shocked when I watched the video," said Mohammed Munir Khashi, an investigator with the commission. "I thought in the 21st century such a criminal incident could not happen in our country. It’s inhuman, anti-Islam and illegal."

If an investigator thinks that this is the first time it is happening, I am not sure what he is investigating! Why does he think the policemen at Herat return these two girls to be hands of the waiting warlord? Did they think they were doing something completely human, or completely in line with Islam preachings?

And now it seems there is another option too to threaten these girls with - forcing them to be suicide bombers

Sumbol, 17, a Pashtun girl, said she was kidnapped and taken to Jalalabad, then given a choice: marry her tormentor, or become a suicide bomber. “He said, ‘If you don’t marry me I will put a bomb on your body and send you to the police station,’ ” Sumbol said.

Forced marriage of Afghan girls is not limited to remote rural areas. In Herat city, a Unicef-financed women’s shelter run by an Afghan group, the Voice of Women Organization, shelters as many as 60 girls who have fled child marriages.  

Cruelty to children: Child marriage in Yemen

I have been reading about Elham Madhin al Assi, a 12-year-old Yemeni girl who died from internal bleeding just three days after her March 29th wedding to a man who is a minimum twice her age. And this happened as part of a bride swap, where in the brother of the bride marries the sister of the groom, and this happens irrespective of the age of concerned individuals. I do not know what to feel when I see something like this.  Elham Madhin al Assi's mother is said to have told reporters, that the criminal killed her. What criminal? What did you expect? A man who is marrying a 12 year old is marrying her to shower her with dolls!!! I wonder if she is really bothered with her daughter not being alive anymore, and does she feel any remorse of what she did? Or even better, did she have a say in the matter? Maybe I am being too harsh on her, and the mother's role is just to explain to the daughter what is expected of her, and that sex is a subset of marriage, so please oblige!

This custom has been there since ages, and it is said to be acceptable as per Islam, where a parent has the right to determine when their children ( read daughters) are ready for marriage! It is also said that one main reason for the girls to be married off early is that, in many cases young girls are abducted and married by force, which leaves their parents not knowing their whereabouts ever again. The average age of marriage in Yemen’s rural areas is 12 to 13, a recent study by Sana University researchers found, and even more shocking is that the country has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world. And, I am sure that the mothers are also of the age group,  12 - 15 years.

How many of these kids can be expected to come out of their captive, abusive, illegal marriages and say that they want to study, and lead a life different from what they have been forced into without being asked. They are children, and not many of the children I see have it in them to stand up and say I shall not do this or to ensure that they are not made to do something which they are not interested in, especially when done so by their parents itself. Children see parents as the ones they trust the most, and believe, then how can they expect that a marriage, even if done without their consent, can be a disastrous life changing turn in their lives? Isn't it cruel to push them towards something which has seen only bad days, and to top it when they trust you so much!?