i read bob hoff’s comment and must agree.

Conditioning by parents is an influential factor. but if one stands up against the stupidity, one will be an outcast. it is a personal decision than to be an outcast or fit in. and sadly even people who have done ph.d ‘s can be as closed as a snail.

the problem lies with the schooling system too – where we have to obey teachers, and not to question. analysis is absent but rote learning ( learning to accept as the authors have written and reproduced for exams is emphasised) all these factors influence the mental make up of a human being which then promotes “atrocities” and double standards in society..

anrosh.

Anrosh, I guessed what the problem was. That link in your page is from my account while I was logged in. I had experienced the same thing with others’ link in my page. Next time it happens with some other blog, just delete the characters that come after the .com and access again. You will sail through.
Parents, schooling all have their influence. In our land ‘thinking’ for oneself is not encouraged at all. It is always conformity and herd mentality. Analysis is absolutely absent. Can you imagine, Engineering college students get notes from the teachers to study!! I am thankful that in my days we were free to make our own notes since PUC stage. Not that it has done much good to many of my peers!:P
My often repeated sentence to my children (which I wish I could say to some others and not in the kind tones I use for my children): “What is this for?? ( going tap-tap-tap on head) It was given to us for a reason. Use it and think for yourself. Never believe blindly, not even what your mother says. Reason things out and do what you believe in.” And I really meant it and still do.

i have come home at 2:00 at night and never followed. when men act funny on buses or crowded places turn around and give them a slap and the other men will come and beat them up – i have seen this happening at dadar,thane station and buses. but in other parts of india they will say that something is wrong with a women if her pallu is not straightened up every second.

oh yes in hydi ( almost 12 years ago )people would even stare at you if you wear a sleevless or a skirt – so does one have to change all your clothese because some guy stare at you?

well, here too man act funny if they want, but they dare not. because women fight 100 times back. eve teasing is just not there and boys don’t howl at a girl wearing a tank top. of course he will say that “she is hot”. of course women as creature has to be alert a million times and will be touched if she will not stop it. Men think they are entitled!( part of the power ego ) but if the women make a noise and – SPEAK UP any man can become powerless.

the problem is women are shamed to say they are not harrased. the truth is men should feel ashamed of harassing women. women have to understand that they are more powerful than men and things will turn around – i guess that is what happened in this country.

but let me stop here

anrosh
on another note -most of the times i come to your blog i find a link which says username and password needed !

One of the ‘other’ parts of India where people will find fault with the woman and not the harasser is where I live too!! Imagine the other men have the gall to simper suggestively, tell you to not make an issue and to let it go.
I agree with you. Woman should be taught NOT to feel ashamed when they are harassed. Why the hell should they be?? It is the harasser who should be ashamed. But the society (wah re wah society!) and the humans who constitute said society bring up women the victim to feel shame while the aggressor, the perpetrator of the crime, lifts his head high and walks among them!! Thanks Anrosh for stopping by and welcome to my space.
Hmmm… about the user name and password: if you use this url http://shailsnest.com I don’t think it will happen. Will you tell me if it does?? I will have to check it then.

PRG, I agree it IS about power. Well I agree with your whole comment.

Thanks OJ. Just hopped over and added mine.

It was really hard for me to believe the atrocious treatment that the women from even the ROYAL family go thru everyday.

Shree, welcome to my space. Hmm… looks like a book I will want to read. Can you give me more details?? Who is the author?? It is a fact that woman in every strata of society undergo atrocious treatment. It is not the lower class women alone who suffer. In fact some of them give back as good as they get.

Frustration born either out of poverty, oppression or their own failures drives these misguided youths to be manipulated.

My anger is more towards the systemic failure of the beaurocrats in seats of action who act as mute spectators to the architects of these manipulators who now dorn the seats of the ministry in that part of the state.

Kannan, I agree with you. These are misguided youth (They HAVE to be if this is the way they act), though poverty and oppression I am doubtful about, seeing the way some of them were dressed. And most probably they were paid and were lured by the chance of touching up girls. Anyway that’s not the point. What I am more angry about is the reaction to it that I see all around me from ordinary folk like you and me. ‘Of course nice girls don’t drink or go to pub.’ Does that mean a mob can go beat them up??!! This comes from people, men and WOMEN, from educated and reasonably well off families. Whether they were ‘nice’ women according to today’s standards or ‘bad’ is not the point. Why don’t these people see THAT?? When will their brains expand enough to accommodate the fact that each one has the right to lead the life he/she likes to and that freedom and rights are not for the ‘he’ alone??!!
So, when is your next trip hereabouts?? PP is going to be here from next month. Got a job here!

How close are we to regression now? How far from progress if we are slipping into the dark ages of the mind, intolerant, strait jacketed, and entirely inhuman, having forgone humaneness and humanity along the way. I must, here, mention that it is the “women” being human and an entity as much as they are that they choose to ignore!!!

Rage is what its best summed up in! Beautifully articulated, all of what we feel today!

We are closer to regression than we care to admit. Some of the darker minds among us are now revealing themselves and that is the scary part. Yes, women are also humans and entities and it would serve well for all to remember that. Thanks Usha! And Oh, you will love the book. And read this one too.

Thanks OJ. Makes my blood boil whenever I hear of these mob attacks. I mean how brave is it, ganging up and attacking girls?!