A Star is wasted - Jiah Khan

She had a lot going for her - a sensual face, terrific figure and a smouldering smile - quite an irresistible combination.  She had a grand entry opposite amitabh and had a few good films later on too.  Having acted in a few films in bollywood, she should have realised the fickleness in the bollywood relations and how people move on to newer ones.

When we seriously think of it - let alone in bollywood - most of us would have had an affair or two before getting married - and most of us would have have let go our affairs and moved on to our family lives. if every guy or gal starts committing suicide due to a failed love affair, then there will be a dearth of people on earth.

Suicide for love is simply unacceptable because - how can you leave your parents, siblings, friends n family and pass away to another world just because one guy whom you would have hardly known for 2-3 years doesn't treat you well.  What about all the other wonderful people who look you up with love and care. aren't you being unfair to them? 

You gotta love life more than your love life.

and that guy suraj i think is unnecessarily being harassed.  we hear of so many breakups be it in bollywood akshay-raveena, ranbir-deepika, ranvir-anushka, etc or in the lives of people who are in our city, locality or our mohalla. These are happening everyday. One has to be strong to withstand the pain and look towards more understanding and fulfilling relationships.

The charges of rape are hard to believe coz i doubt if there was ever a reason to rape her as she herself may have willingly given herself being in love.  All the more reason to disbelieve it coz the young lady (may her soul rest in peace) isn't present to state eitherway. and like the police said - the authenticity of the letter is being established. we will know for sure when that is done if ziah really wrote all that.

Still, suicide is not the way to go and holding suraj responsible also may not be a good idea as that might send a wrong message to the young ladies of India.  Parents must be vigilant about their children and adequately  counsel/advise them whenever they find any warning signs, to avoid such unnecessary loss of life.

Hope that we do not get to read anymore such news at least in the near future.

Let us pray that she rests in peace in the other world.

Portable toilets in school

 'Give me a toilet in school' was what one little girl wished for,  when asked by a visiting dignitary as to what she wants.  As we look around ourselves we find that there is really a dearth of places where girls/women can relieve themselves.  As women are also not comfortable to talk about this, the issue never comes to the fore (except for one article I read which was wriiten by Ms Shobha De - 'the right to pee' in a national daily).  There are many who are sensitive to this issue and who have thought of various means to mitigate this uncalled hardship.  There is however one young lady who decided not to procrastinate and went ahead and desined her own portable toilet. 

The young lady as i read in the News is,  Ms Promita Sen and she designed a portable toilet which can be setup in 5 minutes time and weighs about 16 kgs.  It is understood that these toilets have already been setup in many schools in Assam, West Bengal and Bihar. In addition as they are portable they could be easily be carried atop a vehicle for use in inhospitable areas. Alongwith her innovation the lady also has an enterpreneural streak which made her patent her design and produce it herself. I hope that her sucess with this innovation would propel to innovate further and bring out more ergonomic devices.

it is also reported that the installation of these toilets saw an immediate rise in the girl children attending schools in these areas.

Kudos and way to go Lady!!!

Faith stronger than Power

Psy's music was wafting through the speakers in my car.  My newly installed sub woofer was thundering and I was enjoying my quiet drive in the city till i laid my eyes on the auto rickshaw in front of me.

A typical sharing auto 

It was a big auto rickshaw with the main seat designed for four comfortably. for five it may be a tight squeeze but this one had only three passengers, two male and one female.  the male ones were young and heavy built while the woman was good looking but frail.  The woman was seated on the right with one gent in the middle and one to the left of the seat.  The one on the left spread his arm around the guy in the middle in such a way that he can touch the woman on the right in an accidental/incidental manner by extending his hand.   Noticing this, the woman tried to shrink into the corner  to avoid his touch.  However, the guy on the left would just not relent and he kept on searching with his hand to grope the woman!!  As it was a particularly long and narrow road, the auto rickshaw remained in front of me and i was witness to this whole spectacle for a considerable time.

My first feeling was that I should ask the auto to pull over and give the guy a hard verbal thrashing.  On second thoughts i felt - 'what if they thrash me coz they were two heavy built young guys while i was an average middle aged man'. So i let the auto pass. but that made me feel miserable. i said to myself  - if educated people like me turn a blind eye to such atrocities, what is the future for women's security in india? I was sure that i would not be able to sleep peacefully if i let the incident pass.

So, I overtook the auto and boldly stopped the auto. Seeing me step out from a car to stop the auto, the driver was surprised but stopped.  I chided that guy for trying to molest the young woman. At first he didn't understand what I was saying coz he would have never expected to be checked in this manner.  When I repeated myself he understood and quickly mumbled an incoherent apology and removed his hand.  Either shocked by my outlandish approach or genuinely shamed by his own behaviour,  the  guy listened to me quietly and asked the driver to move on.  Surprisingly, his other well built friend did not utter a single word!! I followed the car from a discrete distance and I was happy to see that his hand was no longer in touching distance of the young woman.  My faith in doing the right thing i.e stopping a molester got the better of their perceived combined physical power. This re-affirmed my belief that our belief and faith in the right thing is many times more powerful than physical power!!!   

 

As responsible Men, we need to try to stop the atrocities at least within our local sphere of influence.  There is no need for every Man to work on a grand National or Global scale.  If every Man tries to stop these at his local level i.e extended family, community, street - then he would have done his job, for If Man on every street does that, then all the streets in this country would be covered!!!

So, lets start with small steps, let everyone pledge that they will work towards eradicating this menace in their immediate vicinity.  Stop these guys molesting/eve teasing/abusing women in your local busstops/buses/autos/office etc. If we can do that, we can kick this menace in no time!!!!That will surely pave the way for a Golden India.

What Big B said on this issue:-

 “Despite great awareness ideals that have taken space and demonstration among the society, the atrocities continue with abandon,” 
 “Great introspection needs to be done to fathom the reason and the continuous disregard for all that should be looked upon as an evil.”
“I will not agree with the reasoning that such incidents happen all over the world or whether the statistics favour another region or not. I am interested in why it is happening at all,” 

Wish there were more heroes like him in Bollywood

TRAI orders on advertisements

 

TRAI ordered all the TV Channels to restrict advertisements to 12 minutes per hour.  As I read it, I wondered how TRAI would push in this difficult legislation and also if TRAI had the power to do such a thing (as many broadcasters claimed that it didn't have).  Anyway i thought to myself that it would be wonderful if the quantum of advertisements can be reduced even a little bit. 

Gone are the days when we used to wonder how Star Network was surviving (during the start up of the cable revolution).  At that time most of the adverts were about STAR's own programmes.  Now that there are so many advertisements, it is difficult to follow your favourite programmes.  I always wondered the need for pay channels if we are being forced to watch so many adverts anyway.  There are some channels which are particularly harsh on viewers.  For example, I never watch the movies on Sony channels as they show too many adverts and as a result, the movie goes on late into the night (atleast my experience).  

But the sad part is that it doesn't make much difference to them for two reasons - one is that they are a big corporation and the second is that, i am anyway paying for that channel as it is part of a bouquet that i have selected.  The more  tech savvy might say that if viewers dont watch the channel, it might affect their TRP's and consequently the advertisement revenue  they command.  It may be True but as a Common man, I am not intrested or intellectual enough to understand all those issues.  I just want to have some quality viewing time for the money that i am paying (which is a decent sum at Rs/- 550 per month).  Considering that some channels are charging more than Rs/- 10 per month per subscriber that's a lot of money (10 * a conservative 10 crore subscribers for major channels= 100 crores without even counting in any advertisements).  I dont have any qualms about channels earning money coz they are in business after-all but they should have an ear for the subscriber experience too.

 

They also must have safeguards to stop channels from cheating subscribers. Classic example is of advertisements eating into the first ball of an over in cricket OR the over zealous experiment of a channel to show a deferred telecast of an international match so that more adverts can be pumped in (the same telecast was also on fm radio and the match was over long before it finished on telly!!!)

I was further flummoxed after reading an article by Shri Edari Gopi Chand in the Hindu on 05 April 2013.  He brought out that the cap on advertisement duration to 12 minutes per hour is already a part of the advertising code i.e Rule 7(11) of the cable network regulation, 1994. 

The rule apparently reads as follows -" no programme shall carry advertisements exceeding 12 minutes per hour which may include upto 10 minutes per hour of commercial advertisements and upto 2 minutes per hour of self promotional programmes".  So, if the rule is already existing, then it is amply clear that TRAI was not trying to invoke some new clause.  Its just nobody cared till now!!!! Now that TRAI has come into the picture and trying to make the telly more friendly to the subscriber, its creating problems to the channels!!!  Its interesting to note that if such a rule existed all along, why it was never implemented?!!!

 

 

 

And also, if we are forced to watch advertisements on certain channels for nearly 30-40 % of the time, Isn't it more logical to make them free channels by showing adverts for  a few minutes more!!! Then even we will have no reason to complain!!!!

lowering age for sexual consent - part 2

Thankfully, the issue of lowering the age was amicably resolved and the minimum age remained at 18.  This turn around may have come as a result of co-aliation pressures or the genuine concerns of certain parties for the welfare of the people.

Either way, it calls for celebration and I am going to retire to bed tonite both tipsy and happy?!!!!

Savita's docs focussed on saving the baby and not her

These were the findings of the investigation team as predominantly reported across the national telly and newspapers.  It was also reported that she was inadequately monitored and not given sufficient attention.  These were the findings six months after her death.

Firstly, does it take six months to conclude something as general as this? Secondly, how are the perpetrators of this crime going to be brought to book? and the last and most important issue is - how do they stop such an incident from recurring?

In the fast changing cultural scenario, adherence to archaic laws may not be the best foot forward.  The spirtual and the political leaders of this nation need to come together and devise an all inclusive way ahead so that such ghastly incidents which bring so much anguish to everyone do not recur.

lowering age for sexual consent

hi all

Hope this post finds you in the pink of health and wealth! I am returning after a long hiatus as i had gone for the maha kumbh mela,  the highlights of which i will post shortly.

As i woke up from my bed today, I saw that the bill to lower the age for sexual consent was almost passed. As i understand, this was part of the recommendations of the honourable justice verma committee report.  Being a common man, i was confused. The honourable committee was setup to prevent rape and other attrocities against women but i could not understand how this reduction in age for consent fell in the ambit of that charter. How can reduction in the age reduce the number of rapes or the attrocities?

In my opinion the lowering of ageof sexual consent  is not a good option for young girls for the following reasons:

1.   Who benefits from this rule? it certainly cant be the little girls.  it would only legitimise the rich older men or the road side goons forcing themselves for sex by way of offering money or threats. As a father of a little girl myself i am not at all comfortable with the idea of  16 year olds having sex.

2.   At 16 what is their understanding of sex? and why should they have sex at 16? where is the tearing hurry? A girl at 16 would be in class x or xi by then. Are we as a nation willing to accept that girls in class x/xi  can have sex? If we cannot, then why this new rule?

3.  This will lead to an increase in teen pregnancies which even the most developed of western nations are grappling to resolve

4.   Medical complications would rise earlier in life due to abortions.

5.   Loss of innocence of children as they would be viewed as sexual objects much earlier especially at a age where they may not be able to handle themselves. (below is a shocking pic of a teenager)

6.    It may be much more difficult to prove the rape of the girls between 16 to 18 as the 'lack of consent' has to be first established.

7.     Will lead to trafficking of younger girls as it would be very difficult to make out between a healthy 14 year old and normal 16 year old.

Despite these obvious issues, there were several bogey's raised by several learned people that lowering the age will reduce HIV/STD/other diseases, harassment of young people etc.  These learned people including some women were actually batting for lowering the age.

The West had experimented with this free culture and they are feeling the effects now.  Unmarried mothers, many in teens, parents holed up in old age homes etc are just a few of those effects.  Many of the teen unmarried mothers informed that they were never aware of what they were getting into at that age and by the time they realised their folly, they were too pregnant or with a child already. It must be understood that at times it is difficult even to abort a baby which forces the girl to deliver the child.  Moreover how would an indian girl in class x or xi inform her parents that she is pregnant? Are we really ready for that sort of confrontation?

The West is in a turmoil today and they are looking at our sanatana dharma for peace and salvation.  At such a time we are trying to ape their flawed system.  A system so flawed that it is full of failed marriages and broken relations.  So, rather than aping the west it may be worth while, to lay emphasis on our culture and rediscover its wonderful teachings which form the foundations for rock solid indian families.  While we are doing that, we may educate our youth about 'respect for women' and bring about a generational change in this decade.

In the meantime, I can only pray that somebody puts a stop to this lowering of age and stem further decline in our social practices.

Internet speed test

I got the fastest internet connection (12Mbps) available in the city and upgraded to 8 Gb of RAM which i consider is a decent amount  for ordinary people.  I switched on the PC in great style and browsed all the sites which earlier used to take a noticeable time to load.  I expected a great deal of improvement as my earlier connection was only 2 Mbps but there wasn't a significant improvement!! There was a difference in speed no doubt but the price of the 12 Mbps line didn't justify the speeds achieved.  The video downloads weren't much better either.

No doubt disappointed, I called up customer service representative whom i managed to speak to after clicking many buttons on the IVRS.  He heard me patiently (small mercies), repeated every line that i have told (probably using that time gained to check his manuals) and then gave a complicated complaint number (which starts with year, month, day and the ref number all in reverse order either to confuse the complainant or for some genuine reason!!!).  As there was no response for a day, and on contacting the local office, I was told that the speed that i have opted for is "upto 12 Mbps" and not "12 Mbps".  So the speed that i would get is variable.  Though they did not say it, technically it means that i can get any speed from 0 to 12 Mbps.

Anyway i was aware that i had subscribed to "upto 12 Mbps" and not "12 Mbps".  So i asked him as to what speed can i expect on the average for which the individual concerned was non committal.

At this point, i must say that there would be a lot of technical experts who would side with the ISP and mention that it would not be possible to arrive at a minimum figure.  But if you ask me - I am a consumer paying almost 3 times the cost of a 2 or 4 Mbps connection for a 12 Mbps connection.  So what I ask is a simple common sense question - If I am paying 3 times extra cost shouldn't I get 3 times extra speed?  Unfortunately common sense is not very "common" and I had different persons from the ISP explaining to me what is bandwidth, speed etc!!!  

my speed test return upload 0.27 Mbps and download 0.33 Mbps

                                        27 January 12

Though I personally am not an internet expert, I know enough to understand what I should get for my money and I could plainly see that these guys were bluffing. I ran a speed test several times with the average download speed(during the ping) being about 300-400 kbps. That might seem to be a lot but one must remember that it is the speed returned for the ping only and not normal data transfer for audio/video files(typically more than 10 Mb).  Ideally a ping test on a 12 Mb should have given atleast 7-8 Mbps speed!!!! 

Now the question is - What we can do in such situations? Are these guys ripping us off? If I am not assured of a btter performance by using a 12 Mbps connection, then why bother taking that? Any suggestions from the readers apart from going to consumer court (as that would sap a lot of my time also)?

BLAZING FAST INTERNET!!! HOW DO WE GET THERE IN INDIA?

Security of Women and community guards

Is it only me or is everyone feeling this way? I am feeling suffocated with the spate of rapes being reported everyday in the newspapers and TV channels. Has there been a sudden spurt in rapes or is it that there is an increase in the reporting of the crime?

Either way, the media is covering only the sensational part, i.e the reporting of the crime only and not following them up to their logical conclusion.  The media may argue that their duty is only to report the news!! "Point taken" on that but if your duty is to only report the news - then please keep doing it till the end i.e if you report a rape then follow up the news till the time the perpetrators of the crime are punished/or atleast booked by police.  Dont just report a sensational rape one day and move onto another sensational rape/or other story the next day, leaving us worried about what happpened to the earlier victim.

Detterence is much better than securing timely punishment.

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If we can successfully deter an individual from committing a crime it is far better than being able to secure timely punishment for the perpetrator of the crime.  A detailed coverage of the troubles and stigma the families of the perpetrators of rape offence face may be a first step in that direction. The humiliation, pain and angst of the perpetrator in custody and his family (after the crime was committed) may be covered in great detail in the media to instill a sense of fear in the hearts of others!!!   There should also be periodic coverage of how these rapists are languishing in jails, their living conditions and the life of their families (while these guys are in jails).  It is however accepted that such tactics may not be suitable for 'hard core rapists' but they will atleast tackle the ordinary rapists (frankly there is nothing ordinary about a rapist but the word is used only to distinguish between the hard core ones and the others) and may reduce the incidence of the crime.

Death punishment for rapists?

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When we read the newspapers of two or three year old children being raped and killed - then one cannot but support death penalty for rapists.  But it has another larger issue that if such a law is implemented, the rapists may kill the victim to avoid being identified and thereby the death sentence. The 'death sentence' would be enough for the rapist to justify the killing to his own self.  Ordinarily not many rapists kill a victim and leave her by the wayside - therefore it is better that the 'death sentence' law may not be taken up to ensure safety of the life of the victim. However, the courts may as hitherto reserve the right to award death sentence in the 'rarest of rare cases'.

Community guards?

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Are they the order of the day? When all else fails can the citizens fend for themselves?. How about formation of community volunteers in each area of every city to prevent any untoward situation? Look at it this way - how long can u wait for someone to come and make a difference in your area/gully/locality etc?  Can we devote some time towards making our own neighbourhood safer?

This is one 'moral policing' which would be welcome by all sections of the society if any organisation also takes up!!! any takers?!! shiv sena/abvp/rss/akali dal/mim/islamic organisations/biblical societies etc. whoever takes up (I hope they do), would surely win the hearts of both the masses n classes.

(A good initiative, as we understand was undertaken by Mr. purnachandra rao, city police commissioner of visakhapatnam in andhra pradesh, who initiated the community guards programme for the first time in the country. Though the norms slightly vary from what is elucidated here, the underlying principle remains the same i.e to aid the police forces in maintaining law and order).

While we wait for that someone, there would be no need to spend hours and days in protest, mourning a victim's tragedy, if we all can effectively make our neighbourhoods safe for women and children.  This obviously requires a lot of coordination between the residential associations in each locality and in addition to coordination effort, it requires right thinking men to devote time to this particular task. Time - as we all understand is the most precious commodity in today's world but we must somehow extract that 'Time' from our busy schedules for this particular task - to make our neighbourhood a safer place for our mothers, sisters and daughters!!!

Its really time for that great saying of Swami Vivekananda-

'Arise, Awake and rest not till the Goal is achieved'

Delhi gang rape

A Tigress had fallen!! people have given her various names but 'Nirbhaya' seems to be more apt for her.  We were all brought up on sayings like, "When rape is inevitable, spread your legs and enjoy it" (not because it becomes pleasurable but due to the helplessness of the situation).  However, here was one girl who didn't give up fighting both before and during her rape, for which she paid with her life.  But, her's should not be considered a story of despair for women finding themselves in such unfortunate circumstances, they should draw strength from her deeds and step forward confidently.

While the Nation was with the young lady, what was further disturbing was the spate of similar incidents across the country with no respite to this day.  There were stories of even two year olds getting raped right in their houses.  How do you escape such bestiality where even such babies are not spared?

It's even more shameful that most of the reported crimes were in the National capital.  The concerned may take umbrage under the logic that most of the crimes in Delhi were reported  whereas in other areas they weren't.  Even if that be so, the administration of Delhi is still answerable for the crimes that were reported in Delhi, more so because that city is our National capital.  If our women cannot move out alone in the capital of the country, then it is an international shame and this calls for some drastic measures, which may even include dictatorial rule on the likes of martial law for a few years to reign in the errants or even the extreme step of changing the national capital.

As if to add insult to injury, there were a spate of statements from insensitive politicians, Godmen and their like, as to how the women themselves were provoking rape.  Such persons surely have no place in a civilised society and I sincerely hope that they were misquoted by the press (as most of them claimed).  There was also a filmi person who claimed to have never depicted a woman as a sex object despite his films doing just the same.  I think he was misquoted too!!!  And this same person complained some time back that the censor board was interfering too much in cutting the sex scenes from films!!!

There was another needless controversy about naming the girl.  Well I cannot comment on the legal view point about the Govt not naming her (as it is against IPC), I wonder what really stops the family from disclosing the girl's name (i.e if they wish to).

Then there was this news of two of the accused trying to turn approvers!! But - approvers for what?  The whole nation is aware of the crime and the perpetrators - so who needs approvers?  This is a cheap stunt by the accused to avoid punishment or try to reduce their punishment.  I wonder who gave them the idea and I wish that person to rot in hell for giving that idea.  Anyway, I am sure,  the learned judge in the fast track court too would see through their game.

That so called "juvenile" needs to be fixed too.  A youngster cannot be treated as a juvenile when he commits crimes which are not to be done by a youngster.  Surely raping a woman and beating her mercilessly with a iron rod is not expected to be done by a youngster less than 18 years old.  And if he does - he is no longer a juvenile and needs to be treated as an adult and punished accordingly.

Whatever maybe her name - as i said earlier - "A Tigress had fallen".  I cannot but salute the bravery of the young lady who did not give up her fight to stop her attackers despite being severely injured.  I am sure her name too would be revealed in due course of time.  Till then "Nirbhaya" would do..... and we should not rest till she gets justice and such crimes do not ever take place again.

And for all the guys out there, next time you see someone misbehaving with a woman, dont look the other way but  please protect her the same way you would protect your own family member.  That would be the ultimate tribute to " Nirbhaya" more than the street protests and the bandhs!!

Female foeticide - Part 2

(...cont'd ... you can read part 1 here http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6343406740388235277#editor/target=post;postID=1711886958540902628)

Part 2

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With regards to the 7 points mentioned in part 1, let us examine the role of the society.

1.    She doesn't take the family name forward. - It is widely accepted that a girl drops her father's  name on marrying her husband i.e she merges with her husband's family and is no longer considered a part of her father's family.  But, is it really neccessary? There are many women who maintain both their father's and husband's name. Take for example - Ms Sulajja Firodia Motwani, Aiswarya Rai Bachan etc but these are limited to the high socities only.   The society could easily form a custom of retaining the family names of both father and husband with a girl's name.

2.    A lot of money is required to marry off a girl.  Well it does take a lot of money to get a girl married.   While the expenses to conduct the marriage depend on the affluence of the father of the bride, it is the aspect of dowry that is back breaking for many a parent.  This is the single most issue critical for the increase in female foeticide.  A boy only brings home money (in the form of dowry) whereas the girl takes away a lot of money from her parents (often all of it). 

The problem doesn't end there with the parents have to look after the girl during several occassions such as festivals, family functions etc.  whereas, in the case of a boy, one just needs to give birth and he will surely get married and bring home some money even if he is handicapped.  Though the Govt banned dowry as illegal, it is common knowledge that dowry is given and many times photographs are also taken of money being handed over.  

3.   She cannot look after her parents in their old age.   In the present setup, a girl quite obviously cannot look after her parents in their old age.  Not because she doesn't want to, but because her husband/in-laws would not let her do so.  The same husband would instantly drop her at his parents place if they fall ill.  So, whose fault is it? it is definitely not the girl child's!! It is the society that accepts in an unwritten code that a girl (after marriage) need not go to look after her parents but must look after her in-laws.  This again requires only a change in the mindset of the society and bring in new thought.

4.   Some of the Parents with girl children feel inferior.  This again is a creation of the society only.  Every elder blesses a couple/woman to have a baby boy only and it is widely reported that if you tell lies, you will have girl children (as a punishment).  I heard this saying for the first time while in class 6 and  you can imagine its effect on young minds. Many people also take it a curse to have girl children (like in the movie devdas - in which kiron kher curses shah rukh khan's mother that they will have girl children in their house) and men are considered macho only if they have boys. This not withstanding the fact that Bill Clinton, George Bush, Michele Obama, Manmohan Singh etc have only girl children.  These feelings create an inferiority complex and often there is a discussion of 'ladki walein' (girl's side) and 'ladke walein' (boy's side) even among friends and relatives.  And we do notice that that 'ladke walein' are often insensitive to the needs of the 'ladki walein'.

5.     Traditionally, she cannot light the pyre of her parents.   Why not? Gone are the days when women were too weak hearted to light a pyre or needed to be stopped from jumping into the pyre themselves.  In the modern day era, where women have reached the moon and are heading the biggest of corporates, cant they light a pyre in the absence of any male child in the family? The present custom is archaic and needs to be changed.

6.      A lifetime committment is required to look after the girl even after the marriage.     A lifetime committment is indeed required with a Girl due to the present social conditions.  For example - a pregnant girl is taken to her home in the final months to provide her care and comfort.  But the reason for this custom is that she may not be looked after well in her in-laws house.  Similarly, the girl's parents pay for the hospitalisation expenses and delivery of the child. Doesn't the child belong to the husband also? Then why doesn't the boy's side pay?  Similar are the cases during many festivals and family functions!!

7.   She has to be protected and looked after wherever she goes unlike a boy.    She has to be protected in the present day world where even 2 year old babies are not spared from rape.  That is the subject of my next blog post.

In olden times when families and the number of children were large, it was an extremely remote possibility for a couple to have only girls. Sometimes they had a boy after 4 or 5 girls (in extreme cases)  This resulted in every family having a mix of both boys and girls.  This permitted easy implementation of most of the customs as families were balanced.  For example if a girl in a family was married off and dropped her father's name, there was another girl (as daughter -in-law) entering their house after dropping her own father's name.  However with the families becoming nuclear and smaller (with only 2 or 3 children), the balance is getting skewed against girls and with this all the attendant problems are also on the rise.

Couple this with the 'objectification' of women in the movies,T.v and the internet - we have a recipe for disaster in the name of female foeticide.

But, How do we counter this demon? Read on my suggestions in my next post - "Gang rape".