Can you believe that people are still using this bridge?? On the way to Maliankara

World Habitat day of Oct 2009

I was going through the newspapers on 5 Oct 2009 in which 2 articles caught my special attention. One was the first column news in Hindu that published the picture of a lady mourning on seeing her submerged house in Garlapdu village near Hydrabad during the heavy rains. Other, was an ad published in the Manorama daily of same day, by Apple A Day Properties on their new offer, exchange of house. "Exchange your old house with Apple A Day's newly built flat or villas". Why this article caught my attention was, both of them published on the same World habitat day".

This day too went unnoticed. No one was aware of this day it seems, other than the creative minds in Apple A Day. Both the articles disturbed me a lot. First one for the poor lady's fate and the other one for the new trends in consumer behavior. We are adopting a use and throw culture. Owning a flat in Kerala's industrial capital is a dream for most of the urban population(i don't want to be in that category ;). The boom that happened in the real estate, made the job easy. Along with the real estate, land mafia too developed.

We are exploiting. Exploiting the land, rivers, forests... and the dreams of the middle class too. Fortune is yet to come to the bottom level.

Lets come back to the flood affected Andra and Karanataka.Its been more than 2 months, since the flood. Everyone have forgotten this. (Now the hot topic in Andra is the Telengana and Governer Tiwari and in Karanataka, the illegal mining contract.). Whom to blame? The nature? the govt? or the common man?? The majority who produce the food for the privileged minority, live in starvation. The hands which build houses and palaces, hardly enjoy the safety of a shelter. With the govt stepping back from the agriculture, education and public sector makes the things worse. But, definitely I appreciate the NREGA initiative by the Govt. Its a blessing for thousands under the poverty line.

Girl, How safe you are??

Got to know this incident from one of my classmates. Let her name be Rita. Rita’s friend is doing her B.Ed in one of the colleges in the suburbs of Thrisur. One morning the girl was walking towards the college from the bus stop. The road was deserted, and it was then, she noticed 2 middle aged men, in their late 40’s approaching her. They grabbed her hand and tried to pull her into the car. She shouted. But none was there to save her. The man in the car was telling her, “ Let’s go somewhere else today”. Somehow the girl made an escape and later launched a complaint. The story ends there.

Today, I was planning to meet my friend in Thriprayar. It was this story which came to my mind, when I told mom that I would travel alone. And finally the trip got cancelled. Now I have to wait for another month to meet her. It is not the place that matter. I am not saying so and so place is not safe for girls. Rather, I feel, the so called “God’s own country” is not safe for girls. The increasing numbers of crime rates against girls prove this fact.

I don’t think yesteryears were better. But with media, playing a big role, and the accessibility to legal aids, the number of reported cases has increased. Unfortunately they are either buried under the financial and political influence of the convicted or forgotten due to the long procedures in the court.

We need a change. A change in attitude, a change in thoughts a change in our beliefs. A change that should start from the very first school, that is your home, and not from value based education. A change in media, that symbolize women as mere commodity to endorse goods like condoms, deodorants etc...

Hope to see the change soon.