Oppression

So books 30 and 31 were Princess by Jean P. Sasson and Resistance by Anita Shreve.
Both deal with some form of oppression (obviously! Why else would it be my topic this time?).
I don’t know how many of you have read Princess. I read its sequel Daughters of Arabia about a year ago. Both books are about the plight of women in Saudi Arabia. If these books are really based on fact, as the author claims, Saudi Arabia is really no better than Afghanistan was under the Taliban. It amazes me that I didn’t know much, actually anything about the lives of my Arab classmates in Dubai. Of course, the U. A. E. is a pretty tolerant place where girls can be educated in co-ed institutes and don’t have to wear the hijab and abbaya once they ‘become women’. It seems Saudi women can’t study abroad, can’t travel without a male relative (if they must travel alone they need ‘permission’ from the male head of the family) and cannot marry someone who is a non-believer (if the woman is Muslim. I don’t know if the same restrictions are imposed on other religions as well). And I crib about the sexism in Goa! Women are married off as soon as they hit puberty because they cannot control their sexual desires. Goodness! Are we really so licentious?

Resistance was about the Belgian Maquis i.e. resistance, in World War II. People were oppressed in their own country by the Germans. You were either a member of the underground resistance or a collabos (collaborator). I cannot imagine what it must be like to have your land, your crop, your livestock, your spouse, everything you love and have worked hard for wrested away from you.

We needn’t go far from home to find instances of oppression. I was reading a magazine today that stated the following:
Every hour, 2 Dalits are assaulted
2 Dalits are murdered
2 Dalit houses are burnt
3 Dalit women are molested.
While I have no way to verify these statements, I do know that the plight of the ‘Untouchables’ in our country is pretty damn dismal. People, HUMAN BEINGS are forced to consume excreta! How disgusting is that?
I was not a proponent of reservations until I read this ‘…you say there should be no special policy to help them [Dalits and Tribals]. It is like asking the blind, lame old and young to run in the same race.’ Maybe they need a leg-up. Maybe reservations would be the right thing. However, I don’t think reservations should be permanent. Maybe the policy of reservation should be revised in another, oh I don’t know, 40 years. Hopefully there will no longer be any Scheduled Castes by that time.
Can you believe we celebrate 60 years of Independence next year? The elders of midnight earned it with ‘ blood, sweat and tears’. Will we, grand- and great grand-children of those fine men and women deserve to be Independent? Oh Lord, I’m sermonizing! Forgive me, I’m just very, very concerned about the state of our State (and country).

animal noises

this one is kind of inspired by my cat
how many animal sounds do we know?
cat-meow
dog - woof/ ruf
cow- mooooo
pig - oink
duck - quack
crow - caw
lil birdies like sparrows- cheep
cock (no double entendre)- cock-a-doodle-doo
any additions people?

ooh, learned a couple of new words today- 1.rapscallion. it means rascal.
2. costive. it means constipated.
now haven't i helpes make you smarter? ;)

Book 28

Every year on my birthday, I set myself several goals. One is that I must finish reading a certain number of books. This year my target is 34. Yes, I know, that isn’t a very large number, but I knew I’d be busy so I didn’t aim too high.
Book no. 28 this year is ‘How Opal Mehta got kissed, got wild and got a life’ by Kaavya Viswanathan. The synopsis goes “Opal Mehta wants to go to Harvard. And her parents will do anything to get her there!” Her parents have a seemingly foolproof plan for the purpose: HOWGIH aka How Opal Will Get Into Harvard. She goes for language classes, welding classes, does community work, gets straight As, does everything that can make her resume impressive. Ah, but she’s forgotten to be normal, and have fun. Luckily she has gone for an early admission interview, and the Dean of Admissions gives her some advice- he basically tells her to get a life. And so, the Mehtas come up with HOWGAL i.e. How Opal Will Get A Life. Her parents get involved, immersed actually, in current teenage pop-culture stuff. They buy her new clothes, her mum takes her for a makeover, and they even tell her to kiss a boy (!). It’s a little difficult, but Opal (and her parents) decides that like walking around in high heels and getting in with the ‘in-crowd’, it is necessary in order to get into Harvard. There are many ups, some depressing downs and many improbable happenings (like the Mehtas helping their daughter plan a house party- you know, one of those my-parents-are-away-so-lets-go-crazy things).
It ends happily enough, with Opal getting into Harvard (surprise!), getting the guy she likes-but-didn’t-start-out-liking, and just being so happy it’s almost unbelievable.
It was a funny book. I actually laughed out loud a couple of times! It’s a mix of Never Been Kissed, Mean Girls and a Sweet Valley book. Very teenybopper, very American. It’s interesting that she doesn’t really project her family as Indian Indians except for the one stereotyped aunty who wants to get her married off. The Mehtas seem quite open and accepting- rather Goan, actually.
There are a few truths in the novel like 1) girls have to choose between being smart and being pretty because it takes too much time to be pretty 2) you never get the guy you want and 3) however clichéd it might sound, always be yourself.
Sorry I revealed the plot, those of you who are interested in the book. My personal recommendation? Read it only if you want a laugh.

literature

ho hum...
have finished with my exams at last.literature was the last paper.
thought i would try posting everyday- but first i must catch up on my sleep!
you know what i don't understand? why people don't like literature. i mean, you can learn soooo much, and there are lines in some poems that just send shivers down your spine, like these lines from rudyard kipling's if:
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much:
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!

granted mr. kipling was an imperialist and a chauvinist, but i think he should get his due credit for such inspiring lines.
there's nothing in the world quite like poetry. sure, it can be convoluted and absurd and fantastic- but isn't life just like that?
literature is the most beautiful thing in the world. but i'd much rather appreciate it then analyse it!
bte, can anyone tell me what literati means?

should i even bother trying?

ahhhhhhhhh!
i cannot believe that my friend's annoying girlfriend has become a muse to me!
she actually inspires me to write verse (however bad or jaded it is)
i so badly want to like her again. i did once upon a time...before she started hanging out with us... before she started asking me incessantly "does he know i like him? does he like me too?"

check this out:
slowly the bike came to a halt in front of me.
slowly she slid her hand into place just above his knee.
slowly she smiled, her countenance filled with a quiet glee
possession declared, flag placed, all so subtlely!
this happened today-i can't believe she had to prove her point that way!
i mean-he's my FRIEND for goodness' sake! sheesh!

i also wrote this today after that 'incident':
how shall i prove i love him? how shall i prove he's mine?
i shall put my hook hands on him, to be dislodged only by time.
i will lean into his body, i will smile upto his face,
i will look down on his friends, whom i have displaced.
and this party won't get over, my guy he'll always be
and i defy all women to try and take him away from me!

obviously, these are supposed to be her thoughts. just clarifying!

9 hrs 36 minutes

that is the amount of time i get to spend with my dad for 48 weeks out of 52 in the year.
9 hrs and 36mins
my parents aren't separated. or divorced.
this is just the way we live. my family and so many others in goa.
i have to condense a week's happenings into 12 minutes of phone time.
i swear, if i ever have kids, i will be with them. at least in the same country as they.
my parents had to make the choice they did, circumstances forced them to.
but i refuse to let that happen to me.
i have no idea how i'm going to ensure that-but i will!

i hate exams
i hate hypocrites
i hate people who are sweet to you, then bitch about you when you aren't around
i hate having to be the one to contact people. i hate that they never get back to me.
i hate this list cause i look like some pathetic victim of i don't know what!
well, at least its a little bit of comic relief (how pathetic my life can get-it is a little funny)
when the going gets tough...the tough get going...and start studying