Crisis in life gives one an opportunity to go for change and excel

Crisis of confidence can very well be overturned into confidence in crisis. That is to say, one can always tide over a period of low ebb that each one of us face at one time or the other in life, by following the law of reasoning and rooting out the cause of the problem behind the crisis. Actually, that is how the brave and the undaunted face the jerks of life and cultivate the edifice of confidence as the moving force to be out of the rut. John F Kennedy had said, The Chinese use two brush strokes to write the word crisis one brush stroke stands for danger; the other for opportunity. In a crisis, be aware of the danger but recognise the opportunity. A crisis indeed gives one a wonderful chance to stand up and be counted. It is a warning cry that something is amiss and can be got rid of by being conscious of the root-cause of the problem. One can very well say that but for crisis, we would have taken life very easy and no changes could have taken place. Imagine the state of such a life and such a world you would have been living in! That is why we say change is must and one who resists change has no reason for a better and purposeful existence on this planet. The Survival of the fittest theory does not mean survival on the strength of physical power; it means more on the basis of the power to change and adapt to the changing circumstances. You remain fit if you keep pace with the dynamics of the world and always welcome changes for a smoother life. Jeanette Walls, in The Glass Castle, had this in mind: Sometimes you need a little crisis to get your adrenaline flowing and help you realise your potential. We are a storehouse of great potentialities of which most of us remain unaware and thus we remain underutilised far below our capacity. The awareness of the need to put to maximum use our potentialities has to be awakened either in normal circumstances or when one goes through a severe crisis.

If you havent faced failures, you havent lived life full

If you read A P J Abdul Kalams life history through his own books, particularly the latest one, My Journey, you would reinforce your belief in the adage, Blessing in disguise. He wanted to be a pilot but could not because his standing in the merit list was one behind the last successful person. He was terribly upset but did not lose hope; and he worked his way up to become the Father of missile technology in our country. And later, the President of the country, the highest po st one could secure in the biggest democratic country in the world. I still remember the ache in my heart as I tried to make sense of what had happened. When a dearly felt desire breaks up, one feels nothing but despair. But he saw reason not to be bogge d down. He made it a

point that not being able to become a pilot was not the end of the world. There could yet be other things, bigger and better out there; and thus he plunged into space technology to touch great heights of success. What is important is to realise that failure could be a stepping-stone to a greater goal. As Kalam says, one has to rethink ones goal, reorient ones path. Each setback teaches us a new facet of life and something about our own personality. When we tackle obstacles, we find hidden reserves of courage and resilience we did not know we had. But one must keep in mind that the saying, blessing in disguise, does not work on its own; one has to take a positive attitude; something like, What if I failed here, there are better things to be achieved in life. And that something higher has to be pursued steadfastly under all circumstances. It will be interesting to recall what Mahatma Gandhi had said on this issue, God sometimes does the uttermost to those whom he wishes to bless. Indeed, difficult moments in life provide one the chance to do things that one could have never thought of in normal circumstances. If you try, and try hard, you have nothing to lose; but you stand every chance of gaining. That is why we were taught early in life to keep in mind that every burden is a blessing; and that only by counting the blessings, instead of the woes one has had in life, one can be the master of ones own destiny.

Freedom from fear, anger and hunger is true freedom

What are we talking of freedom? Freedom from what? That was one question that possessed most thinking minds a few days ago when India celebrated its 67th Independence anniversary. Sixty-seven years is not a very long period in the history of a country with a great civilisation, neither it is a too short one that we let ourselves escape and forget the responsibility for promises not yet fulfilled. If we take a conscientious look at the state of affairs today, keeping in view the hungry millions all around us, we would be right in questioning, What have we done in the last four decades? Are we really free? To seek an answer to this question, one has to define the meaning of freedom that could be acceptable to most of us. Freedom is to be living a peaceful, purposeful, constructive and dignified life, free from fear, anger and hunger. Have the past 67 years given us such an India? The idea of India as we envisaged at the time of Independence is far from us. Our tryst with destiny seems to have lost in the quagmire of conflicts. Today we have an India of a country still struggling for existential potentialities. The hopes and aspirations of over 1.2 billion people to succeed and live a dignified life, free from fear, anger and hunger have proved to be an eluding goal. Dignity of life, the bar to measure a successful life, still remains a distant dream for most of our fellow citizens. Without this, one can hardly rejoice over our freedom from slavery. Musharraf Ali Farooqi, a Pakistani author, sums up this sentiment in these beautiful words: The dignity of human life does not cover merely the sanctity of human life, but spans over all that gives meaning to our

existence, including our civilisation, our culture, our language, our past and all that connects us to others, both the living and the dead. It is from this set that our values grow, values that make us conscious beings, and give worth to our lives as spiritual beings. Nehru set the trend in the discovery of India; and if we say today that we should be ashamed of ourselves for betraying this, we need not stand to apologise and say sorry. What is needed today, when we see ourselves lost in the failure in discovering ourselves, is an honest and sincere attempt to rediscover ourselves and resolve to make it the greatest need of the day. We can do it, we have the means and the ways to do it. All that we have to do is that we have to work conscientiously towards achieving a nation where our heads are held high; where each one of us march ahead arm-in-arm towards a common goal to attain that eluded us all these years.

Success lures only those of you who are keen to succeed

We all strive for success but our definition of success may vary. What is success for you may be highly undesirable for me. That means success is relative and it is believed to have been achieved when an individual gets what he wanted after quite a struggle. Also remember, there may be a situation when your success may spell doom for another; that is when your gain as success in a business deal, for instance, could be leading to anoth ers bankruptcy. Conventional wisdom says successful people are highly motivated; they have the ability and the sense to grab an opportunity to dig into a goldmine. In other words, apart from hard work and talent, you need to have that extra sense to fish out the luck factor to become what is called you are lucky. Of course, no positive factor can help you until you have that singe-mindedness for success. As Swami Vivekananda said, Take up one idea as your life think of it, dream of it and live on that idea. And success is yours, for sure. A recent research finds that there is one more essential factor for success How we approach in our interactions with other people, particularly with the ones we are dealing with. In this case, we can divide ourselves in two kinds of people: Those who would like to give and those who would like to take at the work place. The takers are known to be having an attitude to squeeze others as much as possible and give back the least; while the givers give their full irrespective of any returns. The latter are a rare breed but they are the ones who are ultimately at the top of the ladder. There is a book, Give and Take A Revolutionary Approach to Success, by Adam Grant, that says the givers have a rare ability to focus on success that yields more for others. In this group too, there are subgroups: Givers dominate the top and the bottom of the success ladder; while the takers take the middle space. The point is that success comes to those who are magnanimous at heart; and have the will to achieve. As Bill Gate said, Success is a lousy teacher. It seduces smart people into thinking they cant lose.

The essence of time

To be a good and happy person, one should acquire some spiritual sense. But the point is how to acquire it, and is there a way to acquire it step by step? There is a book, recently published and authored by spiritual writer Ajit Kumar Bishnoi, which discusses these issues. Titled Spiritual Sense, the book tries to drive the message home that human beings need to cultivate spirituality for fulfillment. Only then one can hope to see that ones life on this planet is spent meaningfully and purposefully. The author discusses 10 topics and says, practically, all these were some sort of a revelation and that it would have been selfish and a shame if left unshared. So, what are those topics on which the author says he had revelations? Starting with God, down to soul, consciousness, intelligence and mind, the other topics are dharma, relevance of a guru, the essence of time, and, finally, happiness and the ultimate search that leads one to discovering the path of liberation. Since one cant deal with all these topics in this write-up, lets see how time and its management goes a long way in taking one onto the path of spiritual progress. The basic point is that one has to understand the value of time. And, as they say, time is very short for those wanting to do good things in life, but very long for those who work the devils job. Ones pace of life has to be set in a manner that it does not go into making time pass and wasted; instead it should amount to utilising your time in the most productive and useful manner. That needs meticulous planning, resolve and execution of the task at hand. The author c alls it spending quality time with oneself. That means one should see that whatever work one takes up at any point of time, one has to do it in a manner that its results are there for all to share. The more you share, the more you grow and your happiness naturally grows in direct proportion. Some of you might take this argument with a pinch of salt, but those who have done it and have reaped the joys of sharing will validate and appreciate this argument. As Abraham Lincoln had said, The best thing about the future is that it comes only one day at a time. Living one day at a time means concentrating on a particular task that matters. The past is gone and dead; and the uncertainty of future cant be trusted for a good job to be left to be done some other d ay. Therefore, the point is that one should seize the present and do as best as possible, without getting disturbed or disoriented if caught in a failure. Failure itself is not a bad thing, it becomes bad only when you keep on ruing over it and fail to act further. Almost without exception, all great persons in history have had crushing failures but they took them as challenges and emerged stronger and more determined. As a result, they realised what was just a dream not very long ago. Think big, act big. The rest will be taken care of.

Success lures only those of you who are keen to succeed

We all strive for success but our definition of success may vary. What is success for you may be highly undesirable for me. That means success is relative and it is believed to have been achieved when an individual gets what he wanted after quite a struggle. Also remember, there may be a situation when your success may spell doom for another; that is when your gain as success in a business deal, for instance, could be leading to anothers bankruptcy. Conventional wisdom says successful people are highly motivated; they have the ability and the sense to grab an opportunity to dig into a goldmine. In other words, apart from hard work and talent, you need to have that extra sense to fish out the luck factor to become what is called you are lucky. Of course, no positive factor can help you until you have that singe-mindedness for success. As Swami Vivekananda said, Take up one idea as your life think of it, dream of it and live on that idea. And success is yours, for sure. A recent research finds that there is one more essential factor for success How we approach in our interactions with other people, particularly with the ones we are dealing with. In this case, we can divide ourselves in two kinds of people: Those who would like to give and those who would like to take at the work place. The takers are known to be having an attitude to squeeze others as much as possible and give back the least; while the givers give their full irrespective of any returns. The latter are a rare breed but they are the ones who are ultimately at the top of the ladder. There is a book, Give and Take A Revolutionary Approach to Success, by Adam Grant, that says the givers have a rare ability to focus on success that yields more for others. In this group too, there are subgroups: Givers dominate the top and the bottom of the success ladder; while the takers take the middle space. The point is that success comes to those who are magnanimous at heart; and have the will to achieve. As Bill Gate said, Success is a lousy teacher. It seduces smart people into thinking they cant lose.

Evoke the good you

You want to be good and helpful. Sure, you can. It is just a thought away: Think good and act good. You are there in your golden self! To carry forward on the path of goodness, you have to arouse your conscience to play for you, whenever you are at the crossroad. This was the kind of message one gathered at the recently-held Platinum Jubilee of the Brahma Kumaris. The Brahma Kumaris stresses on the fact everything in the world was first born as an idea or a tiny sentiment or a point, a dot. But one cant minimise the importance and immense power of such a point. A thought or an idea thus could be the mother of all changes that could be either for the good of humanity or its destruction. If you think positively and constructively, you are half the way on the path of building an atmosphere of peace and prosperity. On the other hand, if you think of the devil, the devil will surely be there. Your mind will be possessed of evil thoughts and all your actions and behaviour will go off the track. As a result, you will side with the devil and do nothing but make your own and others world more miserable and difficult.

It is for this kind of mind-set that the Brahma Kumaris offer various kinds of cures to mend and bring them back to the right and honourable track. One of the steps they stress upon is Rajyoga meditation that not only reforms your mind but gives you what you deserve as a human being: peace of mind and happiness. Your thoughts are powered and are elevated to do good things that make a difference no t only to your own life but to others as well. It makes you realise that inherently you are all gold inside; only that because of wrong environment and association, it has been clouded. Rajyoga comes in here to uplift and uncover the essence of goodness within you. It (Rajyoga) can make one realise ones positive and pure intentions by reinforcing and re-programming them into ones mind. By wiping the film of bodyconsciousness or human weaknesses, it emerges our original, eternal, spiritual qualities of knowledge, peace, power love and purity.

Hiding from troubles in life takes one deeper into the pit
All of us face troubles in different ways but some of us overcome them in our own ingenious ways; but some others keep crying all their lives. Actually, troubles are very much a part of life and they are a means for us to prove the survival of the fittest. Troubles, when taken in the right spirit, strengthen our zeal and conviction that life is great and worthliving in all circumstances. Or else, we would just be no better than animals that care for nothing but their day-to-day survival. One who knows how to face troubles knows how to be happy and progressive in life. The only difference between a winner and a loser is the way, the attitude, one takes over obstacles in life. The winner faces them positively and the loser fails to take full opportunity of a crisis. A research finding says all great leaders and companies in the world had faced great troubles; and it was because of their tenacity and resilience that that could come out of the hole and bounce back to a fighting fit situation. The findings ask, to give just one example, who is a successful writer? And the answer is: One who has received a jolt of multiple rejection letters one after the other from publishers and editors; and yet his/her tenacious way of going ahead with his/her pursuit hits the target one day. True, resilience alone is not enough; one has to learn from ones mistakes and go a step ahead the next time without losing conviction and confidence in ones own will to do and tide over any difficulty. In other words, if you want to succeed, you must be willing to fall and bounce back cheerfully, irrespective of the knocks you have received. The art of bouncing back comes through ones willingness to learn from a mistake and the zeal to take on the thorns of life. Criss Jami has this point elaborated beautifully, You get hit the hardest when trying to run or hide from a problem. Like the defense on a football field, putting all focus on evading only one defender is asking to be blind-sided.

Such a crisis comes out of a fear of weakness. The moment one realizes this, one has to also realize that fearing weakness is further strengthening ones weakness. We have to be like the herb, as Walter Scott says in Ivanhoe, that flourishes most when trampled upon!

Unhappy? Dont worry

Happiness is all that one wants and we are always on its unending search. But one cant be happy all the time because of various factors, internal as well as external. It is, therefore, essential that to be happy one has to understand why one is unhappy. If you know the cause and you can redress it or can ignore it, then happiness is yours. That is for sure. I read a book recently by Prafulla Raval and Vasant Raval that addresses this oft-discussed issue. Titled, Finding Soul in Work and Life, it basically says that we live most often unexamined and disconnected lives, thereby denying ourselves the realisation what is there behind our problem. And that most of the things we think about in daily life are not absolute but relative. We have to understand that knowing this can make a lot of difference in the way we see, prioritise and value things that we choose to do and dont. Today you are happy because what you wanted to do could be done. But that state of mind cant remain unchanged. Your happiness declines in case of repeated experiences of the same kind. It becomes, therefore, very challenging to know how to keep the state of being happy as a permanent feature of your mind. There is a book, 1,000 Places to See Before You Die that reminds us that the more you become greedy and expand your worldly desire, the more you are away from the state of being in a happy status. But one thing one must understand very clearly is that being unhappy is not a bad thing but quite a normal one. You can become happy only if you are unhappy. All of us, or most of us, get disappointed at one time or the other because we dont have the material comforts we want to have. It is here that one has to realise that one has to be within the normal limit of unhappiness and that such a state of mind should not drive one to frustration and madness. A normal state of being unhappy is a positive sign of being an aspiring and progressive mind. Only a moron can afford to be doing nothing and yet be happy. A purpose-driven life has to have a different direction one of complete self-control of mind to take the desired course. We need to chalk out an action plan to dispel the sources of unhappiness and discontentment so that we are placed on the path of happiness. As James Trustlow Adams sa id, Man can alter his life simply by altering his attitude of mind.

Sensex is not sexy

It has the curves but its just not right Moves like a roller-coaster, like day and night The Sensex, I say, is way too erratic Its proportions, you see, are not quite erotic

When it surges it makes us feel ecstatic But the damn thing never stays static Bubbles burst when you least expect them to And investors feel stranded without a clue! Experts talk, analysts yak, CEOs sound big Were none the wiser, while they all sound glib The Sensex is like sex, its ways are unpredictable It enchants the wicked and fools the gullible! Its bulges are too big, too big for us to enjoy They go all over the place. Boy oh boy! Still its mystical allure draws us to its ways If we buy it in dips, in its highs it pays! When the bulls take over, everyone talks bull Optimism surges, the cup seems to run full Then it runneth over, and hits the bearish zone The blue-chips they picked turn accident prone! The folks who cheered the dizzy rise, hum and haw Read red into the numbers where they once pink saw! Greed is good they say, and justify their craving But you gotta mind your money; its your hard-earned saving!

Me, single; you, plural?

Propose day follows Rose day, a week before Valentines Day, exposing the agony of the frustrated Indian single male. The guard outside the Gordon House Hotel in Colaba hated my face. I dont think hed even seen it. The way most of us casually black out the eyes of a beggar that knocks on our tinted car-windows, this guard had first looked away, then scowled, mumbled something for a bit, still ignoring the four of us entirely unworthy of even his inattention. We were all men, single; so obviously, molesters and rapists; outside the main gate of his posh discotheque; dressed in our Saturday night best. It appeared we could afford his hospitality. He didnt seem interested. Dogs and stags arent allowed. Suddenly, we were. Galloping mindlessly across Mumbais tourist district, wed left behind our only legitimate passports to status and nightlife: the four women friends with us. They caught up eventually. The guard welcomed us in this time. I dont think he said sorry. He neednt have. I didnt blame him. Evenings are too prec ious to let egos get in the way. The gent outside Titos, with eight people inside on a Monday night, in the dead monsoon season, turned out to be a whole lot ruder. I heard him whisper under his breath some terrible things about the anatomy of our mothers and sisters. Not the sorts to pick a brawl still, we suffered the humiliation, gently explained

that we in fact did have women friends at the bar. And then we left. Quietly. This is common sufferance in Delhi. We were in Goa, for Gods sake. Being a man, with other men, in Indias semi-urban nocturnal jungle is to remain a gross, sometimes disgraced, social outcaste, suffering from a strange tropical disease, single-itis, for lack of a better name. These Dalits of nightlife dont deserve their dance, with their drink, even if they could pay twice for the same simple pleasures. You know somethings warped when watering holes that serve loud hard rock for music, still no ones idea of a romantic date, remain officially open to couples only. Save if you were a regular. So they let me into Mumbais good ol Ghetto the other night. I breathed a sigh of relief. We were five men, one woman. You cant form political parties with right permutations each time you go out. The said ratio didnt work at the next lounge, like it wont at most clubs. Tough luck, I guess. And no, there isnt such a thing as gay couples. So, smart try. Its the sort of sexual discrimination few would take seriously. Fewer still will care about. No one I know will fight for. Suspicions are hard to erase. Some terrorists give all men a bad name. This is true for the average, Indian non-molester type man. He stopped hitting on Indian women at some point. She instantly assumed him to be sleazy anyway. He had reputation to protect. Given such poor practice with making conversations with the unknown of the opposite gender, his skills got considerably worse. When he does try his luck now, once in a while, the possible openers get odder still: You smell really nice. Creepy! She looks away. He goes back to his drink. The times you must hang out with other men, just men, is when youre at a quasi -gay joint celebrating old boys reunion of a frustrated boarding school. There are mostly men around at places, which allow men. The topic of conversation is the woman still. This is terrible. Species single, male, and Indian could consider themselves getting officially quarantined. It would help their cause. Female companionship is a mirage. Male company gets boring. Most prefer to get married instead, whether theyd like to or not. Their parents help them hook up, finally. Someone should. Its hard to hold out beyond the late 20s. Arranged marriage isnt always a matter of conservatism or choice. It is often an urban necessity. Suddenly, being single gets even tougher when everyone else around is already married. And there, those platonic female passports to an acceptable nightlife are gone too. It may be fair to suggest that you can be happily single, in much the same ways as you can be happily married, or happily dating: each being empirically impossible. The occasional woes of single men, to me, however seem diametrically opposite to those of the single women I meet. Except, when they discuss the opposite sex, which is when they talk the same language. Both on separate tables insist that a man or woman who is straight, smart, attractive, intelligent, interesting, funny and yet available is an extinct specie fit to hang at museums. Maybe, because, the two tables have never merged with each others: theyve never really met. After school and college, where will they: at work? Thats where many do, it appears -unless youre the supposedly shy sort, who slimily stares at objects of desire, from over the cubicle, under the staircase, when not stalking on Facebook. New to sharing workspace with women, the traditional Indian man can barely get himself to

open his hesitant mouth before a foaming, female form. What comes out, when he does part his lips, bears promise of a sexual harassment case. Hes better off tongue-tied, quietly fantasizing. The less shady ones fat, fugly, tall, talkative, short get to demonstrate their actual worth at work. This is a level playing field. Women get attracted to the relatively smart. The guy has something to prove. Bosses should be glad. Late hours arent a problem. Attendance goes up. Companys productivity rises. Sure, an office intern can shake the whole White House. The hot dimwit secretary can make the male CEO dance on his knees. Attraction demands no prior appointment. This may be unfair on the nerdy, pimply man who must work harder to command the same attention from his male superior. But nature tends to balance this out in the long run. That rookie biz-school grad, when he turns bald and old, and if he is on top of his boardroom game, will be considered sexually attractive still. While hes younger, freer, funnier, he stands a fair chance as well. Call centres and movie industry merely get a bad name. All Indian offices with reasonable sex ratios, being 1:10, if you peer harder, I reckon, will look like rocking dating sites, spiced up with secret romances, rebounds, heartburns, and heartbreaks: pay closer attention to the HR department. Upping the gender ratio could yet reflect favourably on corporate balance sheets. Mixing hormones with business may be a terrible idea, I know, but what to do, where else to go. At a house party of drunks, where the inevitable penis blocking and fencing match is about to start between 20 single Indian men over the only woman who decided to stay back until late? Maybe not. At a discotheque? Yes. That would be an ideal place for the lonely soul, seeking a happy ending: a night of casual, naughty nirvana. Its a large, dimly lit psychedelic dome singularly structured around eyeing men and women, since theres precious little they can see of each other, through their beer goggles, under a shiny disco-ball. Loud music takes away the awkward discomforts of acquaintanceship. Burden of conversation safely lies in the lyrics of the songs. Akon sings, I wanna love you. Snoop Dogg adds, I wanna fuck you. Bodies move to booty calls. Eyes meet. The points made. Nobody need ask, your place, or mine. Maybe thats there in the song words as well. Deals struck. Booze is expensive. Nights young. So are you. But then if youre single, male, and around others with the same affliction, you were just dreaming right now. They wont allow you into a nightclub. Its for couples only. Despite weightier measures of time, the two people entering have already met; so have already dated, drank, danced, and done all old-world things invented to break the ice since the Internet. Then perhaps, theyre not single anymore. Social segregation is a vicious circle. Having a girlfriend exponentially increases your chances at finding another than being single does. I once co-ran an anonymous daily relationship column in a popular English newspaper in Mumbai. Besides jigsaw puzzles about cousins sleeping with their daughters, who were in turn making love to both the dad and the aunt, practically every genuine question Id get from a lost male soul would go: I like this girl. What do I do? Become her friend, Id advise. How? Get to know her friend. How? You know what? I dont know.

A veteran tri-sexual acquaintance (the sort who serially tries for sex as his natural right) tells me hes had it now. It is a hard life, unless youre a rock -star or a Bollywood hero, I suppose. He says hed rather start a political front for single men. Thered be enough to support his cause, he jokes. I dont agree. Nobody would openly join a group, unfairly or fairly, presumed to comprise a bunch of cash-strapped, unstable varieties who walk around being named single because, it is thought, they ought to be: no woman could stand the son of a gun anyway. Even women are attracted more towards men whore already hitched. Theres mystique in the unattainable. Singles nights inevitably fail. Deserters, all these people, the fellow frowns to me. Youd be the first one looking to desert your own grou p, I tell him. He agrees. The Game, a celebrated Bible for single men that scientifically tutors an average frustrated chump to become a pick-up artiste almost overnight, seducing strangers at bars, pubs and discotheques remains yet another American dream. You can tell why it could never work in India. Women have panned the bestseller in the west for its overt male chauvinism. The premise is entirely sexist, yes. But the books author Neil Strauss makes a significant point there that should please the average female reader that there are no ugly women, only lazy ones. Everybody loves the single woman. The world donates her affection, attention, drinks, dinner, coffee, couch, conversations, tags, hash-tags, friend-requests, re-tweets, roses on Rose Day, proposals on Propose Day, self-respect on Valentines Day She gifts them hope. Nobody loves a single man; not even the single man himself; least of all, the bouncer outside the club.

An open letter to the Vighnaharta Lord Ganesha

Last Updated: Saturday, September 07, 2013, 17:18

Dear Lord Ganesha,

Amidst the chants of Ganapati Bappa Morya, almighty, you the elephant -headed God shall arrive. The country shall celebrate your arrival, with great pomp and show, but we, the women folk of India have lots of complaints, sorrow and pleas for you. We see your arrival as our saviour, our messiah, and true to your name as Vighnaharta. What we narrate to you now shall not be very pleasing; but we believe that you being the large-hearted God will hear all our grievances. And provide respite and relief to us from our ordeals. It hurts us, the women folk of your land, to lift up the hypocritical veil of the society and showcase its grim reality. Lord, the land of Shakti, Durga and Kali has forgotten how to respect women. We as mothers, daughters, sisters and even friends are scared. Some fellow beings look at us as preys. We feel suffocated and choked. We feel the need to be protected. We long to be loved not ra ped. We long to be understood as humans not objects. Greed, lust and passion have blinded some men. They have trespassed all boundaries of morality and gone to extents unfathomable. Yes, they are fathers, brothers, relatives, strangers - men whose actions cannot be justified. They blame us for being too modern. They blame us for the way we dress. They blame us for the way we talk and walk. They forget what needs to be blamed is in their head, not in our dress. One of us once was out for a movie, she did not return home. One amongst us was out for her official work, she did return home but scarred. One was confined within the boundaries of her home, she could never venture out. One five-year-old did not know what went wrong; she will have to grow up to understand. These are just handful of examples; some tales are too horrific to be narrated. We want no more Nirbhayas, no more unnamed girls who are abused every day. We have staggering figures of rapes, molestation and eve-teasing here, none is hidden from you. Some compassionate fellow beings march and protest. We cry and we move on. We know the sad truth that its the mentality that has to change and this change can come only from within. No amount of law and order disruption can bring about a change in the mindset. With humans turning devils (we did not say animals as even they follow your laws of nature), the helplessness that has prevailed is frustrating. It is better that the world ends, before we see any more objectification of women.

Lord, you are the supreme. We are compelled to ask you a question? Is it not yet the time for your Dhumraketu avatar? We have heard that the two-armed, smoke-coloured Dhumraketu will ride a blue horse and fight all the devils to restore peace and harmony in the world. Can it get any worse or will the Kaliyuga show us more? We put forth trust on you. Lead the world from darkness to light. A plea by, The women of India.