The past year in law school, somehow, I've done / read a lot of stuff relating to domestic violence (DV). My first tryst with anything related to domestic violence was an internship at this place called Majlis, in Bombay. Majlis is an NGO fighting for women's rights in various spheres and was started by Flavia Agnes. It was a wonderful experience, and though it may sound cliched, the internship was an eye opener.
I then did a project on DV in Crim Law I. I also studied it in Family Law I. And roomie gifted a book, Strange Fits of Passion, by Anita Shreve, which is a wonderful insight into what goes through the mind of a victim. In the book, the central character is 'free' in the sense that she at any point does have the liberty to go to the police and report the case. So at times, while reading the book, you would ask yourself - why the hell isn't she doing that? However she is so terrorised of her husband (she keeps on saying, "He'll kill me") that she doesn't. She chooses to flee to another town with her baby and live incognito, but she doesn't report the case. I won't tell you how the book ends, but I would recommend it to you all (thankoo momo :)!).
Domestic violence cases are complex in the sense that they deal with something which happens behind closed doors. I've never come across anyone who I know personally and has been a victim - but something does need to be done about it. So this post is about the 'Bell Bajao' Campaign. Some of you might have seen the ad on TV, which in my opinion is a piece of brilliant advertising work(done by Ogilvy & Mather). Boman Irani's in his house, but he can hear shouts etc from a neighbouring house - one can make out that the woman is being battered. So he goes up to the house, rings the bell. There is silence. Then the man opens the house. And Irani asks, "Can I use your phone?". The man looks sheepish, very. And as far as I can remember, the ad ends. It goes without saying that the ad does have a lot more to it - visual impact etc is awesome :)
So well, while this does not suggest a long term solution obviously, I really think it's a nice innovative idea. To be honest, I've never done much of social work - have always been too lazy to take any kind of initiative. When I saw the ad though, I was really enthused. It's a nice idea which does not require much of one. As DV is a crime which happens inside the house, proving the same is difficult. With the advent of the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, the law has changed dramatically. Nonetheless I'm not too sure whether much has actually changed or not. Also while legal action is one option, a simple ringing of a bell, consequently making the abuser aware of the fact that everyone knows, an action which threatens and corners him and one which should ideally lead to a phone call to the cops, can change things. So I really do hope that I help. And would want you all to too!
The link of the campaign's website is -
http://www.bellbajao.org/index.php
Ok now time for my 'I like' thing. Ok currently, I like my birthday presents :D Birthday was on the 11th of this month, and got some really nice gifts from 'frands'. Sigh. I LOVE birthdays because of this! Yes I'm horribly materialistic and LOVE gifts :D Thank you so much to aforementioned frands and to everyone else for all the wishes (yes yes I LOVE them too, not that materialistic!)!
Of Summer
Of ice-creams and bricks,
Of cold drinks and rasna in ice to create orange candy,
Of cold drinks and rasna in ice to create orange candy,
Of art class and casio class and once upon a time odissi class,
Of Holi and Mamma's birthday,
Of results and no school and Papa making plans,
Of Kwality in Calcutta and Eden Ice Cream Parlour in Bombay,
Of Mama and Delhi, Mausi and Noida, Baba-Dadi and Arrah, Nana-Nani and Lucknow,
Of pethas and Nani and mangoes,
Of discovering Mother Dairy and Mami's Cold Coffee,
Of dark room and swimming in Asiad and in Lake Castle Club,
Of langdas and alphansoes (or is it alphonsoes?),
Of cotton clothes and getting tanned and fretting over the latter,
Of many showers and beaches, Puri and Bombay,
Of Archies and Tintin and Asterix,
Of attempting to playing water polo and playing the rather simple, polo,
Of soup and Rajdhani,
Of changes in friendship dynamics (:)),
Of Baba and Pepsi,
Of horror movies and lays and Coke and Nitty's house,
Of Goa and tantrums (me),
Of Bhaiya always,
Of exams over and birthday gone,
Of cricket in the colony, and throwball in the building,
Of remembering some and forgetting the rest.
Summer's on the anvil, incessant perspiration is the first indicator. :) I was feeling a little nostalgic, and I was scared I'll forget what summers have been over the years. So here's a little reminder for myself :) Summer holidays are absolutely the best time ever! This time, like last year, I'm going to be in law school, and not at home. While I can't do some of the things mentioned above consequently, summers in law school are not that bad too (for instance there is always Univ Week to look forward to). Also, I just enjoyed 7 fantabulous weeks at home!
I wanted to know - what have your summers been like?
Hmm, ok I like presently - the book When We Were Orphans, by Kazuo Ishiguro. It has this lovely balanced pace to it. I thought that some things were too coincidental, but overall loved the book. Also, if you're reading this please please read Never Let Me Go! Stunning book, imo. Looking forward to reading The Remains of the Day, and picking up The Unconsoled from where I left it.
Endings
This feels like it's going to be a short post. Let's see.
Ok so yes this is going to be about endings. Umm there might be a few spoilers, with respect to some books / films / serials. And yes, I hope to make this a fun post! Let's see :)
So this post is about endings. Not about whether there are happy endings in life or not. It's a little more superficial :D It's about which guy ends up with which girl. No it's not about real life choices (:D), they'll work out eventually. They're about these characters in fiction, and why I always feel someone else should have got the guy / girl! Since I don't think all of you all would have read / watched all of it, so it maybe a little remote, but I'll try to make it more relate-able!
So for instance, I'll begin with this serial called Gossip Girl. It's wonderfully superficial and mindless and a lot of fun. If you think I'm too shallow to watch this, I don't care :P And please do watch it! Anyway, so there is this girl called Jenny. She's been quite irritating and semi-bitchy in some of the episodes, and gets on my nerves at times. Still I want her to end up with Nate (one of the central characters). He had a brief fling with her, but from whatever I've seen till now, he's now with this other chick called Vanessa. So Vanessa's really nice and not bitchy and is probably the right person for Nate. Nonetheless I still want Nate to be with J!
Then there's Dil To Pagal Hai. Why why why cannot Shahrukh end up with Karisma (even though Madhuri is oh-so-beautiful, but still!)? And in Kuch Kuch Hota Hai I can't bear to watch second half as I think Shahrukh was good with Rani only. This however can be attributed to my strange liking for Rani, who by the way, has disappeared. Why?
Then there is Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen. I do not get why Fanny goes for Edmund who only goes for her because his other love (Mary) is too immoral for him. She has the perfectly nice Henry who she does not marry because he was immoral! Apparently, Austen wrote this while she was in Bath, and was in this 'moral' (I don't know how to express this) phase and hence purposely did not let Fanny marry the erstwhile flirtatious Henry.
Then there is The Mill on the Floss, by George Eliot. In this, in a really depressing ending (yes, I cried), Maggie dies in the end along with her brother Tom, in a flood (I think). I hate this ending. Earlier she had had a relationship with this person called Philip, who as far as I can remember, had a club foot. It's sweet. However later, her cousin's fiance, Stephen falls in love with her, and even though she tries to resist it, Maggie falls in love with him too. They eventually elope, with hopes of getting married in Scotland. However the guilt is too much, and eventually Maggie leaves him. He's all sad and terribly broken. She dies finally. Philip's sad. Stephen's sad. Strangely, I think he eventually marries the first cousin.
Yes I know this is wrong (falling in love with cousin's fiance). Still, I really wanted Maggie and Stephen to end up together. I don't know, I just did. And anyway, I don't know why Eliot had to end the novel the way she did. Fine, Maggie could have left Stephen... but she didn't have to die!
And then there is Harry Potter. I did NOT want Harry to end up with Ginny. It's like Rowling was too bored to think of someone else, and there Ginny was all along, and by them marrying Harry, Ron and hence Hermione would have become family too. I do NOT like. Time for big confession here. I secretly wanted Harry and Hermione to end up together. I sense disbelief here.. right? See I like Ron and Hermione together. However I would have loved to see Harry and Hermione together. So this is what I mean when I say that I always want the wrong couple to happen...! I don't know. Some of these instances maybe tried to be explained by the whole the girl always goes for the bad guy syndrome... but I honestly don't think Henry and Stephen are bad guys. While being a flirt might be considered as highly immoral in the time when Austen wrote the novel, Henry had reformed his ways. And with respect to Stephen, yes falling in love with one's fiancee's cousin is definitely not nice (a big no to infidelity, I say), he couldn't help it, he couldn't (so maybe I need to relook my thoughts on infidelity too?).
So that's that. I know there isn't much to this post. It's just about why I don't like the endings of quite a few of my favourite novels / serials / movies... and I do not know why?! Umm I could pshychoanalyse it and try to arrive at some explanation, but am avoiding introspection of any kind right now. I like being shallow. :)
Also, if you want to know if you're falling for the bad guy, please check out http://www.quibblo.com/quiz/7PR8hEL/Are-you-falling-for-a-bad-boy Yes, I'm terribly vela.
So do you fall in love with the bad guy *snicker* *grin*?!
Ok one more thing, I'm going to start this 'I like' thing now. I'll mention in every post one thing I like.
So right now, I like the new local trains in Mumbai (see above).
I really like them. And look forward to travelling in them whenever I can. I love the colours used - purple, orange and white. And the inside compartment, in spite of the crowd, still feels non-claustrophobic. And there finally is an announcement system inside the train, announcing which is the next station. Big help, especially considering that I often get so absorbed in reading / thinking / sleeping that I almost miss my station. Also, the announcement reflects in a way the cosmopolitan nature (which I admit is now in danger, sigh), as each time there are three announcements back to back, "पुडे स्टेशन, विखरोली", (it's actually not spelt like that in Marathi, and not even pronounced like that, but it's the closest i can get to in Hindi), "अगला स्टेशन, विखरोली", "Next station, Vikhroli". It gets irritating once in a while, but is sweet too.
Hmm this wasn't a short post. And was not fun too. Tad boring too. Sorry :( Had to be dispensed from system though!
Post Script - have just been informed by a seasoned traveller that the new trains are not so new! They were introduced an year ago. Sorry! To a first time traveller like me(have travelled before, but not on a regular basis like this time), they seem brand new though :)!
