Saturday, August 23, 2008

Random

Shit!! I don't believe I am actually blogging from a cafe!! Well I am short of time....so I will keep it short and simple today. I am in mumbai...The city looks good rather the city from office to home and back looks good.....i haven't been to any other place yet...:)....I am not missing delhi as of now...the company is cool...the people are cool....some good looking girls in our batch and some good looking guys in the other...he he....the grass is always greener on the other side you see....yes i had the vada pao today...no comments on that....there is a cat that sits outside the subway near my office...whenever i pass it, it is there...sleeping....I was thinking of informing India Tv they will make a good news out of it... ;)....this is what you call random....there is much more to write that can make sense...but i cannot make sense when i am short of time.. ;)

Will write better things next time... :)

Thursday, August 14, 2008

Should Prostitution be Legalized in India?

I was actually looking for this piece of writing for many days. Finally, I got it inside a forgotten file. I gave this debate in UCMS, Delhi ( and won third prize for it :)). The topic of the day was – ‘ Should prostitution be legalized in India? ‘ . The debate witnessed a decent number of participants with varied styles. Moreover, I have always liked participating in UCMS. It being a medical college, chooses bold and important topics and people actually speak maturely and responsibly. Here it goes:

Imagine we legalize prostitution in India. You walk in a narrow lane of Chandni Chowk and you see a board that says ‘Bunty da Brothel’ with a rate list with special discount on women above 30!
New Arrivals Reshma…Bubly…Rosy….
Imagine huge hue and cry every now and then over measures by Indian Prostitution Standardization committee(IPSC ;) ).
Alright, now may be this was an exaggeration. It won’t be that weird. But it won’t be less!
The three keywords here are ‘Legalized’, ‘Prostitution’ and ‘India’. Had it been the former two I might have differed. But the inclusion of ‘India’ makes it a different ball game altogether. To know ‘why’, let us look at it in the reverse order.
We are Indians. Right ? We are not in Denmark, not in Thailand, not in Malasia! We are middle class, lower class, urban, rural Indians.
When we see an advertisement of condom with our family we change the channel!
We are boys who never talk about condoms to our dads! We are girls who never talk about contraceptives to our mothers!
We are an oversensitive moral policing brigade. We are Shivsena…We are VHP….We are Bajrangdal. We cannot tolerate a Sania Mirza wearing a short skirt!
We are still debating whether sex education should be provided in schools.
We are a nation that is still ‘evolving’!

PROSTITUTION:
Is it a profession, a taboo, or is it something that we think only others sisters would do? Is it the dark filthy lane where you think your son, brother, husband, or father had never been to!
It is definitely something that exists and helps to transmit sexually transmitted diseases.
It not only gives a girl some easy money to buy herself exotic jewelry but also gives money to a poor mother to feed her child. It is something into which an innocent girl is forced by pimps. And it is also something that countries like Malasia do for tourism!
And since it is one or all of the above, it needs legalization for the following reasons:
1.To reduce sexually transmitted diseases.
2.To stop exploitation of prostitutes.
3.To earn in form of taxes and from tourism.
But what happens when the same is legalized in India?
It fails to spend on the HIV testing of the prostitutes. It also fails in bringing in a proper infrastructure that requires a lot of planning and money.
Secondly, the prostitute does not get the dignity of labor in a society like ours.
Infact , many more innocent girls are now forced into prostitution without pimps having any fear of being caught, since it is now legal!
Thirdly: Now come on! We won’t do it for tourism! That is so UnIndian!
See who goes to a prostitute- a married or an unmarried man( obviously!!there is no third kind of man Rupali;) )
In India both pre-marital sex and extra-marital sex are a strict no-no. Legalizing it will be like giving a moral approval to sex with someone else than you wife. And this India will never give because of its social structure and cultural values.
Everything that has the capacity to become an issue becomes one and gives us the opportunity to burn buses and effigies.
We are diverse, complex and sensitive. We aren’t ready for too many things yet. We have to learn ‘n’ number of things before legalizing ‘prostitution’!
We have to discuss, debate and resolve many other issues before we come to prostitution.
We have to learn to tolerate each other before we think of tolerating prostitution!

P.S: 1. All characters in this debate are fictitious and bear no resemblance to anybody living or dead! ;)
2. Special thanks to Sadaf, Sid, Deepak and Yashasvi who helped me prepare this write-up. Thanks a lot guys for your suggestions and ideas :).

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

The missing "wow"!

Few days to go and I will be joining Iflex solutions( now Oracle Financial Services :)) in its Mumbai Office. I will be laving my place on 16th. All I do these days is to surf 99acres.com and hope that I chance upon some really cheap accommodation.. ;) I am being unrealistic I know.
Software is not exactly what I want to do or feel like doing. Nonetheless I will be doing this for quite some time from now. The industry is facing bad times and most of my friends are still waiting for their joining dates. I have been lucky that I had it on time. Moreover I am going to Mumbai and will now be able to compare Delhi and Mumbai, like most of the people who know both cities do. ;) And hey Meenal I am sure I would still be on Delhi’s side :)
But then, there is hardly any feeling of excitement. I am not even sad that I am leaving home or that the college has ended. As if what is the big deal!! This is something very predictable. It had to occur. Is it the predictability that makes me neutral?? But I remember being excited about coming into a new class in school…about seeing the same faces again in some new class….about facing the first day in college….When one of my favorite teacher left school when I was in class 7th , I wept hard and gave her a seven pages letter…;) The ability to feel the due excitement or sadness has vanished somehow now. All that I feel is “what is the big deal!! “:) After all, this is not the first time I will face a change.

But this is slightly worrying me. It is like even the good things seem like tasting an insipid coffee. You don’t want to lose the flavor of course….
Things are not making me feel like ”wow!”
This phase is boring when you are sad for nothing and happy for nothing.
Anyways not to mention there is a hectic schedule waiting for me out there and I might be absent from the blogosphere for some time. (not necessarily though :))
And if anybody has a pill to make me feel the “wow effect” please inform… ;)