SOCIETY

"I don't want my daughter to make the same mistakes I made", says 35-year-old Selvi P, a domestic worker who married at the early age of 19 to Pazhani, who then used to work at a petrol bunk. Against her family's wishes, Selvi married the man she was determined to spend the rest of her life with. On a recent trip to Mysore, Selvi saw the campus of IT major Infosys. Since then it is her dream that her daughter Savita works there. Pic: Vaishnavi Vittal But her happiness was short-lived as her husband soon took to alcohol and beat…

There are public spaces and there are public spaces. While city’s bus stops, railway stations, and the streets make up one side of public space; malls, movies and restaurants make up the other side. And the two sides have very different set of rules and these rules as usual affect women the most. Sartorial choice might seem to be a very trivial issue in larger scheme of things but the right to choose what one wants to wear rather than be told what to wear is hardly something to ignore. This in a city that boasts of being cosmopolitan.Offices have…

The water-melons slowly making way for the golden mangoes, dark grey clouds rushing in from nowhere to establish their sovereignty across the azure sky, the sudden afternoon thunderstorms playing the spoilsport and keeping the children indoors, the cool relief from the scorching heat as the sweet smell of the wet earth floats up and fills the air - the monsoon has finally arrived. Pic credit: Wikkicommons. With the schools welcoming back the brats after a seemingly never-ending summer break, the young mothers are happily settling down to trade in the bustling mornings for the long-awaited peace and normalcy in the…

In the times when there is general apathy amongst citizens towards issues like lack of civic amenities, environmental degeneration, etc, Bangalore has seen a rise in the number of active Residents' Welfare Associations (RWAs) in different parts of the town.One such RWA is Uthkarsh, in LB Shastri Nagar. Their vision is to make the residents of LB Shastri Nagar proud to live in the locality. With a vision like this, the association takes up work in various areas to - influence and improve the state of the civic amenities, increase the participation of the residents in the civic administration, promote…

An insensitive and ignorant society labels them eunuchs, hermaphrodites, kojja, ali, ombathu, and so on. But they prefer theterms hijra, kothi, jogappa, panthi, mangalamukhi, gay, lesbian, intersex, bisexual, transgender, transsexual, etc. Often ostracized by their loved ones for daring to be open and different, they are among society's most marginalized and traditionally excluded. Further, the state and its representatives harass and discriminate against them denying them fundamental rights and benefits like housing, education, employment, healthcare, identity cards. However, for over a decade, the sexual minority community has been demanding humane and dignified treatment and basic entitlements. Additionally, alternate sexual persons…

It was a short-lived campaign for the BBMP elections with little sound except for the occasional auto rickshaw blaring loud music and unintelligible squawks alternately. There were fortuitously none of the usual cut-outs, banners or buntings which end up ultimately as so much garbage. The only signs which indicated that a campaign was on, were the colourful pamphlets strewn on the roadside, muddied by the footprints of passers-by.After all the hype and excitement drummed up by the media, the State Election Commission says that only about 44 per cent of Bengalureans voted. But given that the electoral rolls are such…

It has been less than two months since the Carlton Towers fire accident took place. A week after the incident, Commissioner of Police Shankar Bidari issued a notification saying that owners/lease-holders/occupants of such buildings must adhere to a set of rules and regulations, and report the same to the nearest police station by April 15th, 2010. In case the building is not according to the plan sanctioned by the local authority, the Commissioner has set June 30th, 2010, as the deadline to conform to the approved plan.The order says that these buildings must comply with the guidelines as prescribed in…

Draped in a beautiful black-and-grey cotton saree, Vinatha Iyengar, 68, walks into Nightingales Elders’ Enrichment Centre (NEEC) at Malleswaram to attend a talk on ayurveda. Her grace is arresting and voice resonates with confidence as she reels off botanical names of medicinal plants. She has doubts, arguments, and also visible concern about the dwindling medicinal varieties. The NEEC members from all walks of life share a few laughs after the regular Friday talk. Pic: Savita Hiremath. But it was the same woman ravaged by depression following her husband’s death three years ago. A homeopath and acupuncturist, she used to be…

50-year-old Shalini is a software engineer, working at a Bangalore-based IT company. On January 18th, she took off from work to attend an event. A special event where she walked the ramp. Well, what was so special about the event? It was the auditions of the Bangalore leg of 'Indian Super Queen', claimed to be India’s first ever hunt for the most talented transgender. Yes, Shalini is a transgender. A cross-dresser, to be specific. “I’m participating just for fun”, she says, dressed in an elegant black saree, black halter and a clutch to match. “This is just one of my…

Being a career woman, means a juggling act between home and office. Though we do believe we have super powers to do it all, we need help all the same. Be it a young unmarried girl, newly married or mother of two; we all need help.  In a city like Bangalore where nuclear families are the norm, more often than not it is the domestic workers or maids that come to the rescue of us superwomen. We may not openly accept it or even acknowledge it but talk to a woman whose maid has taken an unannounced vacation and you…