...touching lyrics...

After a long time i heard this song today -

hazarein rahein
moorke dekhi
kahin se koyi sada
na aaye

badi waafa se nibhaye tune
hamari thodi si bewafai

kahin kisi roz yun bhi hota
hamare halat tumhare hote
jo raat humne guzare mar ke
woh raat tumne gujare hote

tumhe yeh zid thi hum bulate
hume yeh umeed wo pukare
hai naam hotton pe aab bhi lekin
awaaz me par gaye darare

Pride and love never did mix!

the day that was....

Today has been an eventful day for me. OK, first the run.

i woke up at 7 in the morning - an event in itself! i peeped outside just to see how the world looks like that early!It was almost 8 by the time we reached the place. And we were amazed at the turn out. There was quite a crowd. We got our bibs and t-shirts, emptied our bladders and waited for the horn to sound. 1 hr 30 mins was our target. And i surprised myself by going on and on... Maybe my muscles were still groggy to protest, it being early morning and all that. In the practice run, i could never run for more than 5 minutes at a stretch. i think i walked for maybe just a km and ran the rest of the 9km! i think maybe i finished among the first 30 or so women. Will have to wait for them to put up the result. OK, the next target is the half marathon!

Was invited to dinner by the juniors. The food was OK. On the way back, S let me drive his car. It was quite late in the night and the roads were empty! Thank god for that. i got the speed upto around 50kph. It was fun. i am definitely going to drive after i go back. Maybe i should buy myself a car.

A good day. ummmmmm.....

salute the queen!!!

i did it! If my muscles were still willing, i would be doing cartwheels right now! i completed 10K in 1 hr, 21 minutes and 09 seconds!!!! i am so f******* proud of myself. Have to wait for the official result to see how well i fared but i know i was not the last!!!

Will write about it in detail later - for now, i want to soak in the tub and celebrate my victory! And today proved that will-power is all that matters. And baby, i have it - in abundance!! Hasta la vista.

in anticipation of tomorrow....

Running shoes - scrubbed clean, smelling nice
Clothes - neatly ironed
Camera - charged
Alarm - set for the unearthly hour of 7 in the morning..sigh
Energy drink - packed and ready to drink
Muscles - ready to stretch and zoom
Mind - filled with trepidation
All other organs - stapled in place

Tomorrow is the day - if only i can get up before the event starts! i am so excited - and hell, i am going to die trying to make it in less than 90 minutes! So here i come...zip..zap...zoom......

domestic violence...

This is a topic i have been meaning to write about for a long time but somehow, never got around to it. Do you know that Manipur is among the top ten States in India with the highest incidence of domestic violence against women?

Domestic violence occurs "when a family member, partner or ex-partner attempts to physically or psychologically dominate another". It could be physical violence (you know, a well aimed kick or a smack across the cheek or marital rape); it could be psychological like putting down someone, humiliating them in front of others, eroding their self respect till they come to believe they are no good.

In our society, we women have been taught from our childhood that our freedom is limited. As a child, i had "well-meaning" neighbours telling me girls should not whistle, should not do something so very unfeminine like climbing trees (and i am glad i learned how to whistle, how to climb trees - i still whistle and climb trees). So many dos and don'ts. "Good girls" don't laugh out loud. Good girls don't do this. Good girls don't do that..Shackled mind, shackled life. If you look around, you see them - wives, mothers, sisters, daughters - cowering in fear. Batterred.

Haven't we, at one point or the other, been a witness to this - a husband "punishing" his wife for disrespcting him, his family? Haven't we heard a man putting down his wife, belittling her? What is this all about? i think it is about control - the desire to control another human being. Maybe the men who indulge in this have low self esteem -they need to prove their "manhood" by lording over hapless women.

And why do women take it? Why don't they fight back? If you ask around, the most common answer is that they do it for their children, because they don't want them to be victims of a broken family. So they put up with whatever is meted out to them, all in the name of the "family peace". Some of them are financially dependent on their husbands and they don't have anyone to turn to. i guess it would be daunting to think of starting a new life when you don't have anything to fall back on. But then, even women who are financially independent put up with this. i know it is easy for me to say this, but god, i wish they would fight back for their dignity.

Surprisingly, accordingly to a study, about three out of five Indian women agrees thinks wife beating is justified! Talk about women being women's worst enemy.

And if you thought this was only prevalent in "third-world countries", you have another think coming. i saw this porgramme on one of the channels here about a women who was abused by her husband - an attractive women with a successful career...not the kind of victim you would envision. The husband even got their teenaged son to videotape him hitting her, calling her a slut. It was so painful to see her cowering, begging him.

i don't care if i have to live the rest of my life without a man, but if my guy were to raise his hand against me, god, i will be out of his life before he can say 'sorry'. i will be damned if i ever let myself be a victim of any man's ego building.

i think it is time we said 'enough', time to stop being silent witnesses. It is time we walk unfettered. God knows, we deserve it. There is no excuse for abuse.

And guys, hey, it is not manly to hit women, ever!

"Real men don't use violence"