no sex education please.. we are Indians. this is the thinking of a large section of our political class.
a study shows that one out of two children is sexually abused in this country. are you shocked by this? I'm not. with regressive state policies and close minded societies what did you expect? most of these abusers are not punished. why? because we re Indians. we don't talk to our children about it and we don't want them to ask us anything about it. sex is a taboo in the most populous country in the world. ironic..
without sex education how will we inculcate gender sensitivity and teach our children what is sexually appropriate and what is not? without being open and honest how can any child feel secure enough to tell a parent or teacher if they are being abused?
i myself was subject to inappropriate sexual behaviour(not molestation) by an adult when i was 12 years old and despite coming from a very safe and open environment i did not tell anyone. it also took me 3 long months before i realized that this was not supposed to happen and i was in no way a naive girl.
my point is no matter how minor an incident is it takes a child a very long time to get over it and feel safe and normal again. sexual abuse leaves very deep emotional scars and the only way to combat it is to be open to questions and educate our children to keep them safe.

i wrote this on the day when the date on my journal was the same as the actual date.. i have not edited anything and have posted it just as i had written it the other day. here goes...

"i don't know what to write about , but since i want to stay true to my new year's resolution i shall write about something. do i write about myself,others, outstanding political and social issues...? i don't know.
i read this quote ...' i pay my own rent, i don't have to be nice.'i don't know how to react to that.. I'm not exactly a 'nice' girl but i am very good to my family and friends and i do try to be nice to others.. i used to have a very sharp tongue that often got me into trouble at school but I'm growing up now and i make a conscious effort not to be mean.
i can come up with really mean retorts but i choose not to say anything to the really mean people who try to put me down or insult my intelligence.my silence is often mistaken to be a sign of weakness but really what's the point, reacting to stupid people who are so insecure about themselves that they need to put down someone else to feel good about themselves.
i find people with such fragile egos, pathetic. my own self-esteem ( back to normal now thank you very much) is not that fragile.
people have told me that my answers are wrong, i'm not smart enough, i can't solve those problems, my reasoning is wrong and so on..
all i have to say is that my success is measured by how happy,independent and secure i am about myself, my relationships and my vision for my future. as long as i don't compromise on any of these i believe i'm successful so go away.
also, even when we were kids, constantly competing with my cousins and others around us, my mom( smart woman) always told both my sis and i that there was no need to tell anyone about any of our so called achievements or brag about anything we did because life and not words was going to be the true test and the true judge.
i believe the same as well. there is really no point trying to prove yourself to prize idiots. if you have to prove a point prove it yourself... no one else is really worth it!"

today i shall talk about being taken seriously!

I'm a smart girl with a sensible head on her shoulders and I'm practical and realistic. I'm also a well dressed( although the self proclaimed fashionistas of my college might disagree..), above average looking girl who cracks jokes, takes being teased quite sportively and likes flirting a bit with boys...
i rarely talk about the books i read although i read a LOT and seldom share my political or religious views with anyone except a few and never correct the atrocious grammar of the people around me. does that make me stupid? does that make me a butterfly? i think not... however some of the people around me seem to disagree.... they consider me to be a butterfly. not driven enough, not intelligent enough not ambitious enough.....
i of course want to be taken seriously!! so after thinking long and hard this is the conclusion i have come to. if you belong to the female homosapien category you must do one or few or all of the following to be taken seriously:

1. dress like the back of a bus. i mean wear only gray, black and dull blue.
2. get into an occasional argument with the fool-of -a -boy you are hanging out with about science,politics or religion and of course give in to what he says in the end.
3. put down everyone around you
4. when the fool of a boy you constantly hang out with says something act as though it is the most profound thing you ever heard.
   
5. do not read Danielle Steel. burn all the high school romance crap that you so love to read.
6. claim that you never ever gossip. call anyone else who does "silly".
7. be as aggressive as you can possibly be. if you're nice then you are so obviously stupid.
8. read fat, bizarre books that no one has ever heard of.
9. don't ever be caught with a copy of filmfare or cosmo.
10. be as close minded as you can possibly be and reject all ideas and principles except your own as stupid.

OR
ditch the fool-of-a-boy, forget about what other people think of you, have loads of fun, look great and celebrate your uniqueness.. ............. as for being taken seriously... who cares as long as you take yourself seriously and do the things you want to do as well as you can.

I need no warrant for being, and no word of sanction upon my being. I am the warrant and the sanction.

Ayn Rand, Anthem, 1946
US (Russian-born) novelist (1905 - 1982)