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Roma, the most honored film of the year, is turning heads and changing the public discourse around representation. The film puts into center, the unsung heroes of the functional upper and middle class families across the world, the domestic workers. It will break your heart and move you, so watch it to realise your privilege.

Have you watched Roma? You should, if you haven’t. Alfonso Cuarón’s intimate family drama set in 1970’s Mexico is a wonderful masterpiece and an absolute cinematic spectacle. It is a visual representation of a personal diary, a diary of Cleo, a young woman of Mixtec Mesoamerican heritage who works as a live-in maid for a white upper-middle-class family in Mexico City. Prepare to be emotionally moved and wrung out and re-think the way you look at people whom you don’t give a second thought to.
The film is shot in black-and- white with extraordinary clarity and detail, with its majesty and grandeur being communicated through the soft gaze and gentle spirit and vulnerability of Cleo. It takes place inside the house where a gated, open-roofed passage filled with bicycles, plants, caged birds and an under loved, but chirpy and enthusiastic dog named Borras is shown, time and again. Cleo and her friend Adela, the family cook, live at the end of the corridor in a tiny, cramped room, upstairs. In the morning, Cleo wakes the children; at night, she puts them to bed.
From each dawn and until long after dusk, she takes cares of the family who seems unable to function without her help. She serves meals, cleans and carries laundry to the roof, where she washes the clothes in view of other maids on other roofs with their own heavy loads. We see her as she works and also in ways that we don’t commonly see domestic workers, as she makes a date with her first love, exercises by candlelight at night, gossips with her friend, and experiences the most profound forms of loss imaginable.
In Roma, does Cleo’s daily trek to her modest rooftop room, away from the family’s home and her candlelit exercise sessions, the lights-out rule imposed by the family matriarch make you think? Of course, it does. You have seen it happen in your own home. Domestic work has been and continues to be associated with women’s work, and by extension devalued. Domestic workers, can in no way cause inconvenience to the family members. After all, she’s just a maid, right? She’s never fully human for you, maybe a person whom you see every day and take notice and get tensed on the day she decides to take a holiday. Sounds familiar?
How can we forget the emotional labor that’s expected out of Cleo, every time? She’s obligated to express emotions the way her employer wants her to, whether it be politeness, cheerfulness, and in the case of children, love and affection. Well, with Cleo her kindness for the kids is genuine; it comes across as heartfelt, and is returned. “We love you very much,” they tell her. But it’s back to business just a few scenes later, when they ask her to fetch snacks while they watch TV. Her responsibility to provide care places her within the family, and yet her role as an employee places her outside of it. Her relationship with her employer is both intimate and distant, and she is both vulnerable and powerful. Roma forces the audience to look at the world defined by a hierarchy of power and privilege, to look at the “Cleos” of our own world.
Can we ignore the fact that physical abuse and sexual harassment are common, and most full-time workers don’t receive benefits or savings toward a pension? There are no fixed working hours; domestic workers are always on call. There are no minimum wages and no right to safe working places. The entire sector is defined by poverty-level wages, high rates of abuse and few mechanisms for recourse.
This film might force you to look at the harsh realities of domestic workers across the world. Maybe, take a look or two in your own home. Have you ever looked at the woman who comes to your house to do your work or stays at your house to do your chores, all day long? No, you never because honestly, why would you care?
You have a lot on your own plate, and you believe she’s happy too. She seems like it. Take a minute to look at the nannies we entrust with small children, the house cleaners who bring sanity to our homes, and the caregivers who care for our disabled and elderly loved ones. It’s the work that our economy doesn’t recognize, because the people who do it live in the margins and the work arrangements are often informal.
And yet, it is some of the most critical work in our society — caring for what is most precious to us, our loved ones and our homes — and to our economy, allowing millions of people to work outside the home while the domestic workforce takes care of what needs to be done inside the home.

Featured Image Credits- Vulture

Disha Saxena
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Society auditions seem to be the ultimate gateway into finding friends and purpose in college. With so much at stake, how does one deal with the failure of making into their preferred society? 

“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”Winston Churchill. This sounds phony, but it’s true.
The first week of August is over and chances are that the society orientations and auditions must be wrapping up as well. If you are one of those people who auditioned for extra-curricular clubs and societies, but unfortunately didn’t get through then this article is for you. We can’t claim to be experts in offering advice, however, we’ll repeat the lessons you are familiar with but need a reminder about.
The societies and cells in the University of Delhi (DU), be it the ever vibrant dance societies or the smug English debating ones, are repositories of talent. DU owes its spirit to them. It’s only natural that most of us want to be a part of these groups, for which we undergo a strenuous selection process. Some of the more competitive ones amongst us start preparing for it weeks in advance.
On the D-day, several things can go wrong. And even if they go right, you might still not find yourself amongst the chosen lot. And obviously, your heart will break, plain and simple. You’ll yearn to join those Dramatic Society members whenever you see them practicing in their high-pitched and compelling voices and reverberating energy. All of this will hurt and in all honesty, it sucks. There is no other adjective to explain this dismay and dejection.

To say that you have to be and can be bigger than your failure is unerring, but it also stems from this over expectation of healing. Take your time to crib and curse. The recovery needs to be neither graceful nor easy. Allow yourself the luxury of sorrow and once you are done, it would be time for an after-action review. Sit and analyse what went wrong, ask the members of the selection panel for feedback. It’s imperative that you reflect on what you did and avoid similar mistakes in the future. While this contemplation is never straightforward, it’s totally possible that the reason you didn’t get in has nothing to do with what you did wrong but with different expectations of the selectors. Maybe you are amazing at Indian classical music, but the society folks wanted someone who can beatbox. Your takeaway from this rejection should be self-assessment and experience. Make most of it even when you feel like murdering an entire clan.
At the onset of new sessions, societies recruit members liberally and what usually happens is, by the next month or so, a few recruits leave the society for several reasons. This opens up space for new members again, hence, your chances to join your desired fraternity are still available. Make sure you tell your seniors about your availability and try again.

Now, it’s time to use the ‘when one door closes, another opens’ analogy. Look around and scout for other opportunities that are still open. You may never know about your cinephile credentials unless you sign up for the Film Club. You might never unearth your abilities in entrepreneurial action unless you join the Enactus unit of your college. A huge part of college life is also about discovering oneself and it’s time you try as many things as possible. Keep your mind and your options open. There is a saying that sometimes it takes a wrong turn to get you to the right place. So maybe, just maybe, your destiny and passion lies in an obscure club waiting for you to locate it.
There is more to college life than societies. Have faith, seek beauty in the mundane, and you will fare the failure. We are rooting for you.

 

Feature Image Credits: Kartik Kakar for DU Beat

Niharika Dabral

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When I was naïve and young, the period advertisements which reeked off inconvenience brought monthly by a blue liquid were processed unconsciously and deceptively. Nothing seemed out of place or fundamentally wrong; it was as normal as the misogyny plaguing the air or the bemused expression on your face if you’re reading and wondering the purpose of this article. And then five years ago, when the clutches of the menarche gripped me in a cycle of blood and cramps, all that was left unprocessed by the child in front of the television watching that horribly fallacious advertisement was slowly and carefully absorbed.

Questions and disconcerting thoughts rushed and stained the ‘untainted’ furnishings of my mind, just like the blood gushes out of my vagina every 28 days; brimming with an unsolicited arrival of your disgust and stereotypes, carefully wrapped in fear and shame.

Class 8th, NCERT Science Textbook, Chapter 9: Reproduction in Animals. You do remember it, don’t you? Or at least I do, all your incessant giggles and sly glances at your fellow partners-in-crime (and subsequent shaming) while I continued to stare at the textbook and wonder why the graphic representation of my body, our bodies, amuses you so much. And when we turned the page to encounter the diagram of my vagina and how the destruction of its walls causes blood to flow from the organ you steal glances at, your laughs grew loose and less restrained. All knowledge is precious and rewarding, but your knowledge of my body seemed pejorative, unnatural. The education system was supposed to impart you with the foundational Biological knowledge of the reproductive system, a body of study as basic and normal as your mockery and subversion of what makes me a girl, a woman.

When I was 12 years old, I got my first period. The idea didn’t scare me; I remember my sister venturing to engineer a sanitary napkin, and the scenario where I was old enough to use one fascinated me. But all those packets delivered wrapped in newspapers or black polybags made me wonder why the protection which was being offered for the hygiene of my vagina was being shielded from the world. The ideas of discreteness and not showing that my body was functioning as it is supposed to were later fed to me. The bloody occurrences at school subsequently led me to hide those green packets of shame between my notebooks or in my bag, because if you saw them, what would you think? This monthly guest is a harbinger of my good health, and as normal as the game of hide-and-seek you want me to play to refute consciousness of my womanhood.

I stained my skirt for the first time when I was 13. Blood soiled through my clothes, that was the first time I cried because every inch of my existence told me I was supposed to cry. Why? Menstrual shaming. People saw what wasn’t for their eyes to see or acknowledge, those blotches of dirt smeared across me. The blood which so organically sprouted from between my legs was supposed to be kept hidden away in all those debasing advertisements and societal prejudices which I am expected to conform to everyday. What happens between the legs, stays out of your conscience and with your misconceptions. Unfortunately, your endeavours in keeping my body a formidable piece of enigma to the world influenced how I felt about discovering parts of myself, about my body as a whole. Wasn’t the idea of wanting to know about the sexual contours of my existence supposed to be as normal as your desire of keeping this whirlwind inside me a mystery?

Cut to today, when I have managed to build bridges away from your derogatory ideologies, and internet campaigns and a growing mindfulness of the fallen pieces of your misogynistic jenga have caused a wave of revolution. The matters of my vagina, the leaking and the seeping, might allude to an imagery of dirt and disgust, and the patriarchal constructs you continue to espouse allow you to attribute your derision as the abjection of my elemental structuring. Obviously, it’s nothing ‘personal’; just how your view of this beautiful construct of womanhood as impure and dirty reeks off a biased stench of stigma and injustice. I’ve never been a devout anything; for any religion which casts me off as dirty because I bleed because my body chooses to be healthy needs to be questioned instead of being cited as the reason for your derision.

What you’ve normalised through years, I wish to extract that drop by drop, and fill that void with the reality millions of women like me face. 12% of those who bleed don’t even have the privilege of using that sanitary napkin or tampon you want me to so masterfully conceal. With every eye you turn or every fallacious idea you seek to spread about the normalcy of my periods, you choose to deny millions of girls and women the right to an emotionally and physically healthy exploration of a journey they will traverse over the next few decades.

And thus, I reject the keyhole through which you choose to view this ‘unnatural’ phenomenon. We’re not dirty, we’re not impure, and your face shouldn’t wrinkle up in disgust when we talk about menstruation. We’re healthy, we’re powerful, and the next time you spot us hiding our wonder, tell us we’re strong and talk to us like we’re normal.

 

Feature Image Credits: The News Minute

Saumya Kalia

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Life in DU is not only about academics, and it is a place to hone your talents. This can be achieved through participating in the various societies.

The student experience in the University of Delhi has never been restricted just to academics. Delhi University gives equal importance to extracurricular activities, as almost every college has provisions for cultural societies that are fully supported by the various colleges and cater to talents like debate, dance, music, drama, art, music, social service, quizzing etc.

Societies nurture your potential, hone your talents and best of all, and give you immense and adequate exposure and platforms to express yourself. In addition, being a part of any society is a huge boost to your CV. However, being a part of a society does not come easy as they tend to have a rigorous audition process and have a limited intake.

Starting a brand new society in any college can prove to be quite a challenge. The long and strenuous process can sometimes prove to be demotivating. Moreover, there isn’t much clarity on either the university website or the college websites on how to do the same. Every college has a different procedure, but all of it originates from the same basic criteria.

Here is what you need to start a society in DU:

1) FACULTY ADVISOR

When starting a new society, make sure you have the support and backing of a faculty member. You can approach either your department head or any faculty member you are comfortable with and pitch them the idea so that they can disseminate the plan to the higher authorities. A faculty advisor is crucial to start a society as all the funds and the communication with the higher authorities can only be done via a faculty member. Every society has a faculty convenor or a faculty advisor. In case the principal of a college is approached directly and the society is formed, the college administration assigns a faculty member as the convenor of the society.

2) FUNDS

A society in a college of Delhi University, once registered with the college, is entitled to receive certain funds for hosting events and competitions in the college. However, once you start a society you aren’t immediately eligible to obtain access to the funds. The society, once it starts, has to be self-sustainable and prove to the college administration that it can function smoothly. This probation period of sorts determines the type of funds you can avail from college. When starting out, societies mainly have to be dependent on sponsorships for their events.

3) INTERMEDIARY BODY

To start a society, most colleges require a student’s union or an intermediary body of students to see through the functioning of the society and obtain the initial provisions. You can approach the student’s union of your college with an application signed by a faculty member or directly approach the principal to set up the society.

The concept of societies in DU is not a new one; however, with the ever-changing times and the increased creativity of the students, innovative ideas can always be turned into a reality. Societies such as National Service Scheme, Enactus, SpicMacay, Gandhi Study Circle etc are examples of unconventional and relatively new societies in the Delhi University circuit.

Image credits:  DU Beat

 

Bhavya Banerjee

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Delhi University provides a wide range of extra-curricular activities for its students. Each college has its own societies, which compete with the societies of other colleges, time and again, across the academic session, especially during the fest season. After having spent two years in college, I can safely conclude that one of the most common queries of every fresher is usually about the societies of their college. Apart from being utterly fascinated by a plethora of societies to choose from, they also get vulnerable to various other confusions, such as:
Which society to join? How important is it to join a society? How many to join? If at all, should one even consider joining a society?

Therefore, following is a summary of some first-hand experiences of those students who have been, either extremely active, subtly active, left the society or never been a part of one at all during their college years.

Pros of Joining a Society:

1. Societies can be very helpful in many respects. You might join a society because of a certain skill you possess or something you like to do very much, for instance, dancing, debating, singing, writing and the like. It helps you keep in touch with your passion and even to further enhances it. Delhi University societies compete on a very well-trained level. As a result, they add plenty of exposure to your skill and experience. A lot of societies also encourage untrained students to be a part of them.
2. Societies are extremely competitive which helps one chisel out the best. Most of the growth that one experiences is because of such challenging and competitive environments.
3. Exposure along with interaction is also a plus for joining societies. One gets to meet students from other colleges, make friends and learn many new things. Fests, which are jam packed with competitions, also bring together different people and facilitate interactions. Outstation fests, in particular, are an absolute delight for most.
4. If you plan to take up some activity as a career option later, one must certainly look out for the college society of the same.
5. These societies also keep you busy after bursting the bubble of an exciting college life. In fact, they also help bring in the missing charm of a college, which one often anticipates.
6. They also add to the grace of your resume. People who have participated in extra-curricular activities are seen as competitive, efficient and disciplined individuals. This not only gives one an edge in interviews, internships and jobs, but is also an expected and welcomed improvement in one’s personal growth.

Cons of Joining a Society:
Where joining a college society may prove to be extremely beneficial, even then, a lot of people end up quitting a certain society. This is because of many reasons:

1. If you are not genuinely interested in a society, you might end up loathing your decision because of the intense competition. However, that also really depends on how much you can struggle from your side.
2. In addition to this, college societies take up a lot of your time. The practice sessions are mostly rigorous, especially for dance and theater societies. This can also affect your studies and ultimately your academic scores. During the fest season, society members hardly find any time to attend their classes. They juggle between a lot of different fests and competitions and often miss out on important lectures.
3. One of the most common reasons for people to quit societies is because of some form of politics as it is called, that goes on among them. Juniors often accuse seniors of their misbehavior and partiality, if any. However, this is not entirely true. Usually, each society (mainly, dance, music or drama) prepares only one composition per year. After some time, performing the same dance, music or play gets rather monotonous and boring. People thus also, complain about losing out on creativity in the process of focusing on only one composition.

What to do?

1. Experience gives me an authority to claim that one must avoid joining two active college societies simultaneously. In most of the cases, practice timings would clash and one will have to make a choice between them, eventually.

2. There are some students who have not joined any societies at all and have done incredibly well in their respective fields. Therefore, joining a society is definitely not necessary.

3. When solving the dilemma of joining a society or not, ask the right questions while thinking about this:
How active is the society? How is the work environment? Is it going to help me grow? Am I passionate about it? Will I be able to cope up? Is it relevant to my career? Is my passion enough to help me go for it?

4. Do not worry about society politics. Most of the freshers find it difficult to get along in the beginning, but after a while, society members end up being extremely close. The team almost becomes your family in most cases.

5. It is okay to avoid joining a society if you are not sure about it. College is full of opportunities and you will never run out of things to do. Interning during summer or any holidays can be a great alternative that you can choose. If you are extremely passionate about a certain activity, know that your love for it is enough for you to hold on.

6. Know thy priorities. Do not make your priorities suffer. Keep in mind that because your college life has just begun, everything will seem fancy at first. Remind yourself then, that nothing is really fancy. In fact, it will only get tougher with time. Do not get over excited.
Clam down! And now, you can choose what you want to choose.

Image credits: Vegh Daswani for DU Beat

Tooba Towfiq
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‘EFFULGENCE’- The Film and Photography Society of Sri Venkateswara College organized a Photography Workshop on Thursday 1st October. Renowned photographer and senior faculty member of Bhartiya Vidya Bhawan, Professor, Mr. Ashwani Juneja conducted the workshop.

All aspiring Photographers, beginners and photography societies of colleges were invited in the workshop.

IMG_6821 (1)

In a session of two hours, Prof. Ashwani in his presentation discussed topics such as what is photography? Principle of photography, depth of field, light controlling device and exposure triangle among others.
More than 50 photography enthusiasts attended this workshop. An interaction session was followed by the presentation where the students asked their queries and doubts.

A photo walk has been scheduled for next week where the students can practically apply the tips and information acquired during the workshop.

Inputs from Shaira Chaudhry

Image Credits- Abhishek  Saini

Shefali Bharati
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Criminology is a social science that is concerned with the scientific study of crime. A criminologist is a social scientist who specializes in the study and control of crime. Criminologists gather and analyze statistics about crimes and the people who commit them in order to identify patterns of criminal behavior but are not on the front lines fighting crime like police officers.

In India, criminology is a dveloping field. Criminology careers can be divided into three broad categories: Law Enforcement Criminologists, Professors and Academic Researchers, and Correctional Officers and Social Workers. Students who are interested in this field usually study psychology or sociology at the undergraduate level before earning a masters degree in criminology. If one doesn’t end up working directly in criminology, he/she can use the background to work in social services or law enforcement.  NGOs, banks and teaching are good options too.Both undergraduate and postgraduate courses in criminology are offered by various institutes. The basic requirement for getting admission at the undergraduate level is Class 12th with either arts or science and at the postgraduate level is to be graduated with science or arts subjects.

Lok Nayak Jayaprakash Narayan National Institute of Criminology and Forensic Science (NICFS) in New Delhi, University of Madras(Chennai),Lucknow University, Banaras Hindu University are some of the institutes that offer  courses on criminology.

Analytical skills, good understanding of psychology, sociology, good data collection ability and an empathetic and sensitive attitude towards the needs of the society and a desire to construct a safe society are the essentials skills of this field.

 

Caucus, the group discussion forum at Hindu College organized Vaktavya – the 6th annual group discussion festival on 25-26th March. The festival was scheduled to have bilingual group discussions and baithaks.

 “Banning the burqua: Can women’s rights trump religion”

For Day 1, “Banning the burqua: Can women’s rights trump religion” was the discussed topic for conventional group discussion (GD). Discussion was moderated by Caucus members. Arushi Walecha was the Chairperson for the discussion and Pratishtha Mahajan sat as the Rapporteur. Each participant during the discussion was allowed to present his or her views and each opinion was recorded with the moderators. Mohammed Ziyad Ansari, a participant in the course of discussion remarked, “Islamic religious books not only talk about hijab (burqua) for women but for men as well. The purpose of hijab is not only covering one’s self, but also to show respect, lower the case and guard modesty.”

After 60 minutes of bilingual discussion, moderation and recording of views, the group came out with a common solution which mentioned that whether burqua or not, depends on the individuals choice. Ziyad also added that, “It should be the woman who should choose. We should keep in mind that Quran doesn’t impose burqua on anyone, it presents a choice.” The group also felt that, in the west there are many predetermined notions about these women who wear burquas. So someone who hasn’t experienced it or someone who doesn’t have full knowledge of the same has no right to condemn this system. Raja was adjudged the winner for this round of discussion.

“Is secularism irrelevant in the current Indian political context?”

Baithak at Vaktavya conducted a discussed on, “Is secularism irrelevant in the current Indian political context?” Baithak is an open discussion where no one moderates the discussion. Instead, a peer evaluation system is followed where the whole group evaluates other speakers and a best speaker is declared. This was also a bilingual discussion on what secularism is defined and understood as. The group also discussed about whether secularism as an issue is relevant in political discourse.

Baithak that was conducted for over one hour came out with the conclusion that despite the current political emphasis on development and economics, secularism still remains an agenda. Sandeep Singh, a baithak participant mentions, “Secularism stands on a proposition that religion and government state should be separated. But this agenda of secularism influences our perception of the political parties and candidates participating in the elections.” Sandeep was also declared the winner of this baithak session by his co-participants.

“Should schools teach – virginity is not a virtue”

On the second day, baithak‘s discussion revolved around the topic – “Should schools teach – virginity is not a virtue.” After 70 minute exercise of presenting their views, the group unanimously decided that virginity should be based on individuals perception and not as a universal virtue. Aishwarya Puri, the winner of this baithak round mentions, “Virginity should not be taught in schools, because when virginity is associated with a term like virtue, it becomes subjective.” A few members of the group also  presented their opinions on why this subject of virginity should be a part of school teachings.

 “Realism v/s Escapism : Does cinema need a purpose”

The last discussion at the festival had Nimisha Kawatra and Nishtia Khattar moderating the discussion as Chairperson and Rapporteur respectively. The topic, “Realism v/s Escapism : Does cinema need a purpose” had mixed views coming in from the participants. According to the members of the group, cinema works both ways. On one hand, it is a chute to propel one into another world for two hours and on the other, it can ground someone more firmly into the reality and enable him or her to see past the illusions of the society. Sandeep, who also bagged the first prize at baithak of secularism, was declared the winner for this discussion as well.

Vaktavya came to an end with screening of a short film called The Naturalist by Connor Hurley for all the Caucus members.

Gargi College has come up with its Marketing Society named ‘Make Your Mark’, which founded by the Faculty Panel – Ms. Chitra, and Prof. Sheila Dubey and student founders – Navtej Marwaha and Vidushi Bhalla, III year BBE students.

Studying Marketing as a core subject in their final year of graduation, Navtej and Vidushi realized that Marketing is not something that can be studied as a subject for a semester or two, its application can be as “minute as spelling of a name or the color of a logo”. They believe that a person having expertise in marketing management is someone who has a nag for convincing, has a streak of creativity and is an avid leader. To search for such persons and nurture them is the basic motive of this initiative.

“In next six months, we are going to pass out of college and it dawned on us that we couldn’t be this selfish; taking so much from college and having given back so less in return. Thus we had this idea of our Marketing Society with diversity and equal opportunity as its main USP”, says Vidushi. And they don’t wish to stop at it; they look forward to expanding it to the whole of Delhi University to give to students more than what they’ve learnt themselves.

The board members will include the two founding members, three stream-heads and five members per stream (Commerce, Science and Arts). Following a stringent procedure of selection -a 3-round process – they’ll make sure that they havea perfect team. The first round is a written round, judging candidates on common sense, creativity, communication and convincing power while the second and third are the personal interview rounds judging on psychometric grounds.

The main focus of this society in the coming days will be working divided on the three parallels – Ad Week, Case Study Week and Market-o-logy Week. After two such rounds, there will be inter-departmental competitions. One of the distinct features of this society is that it has fixed number of seats in the committee, for all streams and is 24*7 open for assistance even for the non-members.

Navtej says, “We realized that the key to gain expertise and to add to one’s skills is to share the knowledge with others. The most productive addition is the one of synergy, with the motive to help peers, gaining insights into the marketing world and contribute to each other’s skills”.

Image Credit: www.du.ac.in

Driving on the wrong lane is a punishable offence in India. Sporting a weird hairstyle is not. However, for the most of us, the former is but a walk in the park as compared to the cardinal sin of growing ones hair long. For India, dear ladies and gentlemen, has a government sworn to extreme liberalism and parents that would make Stalin seem like a kindly Santa Claus.

I am not going to question the science here. Parents believe that long hair is bad for boys and I’ll let that be. If a father gets his 15 something boy to lose his locks, one can understand. What does the poor 15 year old know about the evils of long hair? The problem starts when the boy turns 18. Going strictly by what the Indian laws say, the lad is now sane enough to vote and find himself a wife. But the parental opinion on the correctness of hairstyle remains as strong as ever and so does their conviction that there boy still cannot decide the way his hair should be.

Another body of science, one which most parents strongly subscribe to, berates the impact of the opposite sex on teens. These parents make sure that the knowledge is passed on and by the time the kid reaches 16, the theory is so ingrained in his/her system that the a mere word with a member of the other sex feels like guilty pleasure. In fact the typical Indian parent is never really comfortable with his kid having a relationship, even when that kid is 21 and not a kid at all.

The two examples above don’t matter much in themselves. What they do show, however, is that the Indian parents like to have an overbearing influence on their kid’s lifestyle. The point I am making here is that Indian parents are staunchly anti-individualistic. There single most important aim is to mould their children into this ideal Indian boy/girl irrespective of the child’s attributes, skills and preferences. He should earn a certain amount, choose the safest career path available, be unwaveringly loyal to the family and leave matrimonial decisions to the parents. The saddest part in all of this is that parents are mostly successful in their quests and originality is bled out to the last drop. Then they proclaim that the Indian culture is the strongest in the world. The more I think of it the more I am convinced that our culture is one of our biggest weaknesses.