The Womens Reservation Bill- 8th March 2008, India

This is a picture of a Indian girl child as I captured her somewhere, two years ago. A happy, smiling girl child.

Now fast forward to twenty years later, and think about what she would be doing. And imagine her as a sad, unhappy, person. Because she is denied the basic fundamental right that every Indian woman should have..that of representataion in the Indian Parliament.

Yes,. it is true, all women over 25 can stand for the Lower House of Parliament, the Lok Sabha, and can win a seat as well,....only if they have the means and the resources to do so.

But not every woman can, because she lacks these very same resources.

That is where what we are talking about,  The Womens Reservation Bill, to be tabled in the Indian Parliament on the 8th of March  will give her and others like her hope for the future. For it is only when they have a certainty that will win, that many womem will come out and stand. As they rightfully should.

To speak for themselves and all their sisters too.

14 years and three failed attempts later, all that we can hope for is that this time around, the Womens Reservation Bill comes through. \One in which 33% of seats in the Local, State and National houses will be reserved for women.

So that 8th of March, celebrated universally as Women's Day, might have a whole new meaning for Indian women from that day onwards.....

MF Husain, revisited

I normally don't write two consecutive posts on the same subject, but something compelled me to, on   MF Husain.

I saw an Interview in which he categorically denied that he felt hurt/rejected by Indai in any way, instead saying that he was a "Citizen of the world" and that all he wanted at age 95, was to be left to paint in peace.

Nothing wrong on the surface, but did I imagine a shadow of pain cross his face, as he said those words?

Yes, living/working  in tax free Qatar and enjoying all the benefits that come with it, are great, but it musn't have been easy, taking that final decision, could it?

I had met him briefly almost two years ago and asked him that same question, and the answer then had been different. At that stage, he would have done anything to be back in India.

But time, like tide waits for no-one, and it simply boils down to that very basic premise.

Can a 95 year old man, not exercise his right to chose a new Nationality/Passport, and if so, does anyone has a right to question it?

MF Hussain and his new citizenship

Maqbool Fida Hussain, 95, has a new Passport, a Qatari one.
That is his decision to make and his alone.

For a man who has been living out of India for the last ten, or more years, never sure of what awaits him, if he was to chose to return to the country of his birth, it must come as a sense of great security....

At least one country has welcomed him with the respect and the dignity that any person deserves.
Specially someone who is a world class genius, when it comes to contemporary painting.

To use a cliche, but one that applies best - Are we now trying to do-Too little,  too late?
Or should we let the matter rest, and with it his remaianing peace of mind as well as his dignity