Author is not an alien

Author is not an alien
I write because we had deleted enough

Friday, January 30, 2015

AN OPEN LETTER TO ALKA RAI,YES THE GIRL WHO RAISED A WAR CRY AT HER FATHER'S FUNERAL

Hi Alka

You are little ,just 11 years old but you sent shivers down the spine of entire country with your war cry before your father’s body ,motionless laden with flowers. You were talked about every where , you brought tears in the eyes of  many stone hearted people . Replaying the video on web ,I just wondered who taught you this .Not once in our lifetime we imagine ,not for a fraction of second ,we ever think of death of our parents .I still shriek out in the middle of night if I have a nightmare distantly resembling what you went through.


You must have made birthday cards sketching a mom, dad and your siblings. You must have demanded dolls and teddies from your mother.Did you? You must have waited for his leaves, attended the regimental parties and played with other army kids. You must have heard the Gurkha war cry while your father was commanding the unit or else the Brave Col. M.N. Rai must have told you about his unit. You must have watched those cartoons while growing up,You must have craved for the chocolate ice cream.

I as a grown up lady can only imagine you doing everything what children of your age do (would like to talk to you some day about it ) but then there you were amid Chief of Army Staff ,your mother weeping uncontrollably , your grandparents in shock , hundreds of men in uniform and yes you did something that made all of us realize what a man of steel ,your father was because though Col Rai attained martyrdom never ever to come back ,he has left behind a brave heart , strong ,proud and a truly patriotic junior Rai behind who definitely deserves a salute.

Dear Alka , you will grow up to be in armed forces ,I have no second thoughts on that .You will grow up and realize that this country forgets its true heroes . You will grow up and realize that we know more about bollywood and cricketers than our martyrs. You will grow up and realize that you will have to remind some about your brave father. You will grow up and realize that we remember out true heroes only during war, crisis or tragedy.

But you little girl ,You have a long life ahead , a life without dad at your graduation, your POP ,when you find a man for yourself . It would be tough but never ever leave the spirit with which you held your head high  on your father’s last journey,never ever let the indifference of people effect you for terrorist may have killed your dad’s body but his soul was right there when you shouted the war cry.

Yes a little promise at the end ,I will have a daughter some day and when she reaches an age she starts making heroes  ,I will tell her about you ,the brave little 11 year old Alka.

Respect to you

From:

A Daddy's Daughter


Monday, January 12, 2015

What defines me ......Its my way or highway

What defines me ………….i have no definitions and boundaries
Few years back when I was a small girl entering teens  I wrote something in my diary ,it was titled “What I wanted to be “ ,it read as follows:
 hi everybody
i thought about writing on this topic 'coz have you all wondered what we always wanted to be right from the time we started uttering words

just take ur wheel of memories in a reverse gear n u would also wonder "ya !it always changed. When i first stepped into school i came across our class teacher "Miss Priya Chablani" so pretty, so beautiful, so lovely to talk n everybody loved her she entered school empty handed n went away with a bunch of flowers ,every girl/boy wanted to share Tiffin with her so i wanted to be like priya mam -a teacher. Then started another journey dad gifted me a colorful story book called "CINDRELLA" on my birthday n believe me all through my dreams i wanted to be Cindrella ,one day i in fact woke up to wash dishes n to look for the pumpkin cart n magical shoes those days...........very like fairy tales........in search of a charming prince.

Then i came out of this dilemma that life is not a fairy tale n Cindrella's fever ended up my great grandmother came to live with us from our village n like every elderly she also took her moral duty to entertain us with raja-rani, good vs  evil, tales n one fine day she told us stories about India's freedom struggle she was an eye witness to it n  narrated to us in her own peculiar way with a tag line "fir bhi aaj ke jamene se angrezi raaz behtar tha" we were always glued to her interesting stories full of bravery, valor and patriotism n one fine day came the story of "rani lakshmi bai" ........i was so impressed n yes that was i wanted to be. "khub ladi mardani wo to jhansi wali rani thi"
a woman fighting against all odds for her country ,for her self respect n no less than a man yes i wanted to be like that only.

Fir ek din  we were asked by our house in charge to prepare a house board on "Mother Teresa" collecting information about her n reading about her made me realize how great the lady was so friends for a time being i wanted to be Mother T eresa also

It was 1994 n Sushmita sen became miss universe n it was "SUSH N AISH" everywhere media was full of praises Indian women were recognized globally n indeed they represented a medium of change that was creeping into women's society i loved sush 4 that n yes .......... no need to repeat.
 
As i grew up i realized i was more effected by things happening around us social change, politics was my area of intrest thanks to my family where there always occurred healthy discussions about politics, my mom always adored "INDIRA GANDHI" n every discussion ended with my mom's statement "par indira ji jaisa dusra nahi aa sakta"

so when my ideas started taking proper shape i wanted to be like Indira ji-a woman of fierce determination, substance, strong determination n having her own important place in a men's world

In between my heart leaped with joy when "Kalpana Chawla" became 1st Indian woman to go into space i loved her for her marvelous achievement, down to earth personality n simplicity. But u know what?now i want be me n only me .I don’t want to be anybody else i want to be known by "Dr Pooja Tripathi" of whom my family n friends be proud of
The End"

                                   That was me , this idea of having unlimited possibilities excited me, as this girl has turned into a lady she is a doctor who cares , a poet who writes , an ex columnist with some of the leading magazines, freelances for the TV shows, Dancer who loves dancing and is invited to speak on public forums on issues concerning women .I don’t have any definitions and I don’t want to have any ,instead I have passions ,multiple ones which I pursue.

"I look around me
and my eyes confound me
and its coming into sight
at last happiness has found me
i dont have to search anymore 
all this time it was me i was looking for
in the dark i have found light
n it feels like never before”

This post is a part of #UseYourAnd activity at BlogAdda in association with Gillette Venus“.

Dr. Anandibai Joshee............Never Settled for "OR" and embraced "AND"

Once upon a time there was one quintessential Indian woman wearing other’s choices , a demure creature letting the men folk of the house take the lead, take the decisions that may be affecting her life in a long term. No matter she was facing sexual abuse in the protected environment she stayed, emotional abuse at the relations she was known by and her only talent  was to suffer in silence.

Take a look around at the bus stops , metro stations ,roads you can view endless number of women smartly dressed managing work with family, supermoms  breaking the shackles ,participating in a wave of change that is swept through India .These are the makers of modern India.

You all must have visited any hospital. Smartly dressed women with a doctor’s coat , engrossed in work and saving lives is a common sight these days.i will take you back to 1885 ,yup 200 years back
Anandibai was born as Yamuna  in an orthodox brahmin family. Her family used to be the landlords in Kalyan they lost heir riches. At age 9, she was married to Gopalrao Joshi because of the pressure laid by her family, who was a widower almost twenty years her senior. After the marriage, her husband renamed Yamuna to Anandi.
Gopalrao worked as a postal clerk in Kalyan. Later, he was transferred  to Calcutta. He was a progressive thinker, and supported the education of women, which was not very prevalent in India at the time.
It was common for Brahmins in those times to be proficient in Sanskrit; however, influenced by Lokhitwadi's Shat Patre, Gopalrao regarded learning English well as more important than Sanskrit. Noticing Anandibai's interest, he helped her receive education and learn English.
At age of 14, Anandibai gave birth to a boy. But the child survived only ten days because the necessary medical care was unavailable. This situation proved a turning point in Anandibai's life, and inspired her to become a physician.
Gopalrao was an obsessed man. One day, when she was found helping her grandmother in the kitchen, Gopalrao flew into an uncontrollable rage and beat the young girl with a bamboo stick. The neighbourhood was agog: husbands beat wives for not cooking — but whoever had heard of a wife being beaten for cooking when she should have been reading.
Anandi gradually turned into a well-read intellectual girl. All this change took place in the face of stiff opposition from her parents, frequent bickering in the family and the stubborn attitude of her husband.
In 1880, he sent a letter to a well-known American missionary, Royal Wilder, stating his wife’s keenness to study medicine in America and if he would be able to help them. Wilder agreed to help the couple on the condition that they convert to Christianity. This proposition was not accepted by the Joshis.
Wilder extended his help by writing about it in a local paper, and Theodicia Carpenter, a rich American from New Jersey, saw the articles, and offered to help Anandi as she was impressed by the earnestness and keenness of Anandi to study medicine.
In the meanwhile, Anandi’s health was constantly declining. She suffered from weakness, constant headaches, occasional fever, and, sometimes, breathlessness. Initially reluctant to go abroad due to her bad health, Anandi eventually agreed after much persuasion from her husband and started studying medicine in Women’s Medical College of Pennsylvania (now known as Drexel University College of Medicine) at the age of 19 and got her M.D. degree in 1886. On her graduation, Queen Victoria sent her a congratulatory message. She completed her thesis on obstetric practices among the ancient Hindus.
Anandi’s extract from her letter of application to WMCP says,
“[The] determination which has brought me to your country against the combined opposition of my friends and caste ought to go a long way towards helping me to carry out the purpose for which I came, i.e. is to render to my poor suffering country women the true medical aid they so sadly stand in need of and which they would rather die than accept at the hands of a male physician. The voice of humanity is with me and I must not fail. My soul is moved to help the many who cannot help themselves.”
Anandi was already ill with the first symptoms of the tuberculosis that would ultimately kill her. Her health worsened when she returned to India in 1886. She received a grand welcome and The princely state of Kolhapur appointed her as the physician-in-charge of the female ward of the local Albert Edward Hospital.
Anandi recieved a letter from Lokmanya Tilak, Editor “Kesari”, saying, inter alia,
“I know how in the face of all the difficulties you went to a foreign country and acquired knowledge with such diligence. You are one of the greatest women of our modern era. It came to my knowledge that you need money desperately. I am a newspaper editor. I do not have a large income. Even then I wish to give you one hundred rupees.”
Anandi died a few days after it. She passed away on 26th February 1887, a month before turning 22. Her ashes were sent to Mrs. Carpenter, her host in America who placed them in her family cemetery near New York.
Caroline Wells Healey Dall wrote Anandibai’s biography in 1888. Doordarshan aired a Hindi serial named “Anandi Gopal” based on Anandibai’s life. (Kamlakar Sarang directed the serial.) Shrikrishna Janardan Joshi wrote a fictionalized account of Anandabai ‘s life in his Marathi novel Anandi Gopal. (The novel has been translated in an abridged form in English by Asha Damle.) It has also been adapted into a play of the same name by Ram G. Joglekar.
Institute for Research and Documentation in Social Sciences (IRDS), a Non-governmental organization from Lucknow has been awarding the Anandibai Joshi award for Medicine in reverence to her early contributions to the cause of Medical sciences in India.


Frantz Fanon “ A modern woman is the one who literally forged a new place by her sheer strength ,where men’s words were no longer law and where women were no longer silent”

I could not think of a better person than Dr Anandibai who did not settle for being a homemaker or accept it as a destiny that her young child passed away.She took her life in her own hands and proved to be a hindu housewife and a doctor too. Salute to her determination and courage

This post is a part of #UseYourAnd activity at BlogAdda in association with Gillette Venus“.

Source-Wikipedia, The better India ,Biography “The Life of Dr Anandibai Joshee”