Dancing for my causes! @my Maiden Indiblogger Meet

I love dancing and that's why I made sure to sign up for my first Indiblogger Meet themed Dance India Dance Season 4 and be there to check out the fun at the Oberoi on the 23rd of October. I got there quite early and waited for the evening to unfold.

That's me at the Meet :D (Thanks to Indiblogger for the pic)

Back to my dancing skills, in my head I know how to execute the perfect pirouette and those slow languid moves that dazzle my partner as I become one with the music reaching a crescendo and end with a seamless bow. But in reality, I am blessed with almost double left feet eh? I still think I am a pretty good bathroom dancer and I still love to dance though I am not sure I could ever put myself up on a stage to be judged for my dancing skills.

Ahem.
But if my dancing could make a difference in someone's life, then Hell Yeah! I can and will dance it out. Dancing for me is pretty intimate and I do not like an audience at all. Or rather, I block them out and have my fun.

But, like I just declared, I will put on my dancing shoes anytime and make all my super moves for a few causes. Namely, creating awareness for and prevention of Violence against women, racial and gender discrimination and legalization of Abortion.


As a female living in the big bad city of Delhi, there are n number of instances when I have felt that being a woman is a curse. I totally love being a woman and would wish to be born as a woman again but why is the Indian world so cruel to us women? Everyday, I watch so many women, lost in their daily struggles, fighting for a place under the sun, be it with their family, in laws, home or at work or even for a seat on the crowded metro and it breaks my heart. Besides the physical hardship of being the weaker sex, we also face a lot of untold miseries and discrimination. We live in fear. Of eve teasing, assault, judgement, social isolation, the glass ceiling, violence, curfews, discrimination and most of all, of time ticking away and becoming a victim of circumstance. Why is there such an onus on the shelf life and marketability of a women? Do give us moments to cherish our womanhood and not always worry about being a woman.

There are so many women bearing the brunt of inhuman treatment at the hands of their husbands, relatives and even brothers and often lovers. How can you do this to us - your mothers, sisters and daughters? Need I mention the horror called honour killings? Does this ever apply to men? I am afraid not. Women are the honour of men but they bear the consequences of all dishonor and are rarely honored. How sad is that? Is this the kind of world you want your children, especially daughters to be born into? Think about it.

We need to empower girls and women to speak out about instances of violence and have a system in place to protect them from further violence. Do you know why very few women speak out? No surprise here. Simply because they have nowhere else to go so they keep their peace and suffer. We need radical changes in attitude towards women to improve treatment of women in our country.

There are so many reports of rape and molestation; not to mention the unreported cases and the humiliation victims have to go through inspite of the system in place. It is just not fair. There has been a national outcry but has that lessened the number of cases? Why should women have to make sure they don't put themselves in a situation where they can supposedly invite "being raped"? Shouldn't men and parents and society be making sure that women don't have to think twice about stepping out of the house even in broad daylight? Hey, is it even safe for women in their own homes?
We are killing them even before they are born. Is it a woman's fault if she gets raped, gets eve teased, attacked with acid or bearing a girl child or being born a girl? Give me the answers and I will dance my shoe soles out. If my dancing can make it a safe world for women and free from violence and discrimination, I will dance it out.

Our country is a land of diversity but instead of celebrating diversity, why are some of us treated differently - like we are less human or aliens in our own country just because we look different and eat different? Hey, we are also your brothers and sisters. Same blood, feelings and emotions yaar! I will dance it out to make India free of racial discrimination.

And abortion. Hmmm. This is just my opinion. But women deserve better treatment and also the freedom to make decisions concerning her body and her biological functions. She deserves the right to proper medical attention should the need arise. Numerous women lose their lives every year due to medical negligence or improper care post incomplete or bungled abortions at dubious clinics and health centers with no respite in case of any accidents or misdemeanor on the part of doctors or quacks. If women have access to good hospitals and proper treatment without the stigma and illegality attached to it, many lives will be saved. I mean give them a break! It's not like they made the baby alone without any help from the guy and only we bear the stigma? Not cool. Plus, it our bodies that have to bear the ravages of pregnancy, the discomforts and the risks. So allow us to make these important decisions. If abortion was legal, more women will be empowered to make educated decisions about their health and well being and ensure the health of the Nation as well. I will dance it out for women to have access to legal abortion minus the stigma.

And there I was at my first Indiblogger Meet, dancing it out for "Safer streets for Women". I didn't just get to put on my dancing shoes and make my moves but also got to throw a few realistic punches at some eve-teasers (acting) for our group's choreography piece. And we won! Call it beginners' luck but I am raring to go and dance it all out for my causes and here's a big thank you to the wonderful people at Indiblogger who made the Meet happen and gave us bloggers a chance to have a blast with the Dance India Dance Icons Feroz and Mudassar.

I am also somewhere in there in the third row :P

And thanks to Ratika, Rinzu, Rigzin and Manpreet for making the Meet extra memorable.

Click here to catch the action and here to see what happened! 

Silence

favim image

Tonight is like any other night.
I am alone.
Your shadow left me.
I count the bruises of our passion.

Last night, you were my dream.
Lover,
Friend and comfort. Soulmate.

I tell myself.
Not again.

And here I am.
Craving to be yours.
Again.
And again.
This cycle of need makes me weak.

In your arms,
I am lost.
No today. No tomorrow.
Just now and us.

I wish you the best.
In life always.
And the walls come up again.

Shed your skin and be with me.
Words unspoken.
Pain in my heart.
Love flowing between us.
But not on our lips.

I miss you and yet I run.
Catch me and never let me go.
Until this pain is healed.

Silence.
Hold me and keep me warm.
Tonight.

How many times on top of the world is enough?

At FICCI's TURF 2013, I got the chance to interact with a young man who was the youngest Indian to scale Mt. Everest and subsequently the youngest Indian to summit Mt. Lhotse and Mt. Manaslu.

And what does it take to scale the top of the world thrice literally? He says "Hours and hours of training, exercise, endurance building activities and a diet that resembles that of a wrestler, support and prayers of family and a will of steel but humility to the forces of nature and the whims of weather conditions."

"Conquering Everest was a big deal but convincing my parent was an even bigger deal. But I was adamant to do this and my dad had a huge role to play. He believed that I could do it and he went all out to make it happen for me."
For this young lad of twenty, the business of Mountain climbing is a serious issue which he highlights at events he attends as a motivational speaker. Mountaineering is an expensive hobby and for him a way of life so funding his dreams is the main focus of his life.

He also wants to educate, create awareness and promote mountaineering as an adventure sports and extreme sports in India which he believes can be sustained in India with many youngsters these days becoming interested in the field.

He laments the lack of recognition of young achievers in the field of Mountaineering as it has not received its due as a sports in India and hopes that it will gain the stature it deserves through the efforts of many more like minded people in the country.

"I have received recognition abroad for my achievements but here in India, except for some sections of the Media, we mountaineers are largely ignored. I have so far not received a single penny from the government towards my expedition though fortunately for me, I have been able to get good sponsors to back me up to make my dreams come true so far."

What next? This enthusiastic young man who almost ended up being a football star, has a long list of summits to conquer. "It is my dream to reach the all the 14 summits around the world at above 8000 metres above sea level. It is not about conquering the highest peaks but it is about conquering myself, being one with nature, testing my limits and finding new ways to getting on top of my dreams."

He feels that he has lived more by being on mountains. Yes. There may have been movies he missed, family time and celebrations he had to forego, but the feeling of seeing the world at one's feet when on top of the World is worth giving the rest of the experiences a miss and he is ready to do it again and again. Precisely eleven more times in the next 7 to 10 years, god-willing and weather permitting.

I wish him all the best as he goes from pillar to strength to pave his way to the remaining dreams.

Special Note:

Thanks to Blogmint, India’s first and only paid bloggers network and the online media partner for FICCI’s TURF 2013 for allowing me to be a part of the LIVE Blogging experience.

Read more at Call of the mountains.

Answering the call of the Mountains : Twin Wonder girls

"The mountains are calling and I must go."- John Muir

Most of my young life, I have lived in the hills. And wherever I go, the sight of a hill makes me feel at home. I have grown up climbing trees and chasing streams of water in the monsoons and catching tadpoles in puddles after the rains. I have trekked and climbed hills in slippers and suffered muscle cramps and sore feet and cuts. But I have also felt the thrill of being in the thick of Nature, feeling small in front of rivers and mountains and amazed at the boundless energy of the wild.

Last year, I was invited along with my sisters, to attend the Mussoorie Writer's Festival at Woodstock School and the theme being "A Mountain Festival : The Himalayas", we had the wonderful opportunity of learning so much about the unique flora and fauna of the Himalayas, efforts at cleaning up the mountains, preservation and education efforts and sat through exhilarating accounts of mountaineers, nature enthusiasts and environmentalists as they shared their experiences in stories, photographs and films over the course of a week. It set me wondering what it is about the mountains that attract so many people to seem to not care about the perils of mountaineering and all the discomforts, not to mention the amount of funding and training that is required to do serious summiting. I could only marvel at the enthusiasm they had and ask myself if I would ever be up to some serious climbing. I do have an idea of how it feels to be on top of a hill and looking around and below at the vast expanse of green or brown and blue or white, feel the cold crisp air whip your hair and whistle in your ear. It is wonderful. But the Himalayas and Mount Everest. Hmmm. Magnify that a hundred or even a thousand times and I can't even begin to imagine.

Over 4000 people have summited Mt Everest and there are more people in the fray to attempt it. There is immense beauty and the call is stronger than ever. Now that there are better equipments and know how, it would also seem even more feasible than ever and there will always be more people who will want to be on top of the tallest peak in the world and to many it won't matter if he or she is the first or the thousandth. And then again, it matters to be first.

Sometime ago, I picked up an edition of the National Geographic Magazine commemorating 50 years since Sir Edmund Hillary conquered Mt. Everest and I was completely absorbed by the picture he drew. The mountains came alive for me. I could feel the icy cold, the wind and the pain almost for real and imagined the sight of the world from up there.

Two days ago, I signed up to be a part of a LIVE blogging event powered by blogmint at FICCI's TURF 2013 - the 5th Global Sports Summit and I ran into three young people who had actually been on Mt. Everest and a few more and are raring to climb some more. I'm flabbergasted and yet their excitement was infectious. I don't see myself gearing up to go on an expedition like that anytime soon but well, I do wish them the very best.

So there is Arjun Vajpai, youngest Indian to summit Mt. Everest and Nungshi and Tashi, the world's first twins to climb Mt. Everest and I met them all in one go. How cool is that?
Sometime ago, I had read somewhere about two young ladies, twins from Dehradun who had gone on to create the world record of being the first twins to summit the Everest and they were Indians. The first thought I had was that their parents must be totally cool to let their girls do this. And the next thought was Wow! way to go girls!

Tashi & Nungshi at Turf 2013, FICCI, New Delhi

From the little trekking I have done, I know that it takes a lot of effort, discipline and patience to climb. And Everest is the mother of all climbs in a lot of ways. Extreme temperatures. Extreme everything. And being me, when I met them, I just had to ask how they dealt with the female monthly afflictions and answering the call of nature while on the climb and if being girls made it all the more difficult as the press would like to point out. (We girls got it bad! and men will act like they didn't hear or saw this bit. Hmmm. It happens you know, like the birds and the bees. It's got to be dealt with. Ahem.)

Pic courtesy: Nungshi & Tashi

Nungshi says "It is not that since we are girls, we should get special attention. It was of course more difficult in ways that are unique to being a women, but being women, we adapted to the circumstances pretty quick. Throughout our mountaineering journey, we have been pitched against men but we don't look at it from a man vs woman perspective. It is about doing the best one can in any circumstance."

Pic courtesy: Nungshi & Tashi

"Of course, it is a moment of pride that we, two girls could do this like a lot of men have done and yet we also have to acknowledge that we are as good and even better on some counts at doing this. We consistently did better than the boys in training school. Only 3 people in the training program got graded A and it was the two of us and a boy."

Nungshi & Tashi

For these twins who have traipsed around the country, courtesy of their Army father, they are delighted to have been able to see much of the world and from the top of the world too.And more of the world to see.

At FICCI's TURF 2013 Inauguration, their presence was acknowledged. "Our dad is our core inspiration and our Mother our support team. We continue to nurse our dream of doing the Seven Summits, the highest on every continent of the world. Funding is a major challenge. We have been travelling, networking and raising funds as well as promoting peace through adventure sports. We have so many dreams and the mountains have taught us that life is infinitesimally precious and we got to live while we can." says Tashi.

And while we chat, a man walks up and hands over his card and asks if they would like to get in touch with him as he is documenting twins for a film. I ask the girls what are the other things they like to do.
"We sing, play a little guitar, big time in sports playing hockey at the regional and national levels." Nungshi further explains, "We have been offered modelling assignments too. But we are right now focused on building our life skills and funds for the next climbs. Platforms like TURF 2013 also allows us to meet and get in touch with potential support. Our parents have spent a fortune to fund our dreams and we are looking at ways to harness more opportunities to fuel the rest of our dreams."

We also connected over the fact that I am from Nagaland and since they have spent considerable time in the Northeast, especially Manipur and Nagaland, we have much to share including the curiosity their names generate - Nungshi is an obvious Ao Naga name and Tashi, a Tibetan one; and share notes on the state of affairs back home. We exchanged contacts and move on to the next session while I am left with the thought in my head that these girls will surely go on to create history, shattering myths and breaking moulds that the male dominated world puts us women in. And I truly wish them the best as they draw closer to conquering more summits not for the sake of reaching each but to show respect to the mountains that beckons them and rediscovering themselves on each journey they take.

Special Note:

Thanks to Blogmint, India’s first and only paid bloggers network and the online media partner for FICCI’s TURF 2013 for allowing me to be a part of the LIVE Blogging experience.