I emerge like a tree from a dirty seed;

There are times when we understand the gravity of a situation without letting emotions cloud our judgement. It helps maintain our objectivity to support a friend. Rarely, that someone is you and that moment makes you an observer too. This also showed me what authentic leadership is. I had a presentation to the Global CEO Ben Verwayen. My reporting manager is Vishy Poosala, the CTO of Alcatel-Lucent Messaging and Head of Bell Labs. I asked him to present and he chose to cancel it because he wanted me to take the credit for my work.  We visited Dr. Disha Sridhar at Motherhood, Bangalore with a positive on the urine pregnancy test on 6th Oct. We made plans to manage the pregnancy. Since  the ultrasound slots were full at the hospital, we got the TVS done in the nearby test centre Clumax. The ultrasound couldn’t detect the gestational sac in the uterus yet though the urine pregnancy test was positive. There was nothing to indicate a tubular pregnancy either.  Dr. Dis...

I was 16 when I read the story of Waris Dirie in Readers Digest. < You can read the story of Waris here > I almost threw up after reading about Female Genital Mutilation. It affected me so much that I started talking about it. This catapulted the aversion that I always had for any sort of inequality. I started talking about the atrocities against women caused by the patriarchal mind set. Not exactly an appropriate topic in a conservative society where life revolved around a church in the village. The prejudices that I saw around me looked trivial in comparison. But I couldn't accept the soft patriarchy of the protestant church as a compromise where women are considered equals in the society, encouraged to work, even ordained as priests in the church but would have to submit to the headship of a man at home. I was never a rude child but I could not fit myself into a role dictated by culture. I was weary of multiple masks. I wanted to be the same person whether I was at chur...

Chetan, Insulted! - Yes, that's what I felt after reading your column ' Don't worry, Be happy ' that has been lapped up with great gusto as an inspirational article. While preaching against the 'regressive attitude' of the Indian society, you conveniently forget that you are peddling the same garbage in a shiny package. You say // It would be a universe full of messy, aggressive and ego-maniacal males running the world, trying to outdo each other for no particular reason. There would be body odour, socks on the floor and nothing in the fridge to eat. The entertainment industry would die. Who wants to watch movies without actresses?//    Touche. Did you actually write that to make women feel indispensable! Should I feel proud with this new found wisdom that the world might collapse without women titillating men on screen, cooking food for men or picking up after men? As a child, I noticed most of the women in the family embracing life as handmaids to thei...

The woman, they say, has come a long way. She is no longer a nameless consort in the harem, a witch hanged in the Middle Ages or a house wife who could not vote because the world after all is a gentleman’s game. The question is ‘Have we done enough? Why take the 'gender' factor seriously when the world is rife with major divisions and classes of discrimination ? I am yet to read a story of infanticide triggered by the infant’s caste, creed or religion. Gender is the quintessential factor that determines an infant’s right to live in most villages in India. It is still the determining factor while choosing an educational path and more times than not, the freedom of 'choice' itself. Financial freedom could help. But that is a tricky road too. Women contribute to more than 50% of the graduates passing out of major Universities but the figures in the corporate world in terms of women leadership is nothing to be proud of. Women in the workforce come from differe...

The marshy fields stretch in front me Inviting me with that sweet smell of earth The evening breeze brings a lone feather Twisting and turning in the wind Making shapes that ought to be the new language beyond sound My first step surprises me The moist clay encasing me knee deep Freedom beckons but commitments hold me back I take in everything and close my eyes Letting it sink in and fill me with its promises I shut the door and return Immersing myself in the everyday humdrum No regrets, No remorse The door is within me, keeping safe my ‘freedom’ behind its bars The paradox of life is Freedom within bounds and captivity out of bounds

Struggle Something pushes me down; the warm earth spits venom on me A noose tightens around my neck,  evil flashes its eyes A deep gnash starts from my feet My body cracks all over, I fall apart Like a song, each fissure forming a musical note; I drink from the muddy puddle of the unspoken And learn to let the pain pass through, Death bells ring all over, announcing the forbidden union The conquered becomes the bride; Black Blood tangles my hair into million knots Crowning me for the awaiting eons, The hatred is palpable Evoking a murderous rage A long forgotten belief breaks the crown And I shout I CAN CHOOSE; My sound waves dig the sun, burrowing the mountains It rises and draws close The lie is strong but truth is stronger, The golden  blaze burns the noose; Something pulls me up and I let go A cool breeze brushes past and untangles my hair, Fragrant oil heals my wounds; The dirt and darknes...