But it's for your own good....

I was stunned to read on Friday that Karnataka’s Minister for Labour had announced that the government had decided to ban women from working past eight in the evening throughout the entire state. The reasoning behind this action is that in order to combat a recent increase in crimes against women, the best solution is, of course, to keep women off the streets after sun-down. It would be ridiculous to suggest that any effort be made to prevent such crimes by boosting the police presence, by catching, prosecuting and punishing the offenders, or by educating males that violence to women is immoral. It is much easier to just keep the women at home, preferably barefoot and pregnant.



In a stroke of brilliance though, the Minister made it clear that the ban excludes women employees in information technology (IT) and Biotechnology or women employed in hospitals and other essential service sectors. Because, as everyone knows, women in these sectors are given at graduation a protective force-field which prevents them from being robbed, raped, murdered, etc. So I guess that the government is interested in protecting women, though not all women, and not at the expense of India's standing as the call-center capital of the world. Still, it's good to know they care.



I have a great idea in case this doesn't work. Maybe the next measure should be to require all women to stop wearing revealing clothes. Oh, wait, the women here don't wear revealing clothes. Well, maybe they should stop wearing make-up. Oops, most women don't wear make-up. Okay, I guess the only remaining solution is to wear a full burqa, and if that doesn't work perhaps never leaving home at all or when leaving home is absolutely required, taking a male escort everywhere is best. Hey it worked for Saudi Arabia and just look what a peaceful and balanced society they have. After all, it's for our own good...

Wild Elephants in Wayanad

I again had the opportunity to get out of the city for a few days, so some of my friends and I made our way to Wayanad, which is the northern district of Kerala, the state that borders Karnataka to the south. Wayanad is home to an amazing wildlife sanctuary located within a remote rainforest reserve, and also to lots of coffee, tea, and other spice plantations. Like Coorg, it is a beautiful and tranquil place to visit where you have ample opportunity to reacquaint yourself with nature.



Unfortunately the planning and organization of the outing was not so tranquil (suffice it to say that anything that could go wrong did go wrong), but all of the stress and confusion was washed away once we set off driving through the mountains. We spent only a full day there, but we had the chance to visit a really nice waterfall, go on a wild goose-chase ending at an ancient temple, and enjoy a couple of nice long drives through the mountains. The highlight of the trip though was the drive back. As we were leaving, what I assume to be the daily afternoon downpour came, and with it came a drop in the temperatures from the high 90s to the mid to low 80s, making for a very nice cool down. As a result of the comfortable
afternoon temperatures, the wild animals in the sanctuary became active, and we were treated to many sightings on the trip back, including around a dozen elephants (including a couple of fuzzy babies)! It was too cool, they were just lumbering around in the forest eating, paying all of us absolutely no attention. It sometimes really strikes me how different this place is, down to the crops and animals that one sees when out and about. I think that the only thing that is the same is the cows (although they have some varieties here that I have never seen before). Here is a short list of the crops that I saw being grown here (for the farmers out there reading this blog, yep Dad, this is for you): rice paddy, coconuts, palms, mangoes, tea (the first two pics are of a tea plantation), coffee (the third pic is of coffee flowers), pepper (the vine growing up the foremost tree in the first pic is a pepper plant), betel nut, and bananas. The wildlife included elephants, monkeys, wild pigs, deer (though a different species that we are accustomed to hitting with our cars), and the ubiquitous cow.



We had good fun, but either Neha or Gayatri is in charge of planning the next!