Unfortunate ruling in Imrana's case

The topic of women's safety in India is always a subject of great debate. Most people tend to agree that women are vulnerable only outside of their homes, especially at their workplaces and during the commute to work and that they are safe inside their homes. This statement is far from the truth. Take a look at the rape cases that are reported (only a miniscule percentage of rapes are reported to police fearing persecution by society), and police conclude that the perpetrators are mostly acquaintances to the victim. This becomes even more painful when the perpetrators are related to the victim.

Take the recent case of Imrana. She was allegedly raped by her father-in-law in Muzaffarnagar. Now you may be wondering what is peculiar about this case. As bad as the crime being committed by a member of her household itself, what is even worse is the decision taken by the religious court that Imrana should terminate her marriage immediately. Now, for those who are wondering why should a religious court pass judgement and why are the police and regular law-enforcing mechanisms not working on this case, the answer is that the victim belongs to the "Minority" community and that Imrana agrees that this case should be handled only according to the religious court's interpretation of Shariat (Muslim Personal Law). According to Shariat interpretation, when a woman is violated by any of her husband's relatives, she becomes "haram" for him and hence should immediately terminate the marriage. The poor woman has accepted this verdict too.

Now, I am not taking potshots at the Shariat nor am I showing disrespect. The Shariat was evolved over thousand years ago in Arabia and was compiled by eminent people. It represented the thinking (whether conservative or liberal) at that time. What concerns me is that people still abide strictly by the Shariat even after a thousand years have passed and times have changed a lot since then. As appalling a decision as this is, the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (which has the final say in such affairs) went a step further and issued a fatwa upholding the interpretation. No wonder the Women's groups across India are up in arms against this decision of forcing Imrana to terminate her marriage because of her father-in-law's crime.

Amidst all this, the basic humanitarian issue is totally lost. The woman should be given enough time to recover from this horrific episode and then given the option to make a decision about her marriage. As if the horror that she had to undergo due to her father-in-law's crime were not enough, she is being punished too (for no fault of hers, other than being a victim from the "minority" community) by being forced to terminate her marriage. As it is, our society tends to look down upon such unfortunate individuals. Now if she were to terminate her marriage and lose her protective cover, it would be a double whammy for her.

It remains to be seen whether the Muslim Personal Law makes some changes to their interpretations, keeping in the mind the changing times and the victims' rights.

Sania a.k.a Desi Graf?????

Just finished watching a very exciting second round Ladies' Wimbledon match involving Sania Mirza of India and Svetlana Kuznetsova (seeded 5) of Russia. I was in Chicago, when Sania became the first Indian woman to win a WTA tour championship in India. I still remember vividly reading articles on rediff singing paeans about the next big sensation in women's tennis from India. Bereft of sport superstars in a vast country such as India, I thought this was another case of the media going to the town and wondered what all the brouhaha was all about. I just dismissed it as a case of media hype, as I have seen many an Indian sportsperson bite the dust after promising so much. I confess I was also one of the doubting Thomases, even when Sania beat Svetlana in Dubai earlier in the year, dismissing it as a stroke of luck.

To begin with, she was playing on the Centre Court in Championships Wimbledon for the first time against a #5 seed. Though she had beaten Kuznetsova in the Dubai Open, an 18 year-old can easily be overawed by the tradition of the Centre Court at Wimbledon. When the match started, I was thinking Sania would be very nervous and her game would fall apart, playing as she was at Wimbledon's Centre Court for the first time, and that it would be cake-walk for Kuznetsova (ranked #6 in the WTA tour and the reigning US Open champion). In the first set, Sania broke Svetlana's first service game itself and the players traded breaks with each failing to hold on to their service games. Finally, Sania was up 4-3 and serving 40-0 trying to go up two breaks. Svetlana pulled herself out of the hole with 5 straight points and took the game with a strong finish at the net. Sania was full of nerves and promptly lost the next two games and the set to Kuznetsova. Though Sania lost the first set, I was impressed with her groundstrokes. She has a booming forehand (which reminded me of my favourite Steffi Graf), pretty good backhand and can serve decently (not the patsies that most women on the tour throw up as an apology to serve) and most of all a solid temperament and no stage fright.

I have seen a lot of early round action, where the stars are tested slightly in the first set and then they would go into cruise control mode and win the match easily. So, I wondered if it would be the same in Sania's case too. But, that was not to be. Sania broke Kuznetsova right away to take a 2-0 advantage in the second set. She again had a 4-3 and 40-0 lead on the serve and she let Kuznetsova back in the game again. Just as we were wondering whether she would squander the second set too, Sania held on to her serve and forced a tie-break and what's more...she won the tie-break and the second set. As the match progressed into the second set, more spectators milled to see a classic matchup between two teenaged girls on the Centre Court. The crowd was clearly rooting for Sania (evidenced by their applause for Sania's winners and apparent lack of same to Kuznetsova's winners) and one of the Brit commentators was overheard on television "C'mon Sania, get us into the third set". The British commentator didn't just stop at that and commented that the crowd may be seeing the beginning of a new tennis star on the WTA Tour. The Brit commentator asked a trick question to Vijay Amritraj (the other commentator) as to what would be a reasonable ranking that Sania could achieve in the near future (Top 25, 50 etc.) But the diplomat that he is, Vijay answered the question with panache saying he is not really bothered about how high a ranking Sania could achieve. Rather, he would be very happy if she improves her game and represents India and does well in the Fed Cup for her country.

The decider began with both players holding their first two service games. Kuznetsova drew the first blood, when she broke Sania twice from 2-2 to go up 5-2. Kuznetsova changed her tactics from the first two sets. She started going more to the net and was also helped generously by Sania's double-faults at break points. Just when it looked like it was all over for Sania, she showed her mental resilience by holding her service game and bouncing back (using what else but her powerful forehand ground strokes) to break Kuznetsova right back. At this point, Kuznetsova was totally tired and and Sania was making her earn each and every point the hard way. Everyone in the crowd were supporting Sania and were expecting Sania to break Kuznetsova's next service game. But the world #6 showed her experience and why she is the reigning US Open champion by serving out the game to win the match and book a spot in the third round.

I hate to confess, when I am wrong (who is not?) ... I was thinking that Sania, with her model looks, was all primed to be another Kournikova. What with all those ads that Sania was appearing in, I was beginning to wonder that it would only be a matter of time before the notorious media would pull her down. To be fair, Sania has already won a WTA title, whereas Anna hasn't done so. Boy, am I glad to be proved wrong? After last night's match, I have become me a complete believer in Sania's ability/skills and I have no doubt that she belongs to the big league. I truly believe that she can be a Top 25 player on the women's circuit. At the end of the match, everyone would agree that Sania definitely had the talent and the strokes to make it big. Obviously, her big pluses would be her cool demeanor and forehand ground strokes. She has a pretty good backhand and a good service. She just needs to learn to add net game to her repertoire, to do well on grass. Her serve needs to be more consistent, as she served double faults at the crucial junctures in the match. If there is an Indian tennis player (male/female) with potential to make it big in the singles, it has to be Sania Mirza. I know we are putting lot of hopes and expectations on the 18 year-old lass from Hyderabad. But that comes with the territory and hope she doesn't get bogged down with all those expectations and pressures. Here's hoping that we would soon be toasting Sania for her singles exploits on the Tour!!

Sania's destructive forehand...
Posted by Hello

Home Alone

For the past 3 weeks, I have been "Home Alone" because my dad went to visit my sister in USA and my mom has already been there for the past one year. In the few days leading to my dad's departure to US, I surprisingly found myself a wee bit concerned. I use the word "surprising" because I am (atleast, I thought I was) used to living away from my parents during my days at Kentucky (though, I must add that I was always surrounded by friends who never made me feel home-sick).

I had always thought that the experience of managing all the little things/intricacies in life (like paying bills on time, being responsible, blah blah) in US would definitely prepare me for the small test that I was about to face living alone in India. This was the first time I was living alone in India, though. I soon realized that it was a totally different proposition. Even mundane things like depositing my dad's cheques in the bank, paying utility bills like telephone, electricity etc. requires a great deal of patience and effort in India. Little things, such as some relatives calling up from the rural areas for information about something in the city of Chennai, were usually handled by my dad. I found all this a little annoying, partly because of the effort it involved, the transportation, the heat and humidity of Chennai and basically it all boiled down to my laziness. As anybody would, I am missing my mom's cooking. When my dad used to stay with me, I used to atleast cook different dishes each weekend. Now that I am alone, I am not even bothering to cook much...Just picking up what is available and managing with any kind of leftovers. I am not even cooking every other weekend these days. As a result of staying alone, I have to find some motivation to cook, even if it were only on weekends. I don't enjoy cooking, when I know that there is no one to share the food with.

This is not to say that living alone in India is a nightmare. It does come with its own advantages too. I could come home in the dead of the night and I wouldn't have to keep my folks informed of my whereabouts, eating out every weekend, having friends stay over and basically the carte blanche to do what I please and whenever I feel so. I can watch any show that I would want without feeling guilty that others watching TV with me may not be interested in the same show.

Subscribing to the new Dish TV has been even more helpful because I am getting to watch the one passionate hobby that I developed during my days at Kentucky (watching basketball). If my folks were around, I wouldn't even think of spending so much time watching my favorite shows, sports (NBA finals, Wimbledon, NatWest Series and of late F-1 GP). Of late, I have been watching a lot of English movies (now that Home Box Office is available). In fact, I have watched lot of good movies that I missed out. All these positive things make me wonder how long I could live in this "Utopia". This "Utopia" is going to last only for another 5 - 6 weeks after which my folks would be back.

All-in-all, it's definitely a totally different experience living by myself in India when compared to living alone in the US.