Yours Sincerely

Sharing this amazingly researched article: What happened to the women who graduated from IITs in the 90s?:  link I could so totally relate the findings from it with what Sheryl Sandberg had to say in  Lean In - Women, Work and the Will to Lead :  link  (another recommended read) and also with what I have witnessed in life personally. Sharing some excerpts from the article - I sincerely recommend reading it in entirety -  link // Yet, often after a few years on the job, they pulled back, completely changed their personal career paths, thereby stripping corporate India of a female presence.  Again and again, women gave Quartz the same underlying reason: They were unable to scale the maternal wall. // -  link Because there is no support system to ensure that working women are not penalized for motherhood, either at work place or at home (because of the reinforcement of gender stereotypes): // At Adobe India's office, she found the work environment way le

Even though my posts have come late ( link ,  link ), I still have too much to say on the subject. I think this post from Sanjukta's blog ( link ) is worth sharing with excellent points so please do go through - Emphasis in red bold italics   mine: https://sanjukta.wordpress.com/2015/04/01/vogue-empower-video-deepika-padukone-my-choice-feminism/#comment-38221 //  The  Vogue Empower  video titled ‘My Choice’ featuring Deepika Padukone and 99 other women, from different walks of life, has already taken way too much space than it deserved. And yet, I feel the need to defend it. Allow me to explain why. My first reaction: The video was released on Saturday and when I first saw someone sharing it, I didn’t even bother to open, just like I don’t care to open so many other virals the public seem to love. But as more people started sharing it, particularly my feminist progressive friends, I thought ok let’s see what is it all about. So I saw and thought it was just about nice,

The mere thought of a woman talking about (consensual) sex before and/or outside marriage as her personal choice ( link ) has left our country scandalized. Because: Sex is considered as a duty which women are bound to fulfil at the behest of Pati Parameshwar. Whereas: (Straight) Men are encouraged to view sex as a default right which women must provide them with to justify their existence to men. And: Sex is not seen as an act of mutual pleasure which one is supposed to 'earn' through one's (sexual) partner's(s') consent. Therefore: Indian political system decided that men should be continued to be allowed to legally  rape their wives - link Because: The institution of marriage can only be protected by legally acknowledging that wives are sex slaves, and therefore wives should have no right to consent/dissent to sex with their respective partners. And: Social ( link , link ), administrative ( link

In an unusual departure to my usual method of selecting movies from new releases, I decided to watch Dil Dhadakne Do on the first day without waiting for the reviews to be out. I had faith in Zoya Akhtar's good taste and ability to deliver something which is better than the average Bollywood stuff in any case. The Akhtars usually never leave you wanting for sense and feel-good factor in their movies, two things which are pretty much all  that I look forward to in movies :) Besides, to boost up the feel-good tone, the movie is set-up in a cool, urban backdrop that is typical of the Akhtar movies. So it shouldn't come as any surprise that I found the movie quite enjoyable: it was funny, entertaining and scores special points for (sensibly) touching on some of my close-to-heart subjects. As to the performances, Anil Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra (special mention) were predictably good, but Ranveer Singh was the surprise package. Humor department was completely handled by Ranveer.

Finally, summer is over!! Here's how the first monsoon looks like from my balcony:

I read this short story long back and thought it's worth sharing. I tried a lot to trace the original link but remained unsuccessful, so I am sharing the version I reconstructed from memory: // A twelve year old girl was standing near her house door. Some boys started ogling at her. Her father noticed the boys ogling at her. “Get in”, he told her. When she looked confused, he slapped her shouting “Get in”. That day, the girl learnt that when the boys ogled at her, it’s her fault . // Appeal to the readers: If you happen to know or find the original source, please share it so that I can add credits and share the original content. I will be really grateful. Related posts: 1. These are the fairy tales which we should tell our children!! - link

Here's the thing: I love Amitabh Bachchan. I loved Amitabh Bachchan in Sholay . I loved Amitabh Bachchan in Anand . I loved Amitabh Bachchan in Don . I loved Amitabh Bachchan in Aankhein . I loved Amitabh Bachchan in Black . I loved Amitabh Bachchan in Viruddh . I loved Amitabh Bachchan in Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna . I loved Amitabh Bachchan in  Kaun Banega Crorepati . I loved Amitabh Bachchan as the angry young man of the 70's. I loved Amitabh Bachchan's baritone voice from the 90's. I think the Senior Mr. Bachchan can be hotter than Hrithik Roshan, Shah Rukh Khan and John Abraham put together. At the same time, I think Amitabh Bachchan can also be the most endearing grandfatherly character you can come across. When Amitabh Bachchan says he will keep crossing many more milestones for the wannabe actors to emulate, I agree with him, even though I love Shah Rukh Khan (AB said that with reference to  Don  and KBC ). I love Amitabh Bachchan s