Ritika Ruminates

 This post won't be a blogpost but a open letter that I wrote for fictional characters Ram and Sita Mahalaxmi/Princess Noorjahan from movie 'Sita Ramam'. Image source- The Hindu Dear Ram and Sita Mahalaxmi, You both showed us what love seems like. Yes, I don't believe that love happens without even meeting the person (from Ram's POV), but maybe, there can be a few exceptional cases. Ram falling in love with Sitamahalaxmi due to her letters, tells us how words can have an impact on one's life. Our choice of words can make a person loved (or atleast comfort them and make them feel heard and less lonely) or break someone's heart. Princess Noorjahan, who left her real identity behind and took up the role of Sita Mahalaxmi, thanks for showing that girls are not only behind money. You left comfort that the title of princess provided, to move in with Ram, a soldier who would be earning Rs600 a month. You both defied the stereotypes associated with genders being in ...

Image source - India Today  With what recently took place in Iran- beating a woman named Mahsa Amini to death for "inappropriately wearing the hijab", it yet again brings the grave issue of inability to practice basic freedoms and the morality police into picture. This incident was followed by the President of Iran, Ebrahim Raisi refusing to get interviewed (outside Iran) at the last minute because the journalist/interviewer declined his condition for her wearing a hijab/headscraf, which his aide described as "matter of respect" and as it was the holy month of Muharram and Safar.  This enforces the morality police that people often impose on others, women often being the primary victims. "Dress like this..", "Sit like this..." and "Don't laugh loud.." is xxxjust some of the examples of moral policing women face in daily life. Unlike Mahsa's case, morality police may not take someone's life, but it is often subtle...

Image Source - Vox Cancel culture, a term thats getting quite frequently implemented upon this days.  Be it a new book or authors, blogs, movie/series or part of it, stand-up comedy or anything form of art or expression, cancel culture always comes to show its ugly face to boycott or censor something. Even if the art or content piece is not offensive or spreading any kind of hate in any way, people get offended at slightest of things and ask for boycotts. This makes me wonder- if this continues, will this bring a end to creative careers? No professional in creative careers will want to be threatened of their or their family's safety, abuses, or threats of boycott over something that doesn't even spread hate. In season 3 of Amazon Prime's Comicstaan, during the topical comedy round, Kusha Kapila had asked standup comedian Sapan Verma that can you perform a topical comedy set without getting an FIR (filed against you) to which Sapan Verma awkwardly laughed, indicating a big n...

Image Source- Bookish Santa Very recently, like any other industry, publication industry had taken a hit because of COVID too. But in my opinion, publishing industry took some of the worst hit along with a few others. Not only COVID stopped the production for a meanwhile, but people started moving to other forms of entertainment, leaving behind one of the best forms of entertainment - reading.  It's not just COVID that made publishing industry suffer badly, but shift to endlessly scrolling on social medias and digital forms of entertainment like movies and series also drifted people away from reading. Along with losing the readers, authors and publishers face the grave issue of book piracy or literary theft, along with plagiarism. Buying a pirated book for less cost is just as equal to reading free PDF copy of the book, as the money actually doesn't go to the writer but people who pirate it. Check my earlier blogpost on book piracy here . Books and literary arts offer the best ...

Image source - IG account of girl_respect_  A little ago, Ranveer Singh had shared nude pics on his Instagram, which very soon created a stir on social media. People on social media had 2 polar views- while some supported him, some went out of proportion to even file a case for this. We do not know whether Ranveer posted the nude pics to attract controversy or not, someone who is already a meme material for his unconventional clothing. Keeping the intention of creating controversy or not, this has surfaced already existing double standards when it comes to gender. Though he received support by people, which I didn't really bothered about, it exposes the hypocrisy when a girl or a woman posts half-nude or "too revealing" photos. When a women posts photos or is physically at a place like beach, in bikini or similar clothing, she is subjected to slut-shaming comments, creepy/judgemental looks, unasked advices to get changed into "more appropriate" clothing, to even...

Image source- Indian People Times In past few years, period leave has became an important point of discussions. While many people agree on its need in educational institutions and workplaces, and any other institutions/organizations, government or private, it's unfortunate that there are still many who do not agree to it, and it not being implemented nationwide (and even worldwide). With periods being very painful on average of 4-5 days of the month (differs in every menstruator), rest of a day or two is really needed. From period flow, cramps, headaches, bloating to mood swings, stains and back pain, it is surely a torturous pain for 4-5 days on a monthly basis. Why do we need period leaves? That too hopefully paid for women in workforce.  Rest from pain - Going through so much pain but still working will affect her/their productivity for the day. Rather than pushing the body, can give body a rest for a day or 2, which can save her energy and she will be able to be mor...

Image source- TrueHAB Puducherry, more commonly known as Pondicherry, is a quaint town in Southern part of India. Famous for it's beaches, French architecture and boutiques, it can be a relaxing getaway vacation. Getting here One can take a train journey to Pondicherry or at Chennai airport, from where it will be 4hr road trip to Pondicherry as the services are suspended in Pondicherry airport. Stay We had stayed at Club Mahindra Puducherry. The resort is not as big or developed as other Club Mahindra resorts. The interior of the rooms aren't so great. The only interesting thing about the resort is access to private beach for those staying at Club Mahindra. One day can be spent here playing games within the resort and access to its private beach. But if you want to reduce your time travelling from city to resort, I will suggest to take up any hotel or resort within or near the city. How many days 1 or 2 days is enough for travelling in Pondicherry. While I was searc...

Image source- Healthline Period stains are something that are still stigmatized. Girls and women who bleed are excluded already (especially in small towns and rural areas), and when they get a period stain, people look at her and at the stain with disgust or laugh it away. Irony I find is that in a action scene where there would be quite a representation of human blood with all the action, we just watch the scene with interest. But when it comes to menstrual blood stains that a female gets on her clothes (or even blood in sanitary napkins ad), we get disgusted.  Instagram handle named Feminist has uploaded a social experiment reel where a teenager got her pants stained and people just walked away looking at it, not bothering to let her know or give her help until a girl in the ends does it by giving sweatshirt to tie around the waist. Though this was most probably staged, but this is reality of a lot of girls.  There was also this video long time ago where boys ar...

While filling any application forms, be it of some government forms (with some laws across India and some states to include transgender), any educational institution or private institutions- how often do we see more gender options other than male and female? There are a lot of genders that aren't listed on the forms.  To start with, there is actually a difference between sex, gender and gender identity. Sexuality is another different part but not relevant to this blogpost. Sex : It refers to the biological sex that is assigned at birth, usually on the basis of external anatomy. Based on the sole criterion of production of reproductive cells, there are two and only two sexes: male and female. Though there is another sex called intersex, which is an umbrella term used to describe people with differences in reproductive anatomy, chromosomes or hormones that don't fit typical definitions of male and female. Gender : It is often defined as a social construct of norms, behaviors and ...

Image source: New Indian Express Honour killings. One of the worst crimes that have been taking place in our society. Honour killing is killing of a relative, especially a girl or woman, who is perceived to have brought dishonour on the family More often than not, honour killings kill women more than men (men in case one's daughter married a boy from 'lower' caste) and it mostly happens in the cases of inter-caste or inter-religious marriage, or when girls/women do not obey the strictest of rules laid down for them by the patriarchal society. To logically think over it, there is no honour in honour killings. You are murdering someone, over stupidest of things. Caste, religion or patriarchal rules set up (for females) matters more than someone's life🙂. When it comes to inter-caste marriages (or even inter-religious), often the accused is girl's family. Even more so when the boy is from 'lower' castes. But mostly do not have an issue if their girl...