WOO a MAN

Insurance TV Commercial

Hair Oil Ad

Before reading further below, I insist you to see the two ad commercials and the way women are portrayed in them. Once you are done with the TV commercials take look at the cover page and the top stories that have been mentioned on the cover:

• Tease him tonight (we've got some seriously naughty moves)
• 5 traits a guy should have before you get serous
• Are you getting enough in bed?
• Wedding Wows!
• The smartest things that you can do for your skin.
• Chitrangda Singh: From arty to glam
• Fearless Female Awards
• New Life Rules to follow now.

Now in all the above (2 ad commercials and the magazine cover), the woman's main job is highlighted as being a wife, girlfriend, mother, daughter only. Earlier they used to say directly. Now they say it using other ways and means.

Foe example, the insurance ad--the girl is with her husband or may be boyfriend and she gets very satisfied seeing the other woman who has two kids of her own and is tending to them as if that is the only thing a girl can dream about is having two kids. She can also think of owning a house on her name. But NO. What she can dream of is only about getting married and having two kids and feeding them.

In the other ad, the voice-over itself says that baal hote hai rijhane ke liye, baal hote hai sharmane ke liye and towards the end-- baal hote hai dil churaane ke liye. The complete manner in which the hair oil is positioned in the minds of the women consumer is that she has to have long, beautiful and black hair to blush, charm and seduce a man.

In the magazine, again the same approach. Out of the eight stories mentioned in the cover page only three of them feels like they are actually meant to guide them in actual sense. (I don't how each of them was dealt with individually) Also the cover page girl's story is defined as From Arty to Glam. I mean, it's like showing to the world that this girl has become a glamorous one from being an artist or may be a glamorous artist. But the glam factor has to be there. And the photograph-- a pretty girl with her hair flying, her cleavage very prominent, hands on waist and the expression very charming. A magazine like this which has it's tag line saying The best that you can be. All the women can't be like this model. Why not have an ordinary looking woman in the cover page? Will it not sell?? Of course it won't sell because all this time we have been conditioned that a girl will be accepted only if she is beautiful, slim and "sexy". By the way, what is the definition of sexy? And who defined it in the first place? I think, all the women in this world are sexy in their own ways. And  then there are other stories like Wedding Wows! In a magazine that seems to have been brought out for the urban woman, marriage is again one of the central issues. Every one has to be married. If a girl is not married till 30 then everyone will start asking questions and so and so forth.

The whole objectification of women by the media, specially in advertising is something to be brought under attention. The camera work in such ads focuses on her body parts more than the product. Why are there not many TV shows on air which show women working? They might me mentioned that they are doctors etc. But never ever they are actually shown doing the actual job of a doctor. They are always shown as wives, mothers and in the kitchen cooking food. So the whole message that comes out is this that even if you are a doctor, you have to cook and be with your husband and make him happy.

The basic thing is still the same: the society still thinks that a woman existence, identity and survival some how surrounds that of the man. Without the man she can't do anything and without a man she is not considered antything. The ads, the TV shows, the magazines all seem to come out with only message that WOMAN is supposed to WOO a MAN...

I live in a developing country.

I live in a country belonging to some of the richest people in the world. Billionaires, to be precise. At the same time the Human Development Index (HDI) list has the same country is ranked at 134th among 182 countries.

I live in a country where the media is so fair in their reporting that two actors getting married makes up as content for 24*7 news channels and the HDI reports are given just a mention in the papers.

I live in a country where the per capita income is more than Rs. 33,000 but the poor in the city live at less than Rs. 20 a day.

I live in a country whose GDP is around 8% and is still struggling to fulfill the basic needs of a person to live a healthy life.

I live in a country that hosts two fashion weeks in a year displaying the creativity in designing fabric to the world. Around the same time, there are cotton farmers committing suicides in the villages. The former get 24*7 coverage and the latter has to be brought into notice again and again by only one journalist in the country and then the nation turns it's eyes to it.

I live in a country where rich people living in Delhi get media coverage if they are abused but four adivasi girls raped by policemen in a remote district of Chattisgarh are not even mentioned in the mainstream media.

I live in a country which has the longest written Constitution in the world and has one of the best democratic systems. But at the same time it lets go of the most unconstitutional behavior by it's political parties.

I live in a country that announces 49.5% reservations in institutes for the SC/STs and OBCs and then displaces the same people from their natural surroundings to set up industries.

I live in a country where children are taught all the time in the school that it is secular. But they grow up seeing the minorities being attacked all the time.

I live in a country where a celebrity is treated like god but if they speak any thing that is against the ideology of the political party that is more powerful than the party in power, then they can be accused of not being patriotic.

I live in a country which wants to be a part of the trend of globalization and have cultural exchanges with other countries but will have strong objections against the youth celebrating a day of love because it's something not in our culture.

I live in a country of Gandhi, where the government is constantly lying to it's people that it is developing.

My question is --is my country developing? If yes, then in what sense??

Not happening at all

My heart ached, broke and bled, when I saw the new version of Mile Sur Mera Tumhara --Phir Mile Sur. Really. I mean the whole emotion of the original song was lost somewhere. Rather there was no emotion at all. There were only actors and actresses.

The musicians, all, tried to do a good compositions in their own style and they did a good job of it. I liked the A.R. Rehman, S.E.L.'s, Louis Banks, Anoushka Shankar and some others. And I understand that India's no work is completed without having Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan vouching for it. But why do we have people like Deepika Padukone, Ranvir Kapoor, Mahesh Babu, Shaimak Davar, Shahid Kapoor?

Shahid Kapoor is my favourite. But after seeing him in it and doing a Bakhuda once more looked aweful. I hated to accept that he actually did it. I don't know but somehow I won't have the same perception of him again. Deepika Padukone?? What has she done for India? And there she is standing in some lake with a one-piece and such a seductive expression on her face as if she is all set to charm the whole of India with that look or rather the whole India comes toghether with her look. God damn it, she didn't even bother to wear a sari. And why do we need Ranvir Kapoor in it?

All the actors were, as if, playing there own roles once again in a short 16 minute multi-starrer film re-made for National Integration. How does Aamir Khan doing a Bum Bum Bole, Shahid doing a Bakhuda, Ranvir doing a Khuda Jaane, and Shah Rukh Khan doing a Kal Ho Naa Ho, bring India toghether? Such big actors coming toghether for a cause is good, is very good. But the way of doing it is bad. This way is very bad. How can they not know that this will not work towards it's actual message, and that they are spoiling the original one. Each one has tried to emote their feelings in the best manner possible but it never comes out. Be it Shahid singing in full passion, or SRK spreading his arms wide open, or Salman with the kids, you just don't feel what are they trying to say. Same with Aishwarya.

It seems like the Production House approached them all and they all did what they were best at. Now the whole thing put toghether just doesn't bring in that feeling which the original one does. In fact, you tend to go to You Tube and look for the original one. There are no common people shown in the whole video as if the whole country is made up of only such celebrities. The sportspersons come in for such a small duration. Some states are just shown in passing, for the sake of showing it.

May be it will be a hit with the youth who haven't seen the original one. But for the ones who have seen it, it will never create an impact. May be it's targetted at them only.  May be they should have come up with a different lyrics all toghether and a different composition so that there was not so much of comparison made. May be...

Individual parts seen in itself are very nice but the whole thing put toghether is bad. It's really bad. When the whole composition looks disintegrated, how can you spread the message of integration to the whole country? The different surs really don't come out as one.

50 THINGS TO BE REMEMBERED.....

Here are 50 things that I"ll always remember about The Year That Was -2009:

1. My surprise birthday cake by my best friend, Rachel and her brother and a pacifier that my roommate gifted me!
2. Aaloo dum dahi bada after the roll call and the look that I got when i asked for a little more teekha!
3. Mehek - the sweet little girl outside the hostel and the way she called me out- Additti didi!
4. Me actually fainting under the hot sun.
5. Paying for a poor boy's chuski as i had no other company that day.
6. Friends that i made in the two hostels that i lived this year.
7. Neeharika Sahoo- never talked to her for four months in the hostel and made friends with her after leaving the hostel!
8. I lied to mummy and went to meet a special friend.
9. Complimenting a ticket checker on train. He was really good-looking and dashing guys...
10. On the same journey i made my second train friend- Karteek Narumanchi.
11. Train journey fron Lucknow to Mumbai on a waiting ticket for giving the entrance of Sophia's.
12. Boarding the local from Santacruz to Bandra with Shruti without ticket and the same day police had to ask us if we had a ticket.
13. Travelling in the local train for the first time alone at peak hours and the abuses that i got i marathi which i didn't understand!
14. Jeroo saying, "Aditi Sarda, you are in." (Sophia's)
15. Getting a girl inside the hostel by just talking and patoing the watchmen at a windy and bad night with two gals shouting in my room, "We will be fucked up."
16. Toward the end one of the gals getting really friendly to me..!!
    
17. Jerry's first class of four hours and creating a laughter riot!
18. I cried when Jeroo asked two of us to shift groups.
19. My interview with Gaurav Khanna.
20. Candida and all the days when I would shout at her and wake her up in the morning (that includes almost all the days by the way!)
21. When a special friend came all the way to meet me in Mumbai.
22. Kanika Rajani - for all the reasons coz of which she is Kanika Rajani!
23. Garima Goyal - for all her courage and spirit.
24. The night when we were stuck in rain at Marine Drive and i bet that i would walk out of the cab and still reach befor this cab makes it to the hostel.
25. Mani Iyer - the day i met him and the day he told me he his Shankar Mahadevan's elder brother!
26. The coffee that Candida made me when i really needed it.
27. The cake and cookies that Candida brought for me - that was the only good thing taht would happen to me after Jeroo's practicals every Wednesday.
28. The number of times people told me that i speak fast.
29. For the first time in life i experinced Monday Blues. 
30. Jeroo saying me, "Oh my sweet little Aditi, you are so cute. A bunny is a small little rabbit." (When it actuallly stood for the Playboy) and later publicizing it to the whole class.
31. On the bike with Tarang at almost 100 km/hr.
32. Anuj Kanodia - coz my friends would not stop teasing me about him. I dunno why. (Thank god it's stopped now)
33. The video on Lifeline Express which got deleted for all the good reasons (i made a much better one after that!)
34. The night long editing for the one minute A.V.
35. The evening when i was missing my Ex as hell and Ashoomi paid for me and forced me to attend Astad Deboo's dance performance with street children which made me much more cheerful than my boyfriend ever made me...
36. All the bus rides in Uttaranchal ki vadiyon mein....
37. Fanas (Farhad) and all the times i got into argument with him.
38. Camping in Sattal.
39. River crossing and Mountain rappling in Sattal
40. All the trekking that i did.
41. The night at Kausani, with Kanika Rajani!!
42. The momos that i enjoyed eating and ordered another plate without realising they had muttom it them. oopss
43. The hitchhiking at Jim Corbett - the boy driving was really cute!!
44. My two week long stressful period when i really cried at the weekends - once in Garima's arms and the next time called up Karteek for a change of mood.
45. Secret Santa and my sweet Chris Kid!
46. I got a laptop and lost my four month old pen drive!
47. The things that i learned about Bhopal Gas Tragedy.
48. My craze for Shahid and Hrithik at an all time high, dunno why??
49. The last train journey of the year on 23rd December when i decide that i would not shout (that means i"ll try my best not to)
50. For all the good and bad things that happened which will make me what i become tomorrow.