Thursday, March 08, 2007

What Men do on International Women's Day?

Woke up in the morning and opened Economic Times and I got the surprise of the day when I saw headlines like.

Women make good brokers ( Ya , all those marriage brokers in Kerala who wanted hefty commissions were women according to my grandmother)

Working women: Not a rare specie (Giant Panda is a rare species these days but all the women I knew have worked hard all through their life .)

Emotions of women drive finances and we know that ( No idea , but in my B School all good looking women went into banking jobs in Mumbai , Delhi and Bangalore and the weaker sex is selling soaps and toothpastes in rural India)

Can you think of a world without women?
(Pretty difficult , are you implying that men may have to do reproduction also)

Seeing the expression in my face the as is always helpful house mate (He is a nice guy , not like the people who wrote those articles) remarked.

"Today is International Women's day "

International womens day is as difficult a concept for me to understand as Malayalam is to Manmohan Singh.

I came to office and met this bubbly lady . The first thing she told me instead of the usual Good Morning was "Wish me".

"Is it your birthday , today?"
"No , Today is International Womens Day"
"Brr... Happy International Womens day , whatever...Why do you think women have a day dedicated to themselves?"

"For so long, men with their powers decided to keep women from freedom,expressing their minds,and even...the right to live. It is for this that Women's Day was created, to help those enslaved women free themselves from the shackles of bondage;from the atrocities and injustice that society has imposed upon them. This day is to be celebrated till the day women are at par with the men and then come to an end"

"Were , you a member of CPI(M) at any point in your life?"


The Look said it all.I didnt have the courage to ask any questions again. But international womens day seems to be really tricky . What will women reply if you wish them "Brr... Happy International Womens day" , they may just say a thank you and give a smile . It is not like "Merry Christmas" and "Merry Christmas to you too" . Somehow the concept seems to be having a gender bias.

I started thinking about somebody who wrote this in a blog.

My wife and I have the secret to making a marriage last:

1. Two times a week, we go to a nice restaurant, have a little wine, some good food and companionship. She goes Tuesdays, I go Fridays
2. We also sleep in separate beds. Hers is in Sydney and mine is in Melbourne.
3. I take my wife everywhere, but she keeps finding her way back.
4. I asked my wife where she wanted to go for our anniversary. "Somewhere I haven't been in a long time!" she said. So I suggested the kitchen.
5. We always hold hands. If I let go, she shops.
6. She has an electric blender, electric toaster and electric bread maker
Then she said, "There are too many gadgets and no place to sit down!". So I bought her an electric chair.
7. Remember.... Marriage is the number one cause of divorce. Statistically, 100% of all divorces started with marriage.
8. I married Miss Right. I just didn't know her first name was Always.
9. I haven't spoken to my wife for 18 months. I don't like to interrupt her.
10. The last fight was my fault. My wife asked, "What's on the TV?".... I said, "Dust!"

The person who wrote this is an Australian and as you know they are very aggressive people but it seems he is not able to manage a woman. I dont know what this guy is doing on an International Womens Day , but deciding that I was the only person in the earth who is not aware about international womens day , I did dome search on the net and came across this article called "Fight Back" posted bv By Freedom Road Socialist Organization which underlined my suspicions about communist origins of International Women's Day.

The article ' Fightback' says "On March 8, millions of people across the globe will celebrate International Women’s Day. Protests, events and declarations will recognize the contributions of women as leaders of progressive movements past and present and advance our demands for change in the future."


Good. Now Let us see what else happened to men in our office.

At lunch we had special tasty chicken biriyanis and women in the office ate them celebrating International womens day . Though most men too ate chicken biriyanis some men had to be happy and contended by staring at those chicken biryanis while they were eating the usual sambar rice that they bought from home since they forgot that there is a day dedicated to women.Apparently all the people who work in the pantry , who made Chicken biriyanis and served it were men.

At tea time all the women in the office came together at the ground floor office and cut a very special cake AND ATE IT TOO. Guys just stood there and wished and cheered all the women.

I went to Rediff.com in the evening to check the days news and they were having discussions simultaneously on topics like

Proud to be a woman? I Enjoy being Single

If you go through the comments section you can understand that it is a nice way to ask whether suicide is better than murder ?



If you are a woman , "Brr... Happy International Womens day , whatever..."

If you are not , A very happy International Womens day . You can eat chicken biriyanis and wish and cheer the women eating cakes without tasting the cakes shouting "Brr... Happy International Womens day , whatever...".

Ladies , Happy International Women's Day :) ( You can wish me back if there is a men's day ever :P ) and can read this wonderful post which celebrates womenhood

P S:Think this is a nice day to wish the only woman in my life , my mother .

20 comments:

Sunita said...

I agree. I think some mean crafty guy created this one day called Women's day to keep the rest for himself ...but thatz probably just a dream.

Attribution said...

:)
Chain forwards and sms 'es kept wishing me a happy womens day.
I noticed nothing different to cheer about today. Same lusty looks and leering glances and unparliamentary talking.

Anonymous said...

"Ya , all those marriage brokers in Kerala who wanted hefty commissions were women" ... this faintly reminded me of a Malayalam film in which Philomena played a marriage-broker
Yeah, every day is some kind of International Day ... World Vegan Day, Family Day, Apple Day. There is even a day celebrated as 'Indian Arrival Day' !
As for other days in India, Indian men are trying to decide when to have International Men's Day - 19th Nov or 29th Sept

Jina said...

:)..thanx for the wishes..but still I havent comprehended whethr u r for or against the day..but it hardly matters i guess..:)..

n ya..my colleagues wished me happy international womens day..and i blurted out..."same to u"...i guess days r worth it only when same to u applies...so i dunno wens mens day...but wish u a happy one everyday..:)

chitra said...

It was hilarious reading your post.

Yes, though this day is celebrated to make women aware of their rights, i am sure that there would have been women who were physically abused by their husbands yesterday, many rapes .

And when some one says "Same to you" you can thank her because that moment you can always think of your mother who has sacrificed all her likes and time for to give you a better future.

Chitra (ithechitra.blogspot.com)

{I am forced to add this as my signature as my display name has changed automatically to k}

Anonymous said...

I dont believe in any of these "days".. Valentines Day.. Labour Day.. Leprosy Day.. 'The dog bit my a**' Day.. Coz I think its not only that one day that you are what you are...

But if it makes people who believe in it feel special even for a single day.. Then im willing to play along..

:))))

..Me

Ajith Prasad Balakrishnan said...

Were , you a member of CPI(M) at any point in your life?" ==> that was good :) .. And yeah, if somebody feels happy celebrating this, valentine's day , or any other day, lets wish them :)

N A R I YA L C H U T N E Y said...

@ sunita: You bet and he gave an "international" tag to it :).

@ attribution: Oh! you will have to fight these nonsenses @ least on IWD :(.

@ taks: Even April 1 wont be a bad idea :D


@Ursinjha: Me neutral , not against it exactly . Why should you leave out a day that guives you free chicken biriyani and cakes ?:). Thanks for the wishes :)

@k: Hey you are right but somehow i felt that the message of womens day is not trickling to those women who should be aware about their rights , but hopefully this is a nice step for the same. Called up and wished my mother and she was very happy :).

@rose: Sure Rose , it is all about how others feel not about how we feel as long as others are happy we should be also happy :)

Seema said...

All's well that end's well !

Jo said...

Post script is the best part!

Unknown said...

"I came to office and met this bubbly lady . The first thing she told me instead of the usual Good Morning was "Wish me"."

This happened to me too. I refused to wish her until there is a "happy
men's day" though. :-)

N A R I YA L C H U T N E Y said...

@ Seema, Joe : You bet :P. Always the post script or end is the best part :)

@ Umesh : Think u escpaed from a lecture about the atrocities of men and the relevance of womens day :)

Neihal said...

hahahaha
I am so tired of this day that day....but the best one .. I heard some months ago- Mother-In-Law Day...
whose idea was that!

Pradeep Nair said...

I think we must look beyond labels like gender; because it is perceptions and attitudes that matter...

N A R I YA L C H U T N E Y said...

@ neihal : It should be some daughter-in laws idea :)

@Pradeep : Ya , that is the whole point some how the labels based on gender underlines thepoint that there is a gender bias :(

Neihal said...

hmmm...I have serious doubts abt that NC ;)

Anonymous said...

Got here after some random blog hopping..but seriously tha was a cool one..!!

Anonymous said...

stupid days.
whats the point?? or am i expected to do that cpim thing u wrote abt, if im a normal female?? :D

Alex said...

Impact of Commercialisation. :)

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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