It's broken, but why fix it?

The state of a taxicab can describe the state of a nation. Take Mumbai . The average taxi is a musty, dusty, crusty old vehicle. The below average ones actually appear to be held together by a Scotch tape.

Some of the door handles will fall off if you try to use them, while others refuse to work at all. The same holds for windows as well.

Andar ka haal bhi kuch behaal hi hai. I mean it's better than your local train but if you view taxis as an alternative to using your own car then hell! The hygiene and comfort levels just don't match up.

However, the taxi does manage to get you from point A to point B. In doing so, the driver will dart in and out of traffic, without a care for 'rules'. But that's India for you - things get done despite the general chaos.

And although the taxi itself may be old and decrepit, the driver is usually warm and friendly. Just like India, as a country.

Yahaan sab kuch theek to nahin chalta magar as most foreigners will tell you at the end of a visit "the people are wonderful."

Across the world
To extend the theory, let's take the Tokyo cabbie - hyperefficient, but completely impersonal and exorbitantly priced. Sounds like Japan to me. The drivers actually wear gloves ...

The Singapore cabbie is polite, hard-working and operates a very clean and efficient service. As the urban legend goes, they also act as informal spies for the government - so watch what you say in the back seat! So Singapore. At the same time Singapore also enforces rates properly and cabbies don't cheat for fear of punishment unlike many cities in India (Delhi, B'lore, Bombay, Madras) where cabbies and autowallahs have an absolutely free run in fleecing travellers in collusion with the powers that are supposed to control them.

The Kuala Lumpur taxi is a fine car but the cabbie himself is rude and surly and may not take you where you wish to go. Just like Malaysia itself - a fine showpiece of a country from the outside. Scratch below the surface and you see the social fabric is certainly not made of lycra.

Bangkok taxis are cheap, cheerful and yet - Toyotas! Which kind of encapsulates Thailand - First World goods and services at third world prices.

London's traditional 'black cabs' are old and stately looking although comfortable and modern on the inside. The London taxi is a 'symbol' of a kinder, gentler era - just like the symbolic presence of a Royal Family within a democracy. How very British!

New York taxis, of course, are known for their polyglot driver population - reflecting a country that welcomes immigrants.

"Taxi cabs are both loved and hated by New Yorkers" says NY.com. Ditto America's sentiments towards immigrants.

The Crux
If a taxicab reflects the state of a nation, one can argue that changing the taxicab could potentially alter the state of that nation. or at least serve as an important symbol of 'change'.

It could soon be curtains for the yellow-and-black Premier Padmini cabs that have ruled the Mumbai roads since 70s, to well into the 90s. Instead, one could well see the Singapore-styled wireless cab network where the operative words could be... "Make a call, choose your cab, and it is at your door".

The Fulora Foundation and the Western India Automobile Association plan to create a GPS-run fleet management system that gives "real-time vehicle status, city-wide low-cost service stations and an emergency response system"

The blueprint allows for cab services to be differentiated into mini cabs, medium-sized cabs and luxury cabs, with different rates. This transportation model is expected to increase the demand for call taxis and therefore, the cabbies' income.

In an interview to the Hindu, the Secretary of Special Projects, Govt of Maharashtra observed that "Singapore had the same cab transport system that India now has. They changed and the drivers' income has seen a 20-fold jump."

That was some 5 years back. But black & yellow khataaras continue to rule. The general secretary of the Bombay Taximen's union visited Singapore, came back and declared, "Nahin chalega". Nahin chalega ya phir hum nahin chalne denge? He would rather eke out a living in cabs that will one day fall completely apart than switch over to more modern vehicles. Or use technology to unclog the roads of parked taxis and make them available on call instead.

The taxis of Bombay are unique .It would make more sense to keep the body similiar and upgrade the technology with repect to engine and vehicle tracking and surely better interiors. The people of india (most of them) are easygoing, of course, we have some lessons to learn but more to teach the western world in terms of first being humans.

Better still, rural and semi-urban India have their own branded chakdas and vikrams (whatever name you call it). They are the lifeline of a majority of the growing India albeit they are'nt that comfortable with 4 people striving for one's own butt space on a less accomodating seat. Moreover, the entire load of the automobile and the aam junta is taken by the poor road with people hanging and clinging to whatever they can hold on in such 3-wheelers. And if you ever see them driving .. our Formula 1 drivers would be ashamed of themselves. They will either hate them or praise them . Its hell of a roller coaster ride.


Its just like.."A man in known by the shoes he wears". This is just a microcosm of what a nation is.There are innumerable issues. Even the Pollution Control Board does not know how polluted the air has become with these taxies running with their illegal three cylinder Diesel engines which were never serviced in their lifetime.


The path to progress in this country must always be littered with protest. The taxicab's journey into the future won't be an exception!

Head vs Heart vs Hair

Mere paas Lexus hai, bangla hai, dollar hai... tumhare paas kya hai?
Mere paas? Mere paas baal hai.

That, in a nutshell, is the reason call-centre worker Shyam manages to win back his lady love Priyanka in the Book That Must Not Be Called Literature . But which every-under-25 has read anyways.

Chetan Bhagat's "One Night at the Call Centre" is a book that I would classify as 'flick-lit'. Why?

Well, often a movie gets just 3 stars out of 5 but junta goes to see it because it's 'good timepass'. The same applies to this book. It has its flaws but in the end the reader gets his 95 bucks worth.

And, it's 'flick-lit' because it has been converted into a movie (i don't remember the name) . Just like Five Point Someone. Same is the case with Five Point Someone which has been converted into 3 Idiots.

Sigh! It's like Chetan envisioned the Bollywood screenplay even as he typed out those paras in MS Word.

Hairy thought
Warning: spoilers ahead for those who have not read the book. But let's get back to the hair - and how it won Shyam the woman of his dreams. Priyanka, bowing to her mum's wishes gets engaged to one Ganesh Gupta - engineer at Microsoft, owner of a Lexus and of Amrikan style bungalow with in-house swimming pool.

Fortunately, Shyam locates some pics of Ganesh on the internet which show his emerging bald patch. You see, in the original pics shown by the ladkewallahs, this fact had been cleverly hidden by a 'touch up'.

Priyanka doesn't like the fact that Ganesh has been deceptive and decides this isn't the guy for her. Which is fine, people break off engagements for even more trivial reasons.

The babe's not happy about being under pressure to tie the knot with a total stranger in less than a month. If you ask me she's practically looking for an excuse to get out. And there are residual feelings for ex-boyfriend Shyam anyways.

But my question is this: What if Ganesh had been a little more stud ?
What if he had a wonderful, full head of hair? (Think 'Monsoon Wedding' and Parvin Dabas). Would Priyanka still have ditched the NRI groom for the 'man she loved'?

Chetan said in an interview that he really agonised about whom Priyanka should choose in the end. He asked around and most girls said they would go for love over money/ comfort/ status/ meri-mummy-ki-choice.

This is what Bollywood believes too but honestly, I could never understand how Kajol preferred Prabhu Deva to Arvind Swamy in 'Sapnay'.

I think women are romantic creatures - but on the other hand, practical too. There are enough instances in real life where they make rational decisions about whom-to-marry.

It's not impossible to fall out of love with the idea of love and fall in love with a 'suitable boy'. For every Priyanka, there is a Manasi...

Mansi has a fascination for grooms from IIT. Her current boyfriend, a graduate from IIT now earns more than Rs 5 lakhs per year. She recently met another eligible bachelor, also an alumnae from IIT who claims to earn more than Rs 12 lakhs per year. Mansi who is apparently very serious about her boyfriend says, "Had the guy who earned Rs 12 lakhs shown interest in me, I would have ditched my boyfriend."

But of course, this is a book. And like I said, it's written to be made into a movie. And books and movies need 'happy endings'.

So Shyam gets Priyanka - and Ganesh should go get a hair transplant. And maybe, in a further quest for coolness, start working at Google!

Ask not what your country...

Bihar, to most of us, serves as a glaring illustration of exactly what is wrong with India. Even more so, at election time.


But can we, the urban 'elite', DO something about it? The answer is - it's never easy, but you can make a difference.

This piece I wrote on ADR (Association for Democratic Reform) shows you what kind of commitment and perseverance it takes. But, pay-offs do come. Of course, the statistics are of 2005, and the figures have increased to a horrible figure or for that matter a sorry figure. A figure which can bring any Indian to shame.

And yes, it is a matter of great pride that the founding trustees of ADR were professors and alumni of IIM Ahmedabad.

A few good men. B-schools are not known for people fighting to clean up politics. But some do.

The political and commercial morals of the US are not merely food for laughter, they are an entire banquet, commented the inimitable Mark Twain. That being the case, the state of Bihar - as it goes to the polls almost every year- would certainly qualify as a public orgy. Affidavits filed with the Election Commission  reveal that one in three candidates fielded by major political parties have chargesheets pending against them.

But there's a story behind the statistics. A story of how a few good men can take on a mighty messed-up system, and make a difference.

The story begins in August 1999, when a group of intellectuals got off their armchairs and formed the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) in Ahmedabad. The 11 founding members included eight professors of the Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad (IIM-A), two IIM-A alumni and a professor from the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad.

The challenge before them: to make the voting public think, and thinking people vote.

ADR decided to start by addressing an issue, which almost inevitably cropped up in the post-prandial conversations on problems facing India: the criminalisation of politics. Public interest litigation (PIL) was the chosen route.

In December 1999, Kamini Jaiswal filed a PIL on behalf of ADR in the Delhi High Court, seeking disclosure on criminal charges faced by candidates, as well as their financial and educational history. The PIL was upheld, but the Congress, Samata Party and the Union of India appealed against the judgement.

In May 2002, the Supreme Court again upheld the PIL and on 28 June 2002, the Election Commission issued a directive implementing the judgement. With remarkable alacrity, 21 political parties met on 8 July 2002 and unanimously 'rejected' the court orders. They decided to pass an ordinance to circumvent the judgement.

Founder-trustee and IIM-A 1984 alumnus Ajit Ranade recalls the tensions prevailing at the time: "A group of them met the then President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam and explained the situation to him. Kalam returned the ordinance but the Cabinet sent it back unchanged. He had no choice but to sign it the second time."

ADR and several other organisations moved the court once again. In March 2003, the Supreme Court ruled in their favour, linking its judgement to the citizens' 'fundamental right to know'.

It was a well-earned victory, but even before the formal judgement came in, ADR had initiated its first ever 'election watch'. The battleground: the post-Godhra Gujarat elections of September to December 2002. ADR issued 40 advertisements appealing to the public for information and collected over 1,000 affidavits filed by candidates.

Names of 138 candidates with criminal records were released and widely reported in the print and electronic media as well as disseminated to political parties, bureaucrats and NGOs.

The 'election watch' movement has now spread across the country. In every state, ADR ties up with local NGOs and citizens' groups to help in collecting, compiling and disseminating information among public.

In Mumbai, ADR worked closely with AGNI; in Bihar it collaborated with Lok Samvad, a network of NGOs it has identified and trained. Says Bibhu Mohapatra, ADR's full-time co-ordinator: "The affidavits are written in a language that is gobbledegook to the lay person." ADR's task is to simplify the data and amplify it through the media so that voters can make more informed choices.

Of course, critics argue, many candidates file false or incomplete affidavits. Mere criminality is not a ground for disqualification of candidates and, sadly, criminals often romp home victories anyway. Counters Trilochan Sastry, a founding member of ADR and now a professor at IIM, Bangalore: "But there are many early signs of change." For example, MPs are paying up their electricity and telephone bills as liabilities must be disclosed.

Founder-trustee and IIM-A professor Jagdeep Chhokar believes the idea is to build up pressure on parties themselves to field cleaner candidates and the indication is that "it's happening". Rome wasn't rebuilt in a day, and one thing ADR is not short on is patience.

Fighting long drawn-out court battles, travelling through cities like Bhagalpur and Begusarai and taking on the establishment are not the general domain of IIM professors or alumni. Thinking 'out of the box' is an old management dictum. In this case, the pandora's box that is Indian democracy has actually been opened.

There are indeed many organizations who are working selflessly but are very much publicity shy.
some of the so-called 'thinking class' actually doing something concrete. I think its high time the educated classes stood up and fought for their country instead of the current apathetic attitude on display for generations. The workers will work, the educated classes will pay taxes and the politicians will stay corrupt... too long this has been accepted with the convinient excuse of 'what can a single person do'.


It would be great to actually contribute than be a by-stander all the while!!!  For more info log on to www.adrindia.org

Diwali - then and now

Zamaana badal gaya, as they say. Aur uske saath Diwali bhi.

Ab Diwali greetings ko hi le lo. Greeting cards have gone the Siberian Crane way - they're a rare sighting. Instead it's the Diwali SMS or now, MMS. Aur ismein bhi alag alag type ke log-baag hain.
a) Wholesale variety: These are the folks who message their entire phonebooks, coz after all they're on a 50 p per sms plan - may as well make use of it. Never mind if some of the recipients are clueless about who the hell the sender is...

b) Designer variety: Ordinary 'happy diwali' and 'best wishes for the new year' messages won't pass muster with this lot. They take extra time and effort to come up with something creative. Or, wait for someone else to - and then promptly forward it!

c) Reply-only variety: Yeh log khud message nahin bhejte but if they receive one, will take the trouble to reply.

d) Bhayaanak variety: "Happy Diwali. Have you filed your Income Tax Return for AY 05-06? If not pls file it by 31st Oct 05..." Yup, the I-T dept just discovered the joys of spamming!

Diwali - Then & Now

Other ways in which Diwali has changed for People Like Us...

* Then: Rui ki battiyan, mitti ke diye.
* Now: Wax waale bane banaye khareed liye.
* Then: Ghee waale laddoo-barfi-halwe khaane ke din.
* Now: Chocolate hampers, sugar-free mithai are in.

* Then: Atom bombs, 10,000 ki ladis were cool.
* Now: Anaars, chakris and phuljhadis rule.

* Then: Problem - is saal client ko kya gift bhejna hai
* Now: Solution - Hamari company mein ab gift lena manaa hai!

* Then: Saal mein ek baar bacchon ke kapde aate they
* Now: Ab to har hafte mall visit mein Diwali manaate hain.

Diwali hampers are now made of chocolate sauce, hazelnute coffe powder, oreo cookies and hershey chocolates. So much for Indian DIWALI!

And let's not forget the lights now come from China.
Not only Diwali, all other festivals of India have undergone a drastic change in last 10-15 yrs.

They have become a means to show off. What I feel is that the original message of the festival has been lost somewhere in these years. I still remember, when we used to go to our cousins place and then we would be joined by their neighbours and vice versa. We would eagerly tell them that this year we have purchsed so much of crackers. All of us from the neighbourhood  used to go on cracker bursting spree. So much so that this had become a ritual. Immediately after the "phataka pradarshan", we would jump into having sweets and namkeen and that too besan ka halwa and lehsun ke namkeen.
Now: they're all as far from home as i am , maybe more. Crackers even on Diwali day are few and not too loud.

Then: looking forward to colony aunties who'd come over to give mithais and then getting upset at folks when they repackaged those boxes to forward on to other friends.
Now: on low sweet diet. Both my folks as well as the aunties are fast growing old and missing us kids with the sweets waiting for someone to eat them.

Then: the whole family attended... 10 of us kids fighting over the huge set of crackers.. which never seemed enough.
Now: the crackers are there but few ppl to light them. the elders are there but no noise anymore :(

The only thing that has remained is the paper cards. I insisted to send me cards on all occasions and refused to accept any e- or m-greetings. Unfortunately, my friends prefer not to wish than wishing thru a paper card :(

I'm not nostalgic about the old days - except for the home made mithais and gulabjamuns which sadly, are missing from the Diwali. Mithai ki plates that neighbours exchanged then.

In every other way, now is an improvement on then. And yes, the gap between the 'haves' and the 'have-nots' remains. But there is more awareness - more efforts to contribute to charity. More than one yuppie couple I know has taken the trouble to make a donation of toys and sweets to an orphanage.

So things are different - but it's still Diwali
Until next year, wish you peace and khushhaali!

The unholy 'jehadi'

Traditionally, you wake up on a Diwali morning and the first thing you look at is a silver coin or rupee note. It is believed that "Laxmiji ke darshan" on the day of Laxmi puja brings prosperity and luck in the coming year.

Additionally, you wake up on one fine Diwali morning and the papers are full of stories of children who will never see their parents again. Of entire families wiped out by serial blasts. I wonder where the HR activists take shelter during such events ? Where's Amnesty ? What steps do they take to put pressure on governments that have terrorism as a state policy ?

Again, most nations including our neighbour condemn the blasts. Mere condemnation amounts to nothing. This only highlights the impotency of institutions like the UN...then why are we trying for a UNSC seat...would being a permanent member help matters ?

Now I have that fear in mind that before any festival, auspicious day, there is going to be a bomb blast and tears everywhere. It might be a natural cause or a man made one. With earthquakes, tsunamis, train mishaps and bombings, I wonder should we still feel happy about a Festival.

I fail to understand why do we need any symbol of protest from a particular religious group who are as much Indians as anybody else. Heinous acts are to be condemned by everyone. Time and again we should stop expecting a sympathy statement. I am sure that even if a hundred thousand people take to the streets it won't make any difference to the Jihadis who have been brainwashed by the ISI .

I am in favour of getting the POTA back. As for HR Activists they care for the life of one terrorist rather than the hundreds who are victims of the terrorists. The problem of taking stern actions against Jihadis are acts and ordinances like POTA, MCOCA etc. If the Govt. uses it, you have HR activists up in arms saying that these acts violate HR.

Besides, such acts leads to more misuse than use. If the GoI comes up with something like the Patriot Act, you have no idea how much trouble folks are going to be in... I feel that more than the community the country as a whole should take a stand against these acts of JEHAD. The Government should not treat it as another of those JEHADI acts that plague our country. A stern action needs to be taken. A message should be conveyed "No more ruthless acts of violence on the common masses in the name of HOLY JEHAD".

Its high time that someone from this community stands up and says that all this going on in the name of JEHAD will not be tolerated ...enough is enough...everything has a limit and it has been crossed in this case, a probable solution to this problem will be to set a meet of all the important and intellectual members of this community to take drastic steps against these fedayeens , outcast them, penalise them, punish them to give them a strong and stern message that these things will not be tolerated now. Nothing can stop these men except humiliation from their own community.

'Jehadis' plan and execute unimaginably evil acts during the very month of Ramzan when they are enjoined by their God to undertake fasting and penance to purify themselves.

Can the elders, leaders and imams of their community please stand up and declare strongly and clearly, that they will burn in hell? So far I've seen one picture of Shabana Azmi in some kind of protest march and I'm afraid she is not the kind of person whom the average jehadi looks up to for career guidance.

Home 'too sweet' home

The last time we shifted, we found out a fridge magnet which read "A clean house is a sign of a misspent life".

I would partly agree. I mean, sure, you don't want to live in a dirty house but I do so hate picture-perfect living spaces. They look so very unlived in!

So let me modify that to an 'immaculately interior-decorated' home, to me, is a sign of a misspent life.

When I step into a house where everything matches with everything else, not a cushion is out of place - and it's not even a formal dinner party - I feel a small, inward cringe. If the home is truly outstanding, I even feel a little bit like a kid in a china shop.

Growing up, there was one home of this kind in our locality. In a colony of teachers where the prevailing fashions were divans and rexine sofas, this one home had carefully laid out expensive antique furniture. It reminded me of a museum no one ever visited.

The aunty in this house was rumoured to be related to some royal family - no idea if there was any truth in it. The kids were the only I knew outside Enid Blyton books who actually went to boarding school.

The lasting impression I have of this 'lovely' home : cold and unwelcoming. A very personal - and perhaps biased - impression but hard to erase.

Perfection comes not from adding things, but taking them off. Imagine a newly built up house, don't you think it looks better without the furniture than with the furniture? I would say, keep it really simple and neat. The more stuff you add, the more messy it becomes and the more the time you spend on cleaning it up.

Rather, for me it extends to people also. Infact I have difficulty maintaining my place in semi-messed condition, as I find it difficult to decide what should be in place, and what should not... So, for me it starts with a picture-perfect one, stays like this for some time then slowly starts messy.. and gets (and stays for sometime) messier...

I mean it's personal choice, how much time and energy (and money) you want to invest in home decor but I would much rather eat, read or sleep than bother about putting together a living room that could make it to the centrespread of 'Inside Outside' magazine.

But if I really really had to put my passion into a building project (assuming I ever have that kind of money!) - 'Amazing Vacation Homes' (Discovery Travel & Living) would be the way to go. Amen.

Kadwa chauth

'Karva chauth' is a festival which really really gets my goat. I mean why, why in this day and age does it still remain the 'done thing' for millions of women - including the younger generation - in north India?

In India and Nepal, Hindu married women observe a fast on Krishna Chaturthi of Kartik (October-November) . The only aim of this fast is to save the husband from an untimely death and have a long married life.

After taking bath in the early morning, before sunrise, women should undertake a vow for welfare of the husband, sons and grandsons. Shiv, Parvati, Kartikeya, Ganesh and the moon (Chandrama) are worshipped. The fast is broken only after seeing the moon.

The origins of this festival are murky. One story that is always related on this day...A lady called Veeravati broke her fast and her husband died. She preserved the body of her husband and he came back to life the next Karva Chauth. It is believed that a Pati-Vrata woman has the power to confront the God of Death, Yama.

I would have thought that modern young women would gradually lose interest in a festival with such retro contours:

The fast is a rigorous one as the wife does not even drink water on this day. In the evening, all married women, dressed in gorgeous wedding garments and jewelery, undertake worship. As the moon rises, they bow down at the feet of their husbands and give the decorated plate with fruit and other material to their mother in law. This festival deepens the relation between the wife, the husband and the mother in law.

However, interest in the festival has in fact increased.

Bollywood has had several poignant 'karva chauth' sequences (remember Shahrukh and Kajol in DDLJ) and of course beauty parlours and other commerical estabishments have jumped into the fray offering 'full day packages' to keep hungry-thirsty women occupied till moonrise. Especially so in the very dekho-ji-maine-kitne-paise-kharch-kiye culture of Delhi.

Life in the 'fast' lane
Actually I would categorise karva chauth fastees into 3 categories:
a) Sab karte hain: Everyone's doing it, so you do too. This applies especially to those women who live in joint families.

Some of course actually enjoy all the shringar, sacrifice and saas-saheli bonding. Others play along, knowing that resistance is futile in the face of biraadari and expectant mother-in-laws. !

Aur kuch nahin to kuch maal to milega :)

b) 'What if...': This lot is not very keen on the fast but keeps it anyways thinking of it like an annual insurance policy. Just in case something terrible does happen, there can never be any fingers pointed at her for not even keeping 'karva chauth'.

c) 'So romantic'!: Lastly, there is this new breed of women who don't actually believe in pati-parmeshwar but think it's a very cute and romantic thing to do. Many expect the husband - in SRK-DDLJ style - to also deprive himself ("Dear, at least keep a fruit juice fast", they might kindly offer).

This lot expects the fast to be broken over a romantic dinner and/or a special gift. Engaged and 'newly married' types are usually to be found in this category - as u might well expect!

In the 'slow' lane
Kadwa chauth and all other vraths or fast in India or abroad in Hindu or other religions are generally based on pure science related to human health. Neither do people try to decode the facts related to these vraths nor try to understand the value of vraths.

Most of the people accept vraths as ritual and tradition; they observe them according to their belief and leave it without exploring the real facts behind it.

If one wants to find out the truth one will have to experiment with vraths. One must have to keep fast with rational scientific temper.

Keep any fast according to the belief, follow the rituals according to the tradition and find out the results. Without any observation and experiment any one can criticize other's belief and call it misbelieve or superstitions. But when one does this practice of vrath with rational scientific temper it will change completely.

Here I will slightly modify a quote to expose the sexism within it...I think all this fuss about men working at a job is really foolish. It is ridiculous that men even today follow such biased traditions. Why isn't there any tradition of wives supporting their husbands by going out to work for long hours? Why is it that if a woman has a job she is 'so independent' and if a man does he is just normal?

I think all this fuss about KarwaChauth is really foolish. Why isn't there any tradition of husbands fasting for long lives of their wives? Why is it that if a woman fasts she is 'just observing a tradition' and if a man does he is being very loving? Why is it that a woman has to bother about her husbands life and a husband never bothers about his wife's? Isn't marraige a relationship in which both sides gain? So why is the burden of ensuring long life of their spouses on women and men never even dream of it?

Now there is another myth to this extravaganza. The origin of this festival was based on a very sweet and noble idea. Though this idea has lost its true sense as today the whole outlook of this festival has changed. Long time back, girls used to get married at a very early stage, and had to go and live with their in-laws in other villages. If she had any problems with her husband or in-laws, she would have no one to talk to or seek support from. Her own parents and relatives would be quite far and unreachable. There used to be no telephones, buses and trains. Thus the custom started that, at the time of marriage, when bride would reach her in-laws, she would befriend another woman there, who would be her friend or sister for life. It would be like god-friends or god-sisters. Their friendship would be sanctified through a small Hindu ceremony right during the marriage.

Once the bride and this woman had become god-friends or god-sisters, they would remain so all their lives and recognize the relation as such. They would also treat each other like real sisters. During any difficulties later in life, involving even the husband or in-laws, these women would be able to confidently talk or seek help from each other. Thus Karva Chauth started as a festival to celebrate this friendship (relationship) between the once-brides and their god-friends (god-sisters). Praying and fasting for the sake of husband came later and was secondary. It was probably added, along with other mythical tales, to enhance the festival. In any case, husband would always be associated with this festival, because the day of starting this holy friendship between two god-sisters was essentially the day of bride's marriage to him.

Thus praying and fasting for him by his wife during a celebration of her relationship with the god-friend would be quite logical.Thus, originally Karva Chauth is once a year festival to renew and celebrate the relationship between god-friends (god-sisters). It had a tremendous social and cultural significance once when the world lacked the ways to communicate and move around easily. " Neat little categories of people banged into neat little pigeon holes !! And after having done that, the dainty little manouever at the end, "to each her own".

Did you consider the possibility that it may be possible for a girl brought up in the Indian tradition to actually want to fast (not starve, there's a difference you know) on Karwa Chauth ? Many festivals are just a way of expression. Otherwise 'Diwali' by any means releases the lion's share of pollutants which in no way is 'do-good-to-society' types. It's only about preservering what we believe, and for the same reason we tend to observe them in all austerity or tradition or by any other word in that place. It's an ocassion to celebrate. I still believe these things are not the index of portrayal of women as devoted to husbands or something.

The retro-traditions popularised by Bollywood & Indian TV (think saas-bahu serials) are doing a lot of harm, to the extent that even unmarried (although engaged) girls keep these fasts.

In fact, I was schocked to see even an ad for Chevy Optra focussed on this ritual of Karva chauth! In this age of ultra modern urban women, I am more shocked to hear it is still being observed! Most indian customs have a lot of meaning attached to them . Somehow not everybody has a deep knowledge of the customs and traditions. They just see the surface and criticise them.

I look at it as an interesting sociological study..You won't believe how many women look at it from the romantic and traditional angle.. and feel they're actually doing something they were meant to. If this is feminism then this is how it should be. In fact the question here is much broader than feminism: Why do Indians stick to silly notions which do not have a basis or have lost all basis. Tradition and 'cultural heritage' are all good as long as nobody forces it on me.

Its true that otherwise smart people can be stupid when it comes to following the 'stupidities of our medivial ancestors'. There are hundreds of such baseless traditions that are followed. Most are harmless if not taken seriously and played along for fun. It however turns dangerous when people become serious about such observances and don't even mind harming human relationships on the grounds of tradition. Some people need constant reminding that we have gone a long way ahead in terms of scientific understanding of how the Universe works.

In Maharashtra the Vata Paurnima and Hartalika is done on the same lines.

I think fasts are good from a health stand point, if done wisely. Fat women can lose some weight that way. People eat the wrong food and too much of it nowadays anyway. Infact, that's really the reason fasts were introduced in the first place. Its doesn't matter whether the fast is to please a God or for the good health and well-being of a husband. Those are simply excuses to get the common people to fast and to regulate the digestive system.

I don't see how shunning culture and traditions makes someone a *modern*, let alone a practical feminist. I just call that a rebel without a cause (and I mean no offense here).  Well! practically seeing it may seem questionable and may be a futile effort for some but just imagine like this keeping the fast is actually a sweet romantic thing u r doing for ur husband. I mean its just like any other special day when u want to please ur love and wait for him for a special dinner.

It is the way we've been brought up at our schools. We just tend to learn Calculus in Maths, but we do not learn how to use it. Did you ever know that manufacturing a small tin can that hold 500 gms of garbanzo beans, uses calculus to calculate the diameter? Not many of us do. And the reason is we are so used this mugging up stuff at school that we have completely lost the creativity to think. Why to blame women who follow customs without thinking, when they have never been made to think. As for the religious aspect of it, there must be a good reason, and I wouldn't comment on this issue without a proper knowledge of the scriptures. The Chopra's or the Johar's were *not* the one who started this tradition?  The movies and now the television soaps have ensured that this tradition is still on. It has a story behind it and lends a good flavor to a typical desi plot.

Personally I agree that practicality should rule - let each one decide if it is kadwa ya mitha for oneself. If the tradition had something to do with both men and women starving for each other, then it would be different. People may do it for romantic reasons - but it is still the EXPECTED thing to do. The subtext for a majority of married north Indian women is that it makes them GOOD wives. If a man does it - he's being GOD. :)

Why do we romanticize the notion of being cornered by tradition. It's one thing to fast for the spouse's health - it's quite another to be forced to do it and judged on the basis of that. In fact  it was only the gujju's who don't *do* anything for their husbands. Practicality is great. And it sucks that some women make a nautanki off the karwa chauth, but I think for women who have faith in it and sincerely keep the fast : I think it's beautiful.

--everybody is doing it so lets do it.
--its romantic.
--this is what they do in movies.
--another reason for a get together (kitty party of sorts).
-- Cool Mehendi sessions.
-- another reason to wear that heavy saari and jewellery.
-- pampering from husband (in some cases).
-- something different in the routine life.
BENEFITS ARE MORE THAN THE SACRIFICE.

New tamasha to the whole thing is that the husbands too keep themselves starved cause their wives are sacrificing so much for them , but this is restricted to newly or recently married couples category........of course husbands become much wiser as the years progress.

For heavens sake moon is just a satellite to earth ... it will not come to save your husband nor it has any powers to do the same. Imagine, someone going through all that for you. now, that's pressure. and feminism? The less said about it the better. Here is adding another perspective. In an increasingly busy life the Karwa chuath is one of the few occassions for the married to get together and spend some time for just each other. They can just reiterate their commitment to each other. I guess A more sedate version of your "Romantic Reason". Or lets say our own desi version of Valentine's day. 

Over a period of time (read in a more captalistic society) fasts themselves might change meanings & modes. Some of these changes are already visible when we find those fasting devouring the most exotic delicacies made specially for fasters. How about restaurants offering an exclusive "Karva Chauth" evening in a strongly traditional ambience with a early sixties movie thrown in along with a kaurva chauth dinner. Special packages for 10+ couples....

After reading all this I'm sure the word that comes to most readers minds will be: 'feminist'. But you know what, there are more of practical feminists than crusading ones. They pick and choose their own battles.

Bottomline: Each to her own, of course. Some find it a sweet tradition - but for some it leaves more of a kadwa aftertaste.

Here's hoping the moon does peep out on time - for those who feel otherwise!