OUR EVES AND OUR CHANCES OF BEATING THE ODDS
Well I won’t brand myself as someone who can be categorized as a Facebook buff or a Facebook Addict. But then I am logged on to Facebook for at least an hour each day and I look forward to the same with much eagerness and anticipation. I confess that had I had more time I would be logged on to Facebook for longer periods of time and I also confess that my wife think I am either wasting my time or am probably upto some mischief there. Like also wives or for that matter girlfriends or mistress (as the case may be ) who haven’t been bitten by the FB bug by now my wife too think I am upto something fishy on the Facebook. With all those beautiful faces of Facebook, well I guess, my wife, like the millions of others who think like her, has reasons to be skeptical about my association with FB. But then she, like others who eye FB with suspicion, probably doesn’t know two basic facts about FB- (1) that no one is as beautiful or handsome as his or her profile picture on FB suggest (likewise no one is as bad looking as ones voter ID card picture suggests ) and (2) that the FB is in the best place to meet, discuss and exchange ideas with likeminded friends- But then Facebook is not the topic under discussion in this article – Facebook feature in this article only because of the fact that it was here I met this wonderful young lady, who is full of enthusiasm, full of vigor, has great love for her place, intelligent and…..for a change, as beautiful as her Facebook profile picture suggests her to be.
And she is an engineer by profession – she being from Kalimpong too, both of us were aware of each other existence but haven’t exchanged even a ‘Hi’ in person till date, but on FB we got talking and knowing her has made me realize one very important think in which the is Hill Community of Darjeeling is deficient in.
One very important criteria that any sociologist look into for, while studying any community, is the status or rather stature of women in that particular community. And I am afraid the Hills of Darjeeling don’t have too many women who have excellence in the technical field or in very many specialized fields. Now don’t get me wrong – In the time of the Nari Morchas, I don’t want to be someone who is looked at as having written something adverse against the fairer sex. I only want to say that we don’t have too many women who are doctors, or engineers, or the civil services, or in the army or other armed forced, or sports or in the management level of corporate houses or banking establishments. Women are now leading the way in all progressive societies – They commands Boeings & Airbuses they are astronauts, they serve with distinction in the Army & Navy, they serve as CEOs of major MNCs, they perform the most complicated of medical surgeries, they design and execute the construction of the most complex and beautifully designed structures, they are Judges in the High Court and in fact now there is probably no male bastion left as such. Women from other communities in India have become Governors, Chief Ministers, Ambassadors, Secretaries in the Central and States governments, world-class Scientist, Film Director, successful Lawyer and Doctors- have any of them been from the Hill Community of Darjeeling?? I am afraid no….
I believe the progress of any society is like the clapping of your hands. You need both your hands to do justice to your clap and a society too needs both its hands (males & female) to perform in unison for it to progress. We need our women to go into more diverse professional spheres rather than just land up BPO jobs or in the Teaching, Hospitality, and Nursing industry or end up us LDCs in the state Government.
This is why I appreciated my friend from facebook – we need more of our women to be like her – we need our young and vibrant women to come to the fore so that this society can progress more dynamically.
The collective aspirations of the Darjeeling society for long has been a separated state of our own and for this to actually happens the eves of Darjeeling have to prove themselves on a wider arena. Only then would Gorkhaland be a certainty.
And in conclusion – well weather Gorkhaland is a certainty or not, I don’t know, but one thing is certain – I definitely am not going to let my wife read this article – her references in the article will infuriated her so much that not only will my FB account have to be closed I fear the entire geography of my face too may be altered….But then I love her despite sixteen years of marriage hence this article is still on print in spite of the fear that looms ahead)
