Book - The good women of China. Hidden Voices
Author - Xinran
Publisher - Vintage
Women are a topic, which has fascinated many from the earliest of times. I picked up this book in Bangalore not because of any similar fascination but since I have been living in china for almost 6 months now so I thought it was a good chance to know more about anything Chinese as it always helps in conversing with people in a foreign country about their things.
The author was a journalist cum radio show presenter presenting a show on women called "words on the night breeze". In her search to understand women better she interviews many women across china. The book contains narration from those interviews and thus comprises of real life stories of Chinese women. It is well written but contains only sad stories about women at different levels of society, in different regions of the country and of different ages. Still most of the stories come from the time of Chinese military revolution.
It would be easier to relate to the book if one has been in touch with China for some time. Through the book I realized my observations about Chinese women were not very incorrect since the book articulated on the same lines as well.
1. Women in China are considered as a mere object of pleasure. Though the same is attributed to women around the world but what makes it interesting in China is the acceptance of this fact by women and thus further encouraging this for personal gains.
2. Though in general it seems women are at par with men in China because they can be found in all professions that men are a part of but this remains true only as long as the jobs are the labour level jobs.
I think stories like this about women might exist in all parts of world. But, the author is trying to correct the illusion anybody might have of women in China having a better life than that of women in other places.
Monday, May 28, 2007
Saturday, May 12, 2007
Thai Airways vs. Singapore Airlines
While traveling from Bangalore to Beijing this time I got Thai airways tickets instead of Singapore airlines from the travel department of my company. Though I love Singapore (I have been on the airport only, bt I still love it), I still thought its good I get to try another airlines and their services. Well here is a small summary from my side comparing the two.
Thai does not starts serving a hot towel to clean hands and face. If you are starting from Bangalore it is a must because of the dust and pollution that you have to fight on the way to the airport.
Now if the flight is 4 or more hours and you are traveling international you expect your personalized TV because it can be boring to travel that long without anything to do and one big LCD some 15 feet away makes no sense.
The Flight was delayed by 1 hour. Well I doubt it was those air traffic jam reason because the Singapore airlines plane standing on my right side scheduled to depart 1 hour after us departed before we even moved. Though it might not be a regular affair but it was in this case.
There is no menu for the meals giving information about what one can choose to eat and know beforehand what all is available onboard. There is no glass holder on the front seat tray.
I did not find the food good enough either (though this could vary from individual to individual).
The airhostess/airhost are a little slow to react to your needs.
The magazine really does not contain good content to go through(and this despite there being no TV to watch your desired movie)
For the connecting passengers Thai airways does not boarding pass for the second flight from the original city as is the case with SQ (Sing air). So one has to stand in the queue again to get the next boarding pass. There were only 8-10 counters for issuing boarding passes. This is a small number for the number of passengers who were transiting even at 4AM. Unfortunately the queue in which I stood was so slow (of course all of them were so long as well that I did not dare to quit my line and join another after I realized mine was much slower than the other). I had to stand for 1 hour 20 minutes in the queue to collect my boarding pass (one can call it as a time pass). This is quite ridiculous that the next boarding pass is not issued despite flying by the same airlines. On top of this the Bangkok airport is not full of shops or any entertainment facilities(like Singapore airport).
Now having cribbed enough about the poor chaps some of the good things that I came across were the better legroom on Thai (both flights, Bangalore - Bangkok and Bangkok - Beijing). One of the onboard music channels offered Hindi music. And the seats were more stretchable.
So if you have a choice between these two on your travel route then my suggestion would be Singapore Airlines. Especially if you have a connecting flight and your break is for more than 4 hours.
There is a possibility that because I have not been disappointed by Singapore airlines' service even once of the 8 times I have boarded it, my expectations have increased.
But then obviously Thai Airways is cheaper than Singapore Airlines.
Thai does not starts serving a hot towel to clean hands and face. If you are starting from Bangalore it is a must because of the dust and pollution that you have to fight on the way to the airport.
Now if the flight is 4 or more hours and you are traveling international you expect your personalized TV because it can be boring to travel that long without anything to do and one big LCD some 15 feet away makes no sense.
The Flight was delayed by 1 hour. Well I doubt it was those air traffic jam reason because the Singapore airlines plane standing on my right side scheduled to depart 1 hour after us departed before we even moved. Though it might not be a regular affair but it was in this case.
There is no menu for the meals giving information about what one can choose to eat and know beforehand what all is available onboard. There is no glass holder on the front seat tray.
I did not find the food good enough either (though this could vary from individual to individual).
The airhostess/airhost are a little slow to react to your needs.
The magazine really does not contain good content to go through(and this despite there being no TV to watch your desired movie)
For the connecting passengers Thai airways does not boarding pass for the second flight from the original city as is the case with SQ (Sing air). So one has to stand in the queue again to get the next boarding pass. There were only 8-10 counters for issuing boarding passes. This is a small number for the number of passengers who were transiting even at 4AM. Unfortunately the queue in which I stood was so slow (of course all of them were so long as well that I did not dare to quit my line and join another after I realized mine was much slower than the other). I had to stand for 1 hour 20 minutes in the queue to collect my boarding pass (one can call it as a time pass). This is quite ridiculous that the next boarding pass is not issued despite flying by the same airlines. On top of this the Bangkok airport is not full of shops or any entertainment facilities(like Singapore airport).
Now having cribbed enough about the poor chaps some of the good things that I came across were the better legroom on Thai (both flights, Bangalore - Bangkok and Bangkok - Beijing). One of the onboard music channels offered Hindi music. And the seats were more stretchable.
So if you have a choice between these two on your travel route then my suggestion would be Singapore Airlines. Especially if you have a connecting flight and your break is for more than 4 hours.
There is a possibility that because I have not been disappointed by Singapore airlines' service even once of the 8 times I have boarded it, my expectations have increased.
But then obviously Thai Airways is cheaper than Singapore Airlines.
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Back to Square 1
The definition of back is kind of loosing its meaning for me as over the last few days I have been saying "I am back" but every time this sentence of mine comes from a different place.
25th April when I reached Jammu after traveling 36 hours nonstop from Huhhot(China)->Beijing->Singapore->Bangalore->Delhi->Jammu and I met my relatives and all of them asked, so when did u come back. I Just said "today". Then I resumed office in Bangalore on 02-May-2007 and all the people in the office asked hey! so when did u return? I said "yesterday night". Now after being back here in China for the last 2 days I still say "I am back". Upon landing on the huhhot airport I said to the Taxi driver "Jiare jodiyan" = Holiday Inn, he said yes. Then I said "do she chian" = how much, and he said "oosher" = 50 and I said "bu" = no. I said "se sher" = 40 and he said "hao de" = ok. I guess I am getting absorbed here.
The burger life has re-started and here and "back" to square 1.
25th April when I reached Jammu after traveling 36 hours nonstop from Huhhot(China)->Beijing->Singapore->Bangalore->Delhi->Jammu and I met my relatives and all of them asked, so when did u come back. I Just said "today". Then I resumed office in Bangalore on 02-May-2007 and all the people in the office asked hey! so when did u return? I said "yesterday night". Now after being back here in China for the last 2 days I still say "I am back". Upon landing on the huhhot airport I said to the Taxi driver "Jiare jodiyan" = Holiday Inn, he said yes. Then I said "do she chian" = how much, and he said "oosher" = 50 and I said "bu" = no. I said "se sher" = 40 and he said "hao de" = ok. I guess I am getting absorbed here.
The burger life has re-started and here and "back" to square 1.
Tuesday, May 08, 2007
What else?
2 weeks back while I was travelling from China to India and I met another Indian on Singapore airport(I had a flight from beijing to bangalore via Singapore).
I will call him X.
X was travelling from US to India. He was with his family and was visting India after 3 years having settled in the US. It made me feel better as I was travelling after mere 5 months.
While we were talking about everything else about my work and his work, he asked me a question. "So what else do you do other than the usual work for your employer?" . I said - I read books. Based on my area of interest he did ask me some of the authors if I have read them and I had not read most of them, which did prove that I was not one of those avid readers who just read and read.
Then he again asked "so what else do you do?" Well I really did not have a good answer, infact I did not have any answer. Since that day I have been thinking what do I really do with most of my time? I think this is a question that all of us should really be thinking once in a quarter and try to retrospect and look back upon the last 3 months and find out if there was something new or great or interesting they did. If they did not, then why? were they so busy? or they really did not want to do anything because they are happy to assume that they have learnt all that they need to know and done all that they could.
I have been thinking the same for quite some time now and havent arrived upon any concrete conclusion of starting on that something new which I could feel great 3 months from now. While I continue to think may be you could try thinking too for yourself.
I will call him X.
X was travelling from US to India. He was with his family and was visting India after 3 years having settled in the US. It made me feel better as I was travelling after mere 5 months.
While we were talking about everything else about my work and his work, he asked me a question. "So what else do you do other than the usual work for your employer?" . I said - I read books. Based on my area of interest he did ask me some of the authors if I have read them and I had not read most of them, which did prove that I was not one of those avid readers who just read and read.
Then he again asked "so what else do you do?" Well I really did not have a good answer, infact I did not have any answer. Since that day I have been thinking what do I really do with most of my time? I think this is a question that all of us should really be thinking once in a quarter and try to retrospect and look back upon the last 3 months and find out if there was something new or great or interesting they did. If they did not, then why? were they so busy? or they really did not want to do anything because they are happy to assume that they have learnt all that they need to know and done all that they could.
I have been thinking the same for quite some time now and havent arrived upon any concrete conclusion of starting on that something new which I could feel great 3 months from now. While I continue to think may be you could try thinking too for yourself.
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Decision-making
Decision-making is something I have always suffered with. But despite that I plan to put up some of my thoughts on decision-making that have been popping up in my head for months.
I personally believe one of the important things for anybody to remain happy in life is to make decisions the way he/she thinks. There is a lot that can go into making of a decision.
A few factors that would result in a good or bad decision could be:
1. Strong will of decision maker.
2. Good understanding of the current situation.
3. Proper view of the future and visualization of the outcome/consequences.
4. Being ready to face opposition.
5. Knowing the art of saying no (saying yes is the easiest thing).
6. Uncompromising.
7. Complete information in hand.
8. Willingness to sacrifice one thing for the other (to have everything is being lucky).
9. Being ruthless at times.
10. Being prepared for failure.
Some of the above mentioned factors might have been very specific based on a few past incidents that have been going on around me. But, I still think a lot of these factors are generic.
Decisions can make or break the course of action that might follow ahead. So it is better to take tough and hard decisions even if it results into misery/grief for some time instead of making a soft decision for the meanwhile and then suffering in the longer run.
I personally believe one of the important things for anybody to remain happy in life is to make decisions the way he/she thinks. There is a lot that can go into making of a decision.
A few factors that would result in a good or bad decision could be:
1. Strong will of decision maker.
2. Good understanding of the current situation.
3. Proper view of the future and visualization of the outcome/consequences.
4. Being ready to face opposition.
5. Knowing the art of saying no (saying yes is the easiest thing).
6. Uncompromising.
7. Complete information in hand.
8. Willingness to sacrifice one thing for the other (to have everything is being lucky).
9. Being ruthless at times.
10. Being prepared for failure.
Some of the above mentioned factors might have been very specific based on a few past incidents that have been going on around me. But, I still think a lot of these factors are generic.
Decisions can make or break the course of action that might follow ahead. So it is better to take tough and hard decisions even if it results into misery/grief for some time instead of making a soft decision for the meanwhile and then suffering in the longer run.
Wednesday, April 04, 2007
Orkut turns more Indian
I am not saying, "Orkut turns Indian" because there are lot of Indians using orkut. But, it is interesting to see that till yesterday on the home page of orkut there was not even a single picture of an Indian among the 8 pictures of some smiling people.
Today I check the same page and see that 4 of those 10 smiling people are Indians.
This number is quite high as compared to the actual number of Indian on Orkut, which is around 14% of the total Orkut users as on 28 Feb 2007(Orkut on wikipedia).
This is interesting to see that orkut is turning so much of attention to India leaving China. Reason I would attribute to this the fact that it is not just that Google (orkut belongs to google) believes lot more Indians are interested in orkut social networking than Chinese are but it is more because orkut is facing much less competition with other networking sites in India. In India new friends/social networking portals popped up only after a huge success of Orkut where as such things started simultaneously in China, which has made the penetration of google (orkut, youtube, blogspot) a much difficult task than it has in India. Services like these started by Chinese service providers have existed in India for quite sometime before they caught fire in India.
I think there are two important aspects to this:
1. Indians are more visible in global activities these days.
2. But, we need to have more indigenous products (I am not being chauvinistic).
More on that some other time.
Today I check the same page and see that 4 of those 10 smiling people are Indians.
This number is quite high as compared to the actual number of Indian on Orkut, which is around 14% of the total Orkut users as on 28 Feb 2007(Orkut on wikipedia).
This is interesting to see that orkut is turning so much of attention to India leaving China. Reason I would attribute to this the fact that it is not just that Google (orkut belongs to google) believes lot more Indians are interested in orkut social networking than Chinese are but it is more because orkut is facing much less competition with other networking sites in India. In India new friends/social networking portals popped up only after a huge success of Orkut where as such things started simultaneously in China, which has made the penetration of google (orkut, youtube, blogspot) a much difficult task than it has in India. Services like these started by Chinese service providers have existed in India for quite sometime before they caught fire in India.
I think there are two important aspects to this:
1. Indians are more visible in global activities these days.
2. But, we need to have more indigenous products (I am not being chauvinistic).
More on that some other time.
Sunday, April 01, 2007
I am getting Married
Yes, finally i am getting married. Though i have always been one of the not so interested in marriage guys but then there are times when such things happen in life we are changed forever.
I am on such a juncture of my life now. 4 months back i arrived in China in the midst all kinds of pressure at work. But then i met somebody who took away all the pressure. Who made me feel as if i was at home. I met someone who changed me..
After 4 months of a happy relationship i have decided that it is time we must strengthen this relationship. Thus we have decided to get married. Though i would be doing it here in china unlike an Indian marriage but i intend to get re-married once i go back to India with all the rituals of a hindu marriage.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Ok now enough is enough.
Today is 1st April (April fool's Day). So i just thought of putting up a false surprise here.
Ha Ha Ha!!!:-)
Surprisingly Wikipedia says April fool's is more than 400 years old!!
I am on such a juncture of my life now. 4 months back i arrived in China in the midst all kinds of pressure at work. But then i met somebody who took away all the pressure. Who made me feel as if i was at home. I met someone who changed me..
After 4 months of a happy relationship i have decided that it is time we must strengthen this relationship. Thus we have decided to get married. Though i would be doing it here in china unlike an Indian marriage but i intend to get re-married once i go back to India with all the rituals of a hindu marriage.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Ok now enough is enough.
Today is 1st April (April fool's Day). So i just thought of putting up a false surprise here.
Ha Ha Ha!!!:-)
Surprisingly Wikipedia says April fool's is more than 400 years old!!
Good for Indian sports
It’s been a old matter that India exit from the cricket WC in round-I and people seem to have forgotten this as well. Though i am not happy to see my own country and its players loosing so badly. Not because it lost but because it lost without even giving any fight to the teams it lost to.
But, i think it is a good opportunity for the other Indian sports. I personally believe a sport in today’s world is driven by business. With Indian cricket team's all time low rankings and worst performances, Indian sports is lacking national idols and now is the time for any of the new individuals to show some great performance. Business will grab them for their brand endorsements and that would give a good push to the respective sport.
I think its important for business to look outside cricket. Only cricket and bollywood being the options available with ad makers the options are too less and thus the brand value of even not so popular and new celebrities is quite high.
Now is the time when these new sportspersons could click and get their share of fame and glory, which has been overshadowed for long by cricket.
So may be Indian cricket might recover from the slump soon for some reason but here is a chance for Indian sports to redefine itself from sports=cricket to sports=sports.
But, i think it is a good opportunity for the other Indian sports. I personally believe a sport in today’s world is driven by business. With Indian cricket team's all time low rankings and worst performances, Indian sports is lacking national idols and now is the time for any of the new individuals to show some great performance. Business will grab them for their brand endorsements and that would give a good push to the respective sport.
I think its important for business to look outside cricket. Only cricket and bollywood being the options available with ad makers the options are too less and thus the brand value of even not so popular and new celebrities is quite high.
Now is the time when these new sportspersons could click and get their share of fame and glory, which has been overshadowed for long by cricket.
So may be Indian cricket might recover from the slump soon for some reason but here is a chance for Indian sports to redefine itself from sports=cricket to sports=sports.
Sunday, March 25, 2007
Generations
Families grow like a tree and spread their span. People move and reach places like branches. But, roots matter. Here is one picture that triggered me to think so.
That’s nani (maternal grandmother), didi (her grand daughter) and her daughter Riti.
So we can see 4 generations. Nani is living in Jammu; didi in US and Riti is POI (People of Indian Origin).
What I am thinking is, do the roots feel sad for branches being too far from it and it misses them or it feels proud that the branches have reached so far.
Thanks to didi for letting me put up this photo here.
That’s nani (maternal grandmother), didi (her grand daughter) and her daughter Riti.
So we can see 4 generations. Nani is living in Jammu; didi in US and Riti is POI (People of Indian Origin).
What I am thinking is, do the roots feel sad for branches being too far from it and it misses them or it feels proud that the branches have reached so far.
Thanks to didi for letting me put up this photo here.
Sunday, March 18, 2007
Shame or Blame
So India lost to Bangladesh. Shame! Shame! Well they outplayed us, so some cheers!! for the bangladesh team too. Credit has to be given to them for bowling out Indian line-up for 191. Yes, the same Indian batting line-up where 3 players individually have more score than whole Bangladesh team.
But, is this not how everything runs in this world - cyclical change. India is a developing economy. But when we see business from these developing countries growing and becoming bigger than some of the developed countries we say its our time now. So if somebody wins someone has to loose.
I think this is good for the world cricket that there are new teams showing good performance. Atleast the world cup will be a little more unpredictable instead just 8 teams being expected to be in the 2nd round(every world cup for the last 4 times).
Ofcourse i dont mean to say, for the development of world cricket I am happy to see India loosing. It is unfortunate to see India loose to a new team. But then if Infosys tipping IBM and Accenture in a mutimillion contract is fair enough then I think Bangladesh tipping India is fair enough too.
But then Accenture and IBM would not sit down and relax. So it is important to notice what do Indian players do after this match.
I think atleast after this world cup, those players who claim cricket is their first love and rest all second(like Sachin etc.) should atleast show it for the sake of it by saying no to all new advertisements for the next 6 months, focus only the game and see what has changed in world cricket since last time they focussed on the game(i guess it might have been a long time for most of them since they have been working very hard for ad shoots).
This result would also have raised Bermuda's hopes. They might be thinking can we do it too. God bless them!
By the way after being chucked out of the workd cup is Pakistan going back home. I think they must loose to Zimbabwe too. Not because i love to watch Pakistan loosing. But, because pak cricket team would anyways receive maltreatement on their return. If they loose to Zimbabwe then they can go to Zimbabwe and there they might receive a welcome treatment. So atleast they will have some place to hide.
But, is this not how everything runs in this world - cyclical change. India is a developing economy. But when we see business from these developing countries growing and becoming bigger than some of the developed countries we say its our time now. So if somebody wins someone has to loose.
I think this is good for the world cricket that there are new teams showing good performance. Atleast the world cup will be a little more unpredictable instead just 8 teams being expected to be in the 2nd round(every world cup for the last 4 times).
Ofcourse i dont mean to say, for the development of world cricket I am happy to see India loosing. It is unfortunate to see India loose to a new team. But then if Infosys tipping IBM and Accenture in a mutimillion contract is fair enough then I think Bangladesh tipping India is fair enough too.
But then Accenture and IBM would not sit down and relax. So it is important to notice what do Indian players do after this match.
I think atleast after this world cup, those players who claim cricket is their first love and rest all second(like Sachin etc.) should atleast show it for the sake of it by saying no to all new advertisements for the next 6 months, focus only the game and see what has changed in world cricket since last time they focussed on the game(i guess it might have been a long time for most of them since they have been working very hard for ad shoots).
This result would also have raised Bermuda's hopes. They might be thinking can we do it too. God bless them!
By the way after being chucked out of the workd cup is Pakistan going back home. I think they must loose to Zimbabwe too. Not because i love to watch Pakistan loosing. But, because pak cricket team would anyways receive maltreatement on their return. If they loose to Zimbabwe then they can go to Zimbabwe and there they might receive a welcome treatment. So atleast they will have some place to hide.
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