The ‘Safe’ Zone

Yesterday was a cruel reminder for me w.r.t what it means to be a woman in this country, especially when you are dealing with (how ironic) the police.

When I got out of work yesterday at around 5.15pm, I discovered that my car had disappeared. After some harrowing moments spent to discover exactly what had happened to it, I discovered that it had been towed away from this apparently contentious parking space, of which none of the parking attendants had a clue about. After some running around, I found out that it had been taken to the ‘nearby’ police station. So there I was, sitting in a cycle rickshaw, making my way to this dingy, really shady police station in the back of beyond of Gurgaon.
There were 4 people holed up in this one room at the police station – 2 of them in uniform. It was my misfortune that I was alone. Thankfully, with some haggling and smart talking, I got my car released for Rs 400/-…
More thankfully, nothing happened… except for the fact that I got ‘checked out’ by the cops in the most creepy manner. I remember cringing inside as these men, one after the other, repeatedly checked me out. I remember making a mental check of the clothes that I was wearing and reaffirming that there was nothing revealing or ‘tempting’, so to speak, about them. But I don’t think I have ever felt more unsafe, more insecure and more vulnerable than from the time I entered the police station.

It’s crazy – the very institution that is supposed to keep you safe can cause you to feel like this. Or is this the price you pay for being a woman.

The Right Relationship...

“Try this for a deep, dark secret. The great detective Remington Steele? He doesn't exist. I invented him. I always loved excitement, so I studied and apprenticed, and put my name on an office. But absolutely nobody knocked down my door. A female private investigator seemed so . . . feminine. So I invented a superior. A decidedly masculine superior. Suddenly, there were cases around the block. It was working like a charm. Until the day he walked in. With his blue eyes and mysterious past, and before I knew it, he assumed Remington Steele's identity. Now I do the work and he takes the bows. It's a dangerous way to live, but as long as people buy it, I can get the job done. We never mix business with pleasure. Well, almost never. I don't even know his real name.”

-- The opening lines from the series Remington Steele. Came across these lines the other day when I was searching for the DVD of the series, and boy! Was it a blast from the past! The series was aired on Star plus every afternoon at 2.30, and I remember rushing back from the school bus stop to make it in time for the serial.

Life was so simple back then… all about make believe hunks, (more specifically about Pierce Brosnan!!) and this (imagined) wonderful world where one would meet the perfect man, fall in love and have the perfect relationship!

Like every passing phase, that too passed. 11 years down the line, wisdom obviously has prevailed – there is nothing like a perfect relationship ‘coz the perfect partner doesn’t even really exist. Like a friend of mine said “since no one is perfect, there is no such thing as a perfect relationship”!

What is interesting though is how we get stuck with the word ‘right’ and how people get evaluated as being right for each other. So you find someone with whom you have this instant connect. Something just clicks, and you find that the connect you have spans many different levels. You might be complete opposites, but for all of the differences, something works. It is inexplicable in many ways… but it is bigger than anything you have ever imagined or experienced. Is that equivalent to it being ‘right’? How does the ‘right’ word fit into this?

Do these connects and the accompanying feelings not automatically make the situation or relationship as it were, right?

Silly Photo TAG!

The multiple meanings of the title notwithstanding (!), finally giving in to Straight Curves' silly-picture tag!

So here goes!





















Straight out of the audition for Enter the Dragon, or some other movie in that genre, one would think! Nah... just driving in this one!