Astrovelo

I am sure everyone has heard about the misogynistic utterings of Mr. Venugopal Dhoot, Managing Director of Videocon Industries. He has the right to, and is welcome hold these views as an individual, but, this assh*le is all set to enter the Rajya Sabha on a Congress ticket, surprisingly with Sonia Gandhi’s support (I think she is a working woman ;) ). Please sign this petition organised by jivha. We have enough people (the likes of Laloo, Mulayam, etc.) trying to suppress Indian women in the Parliament, as witnessed by constant opposition to Women’s Reservation Bill. Hopefully, this will add to the chorus of dissent that is already brewing and Mr. Dhoot’s entry into Rajya Sabha will be stopped.

CC: Respective Editors - The Hindu, The Times of India, The Deccan Herald, The Tribune, The Indian Express, The Economic Times, Business Standard, Business Line, Outlook, India Today, Frontline, Business World

Dear Mrs. Gandhi,

We recently came across a news article in the Times of India titled “Women can’t do Business: Dhoot”(September 29, 2003, URL). The article was an interview with Mr. Venugopal Dhoot, Managing Director of Videocon Industries.

We were appalled to know that one of India’s leading industrialists still thinks that women belong at home, looking after the family. Mr.Dhoot’s views on the “traditional” status of women in India smack of a primitive blend of thinking that almost borders not just on sexism, but active discrimination.

Mr.Dhoot says that “businesses can’t be run by women, especially in India.” Even though some of us believe that responding to Mr. Dhoot’s observations would mean attributing some value to them, yet we cannot also let them remain unanswered.

We wonder if Mr.Dhoot has ever heard of Kiran Mazumdar Shaw of Biocon, Naina Lal Kidwai of HSBC, Anu Aga of Thermax, Shahnaz Husain of Shahnaz Herbals, Amrita Patel of NDDB, Jaswantiben Popat of Lijjat Papad, Sulajja Motwani of Kinetic, and many, many more women in various levels of business, politics, entertainment and every other conceivable sphere of life. The success of each of these women in their own, diverse spheres, in the face of cut-throat competition should serve as a gentle rejoinder for people like Mr.Dhoot.

We are of course, not forgetting the millions of nameless, faceless Indian women who excel in their own chosen areas balancing not just their own lives but that of entire families. Their achievements are no lesser in greatness compared to the women above.

The article also mentioned the fact that Mr. Dhoot was planning to enter the Rajya Sabha on a Congress ticket.

We cannot understand how the Congress Party, itself led by a woman, and with a glorious history of great women leaders like Annie Beasant, Sarojini Naidu, Vijaylakshmi Pandit and Indira Gandhi can allow a person with such antiquated opinions on the role of women in society/business to enter those most august halls of Parliament. It disturbs us when we realize that Mr. Dhoot, if he enters Parliament, will be participating in various discussions and legislations involving critical women’s rights and issues when we all know what he thinks of the stature of women. A person who believes that women should only look after their homes cannot, in our opinion, be expected to speak for the rights of the millions of Indian women whom he will be representing, albeit indirectly.

We appeal to you, as Indians who truly believe in our constitution when it guarantees us equality regardless of “religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth”, to reconsider the decision to grant a Rajya Sabha ticket to Mr. Venugopal Dhoot. As a woman yourself, you would understand the difficulties that women have to face in India growing up, studying, working, and even managing their families. People like Mr.Dhoot not only perpetuate inequal treatment of women, but they also advocate the same, sometimes directly as in the article, and sometimes by their thoughts and actions.

If you, the reader, the ‘common man’, the nameless Indian, the silent majority believe in what we are trying to bring out, then please sign this petition. It will be forwarded to the people mentioned so that they know that Indians will not put up with such blatant discrimination and stereotyping any longer. If we are to become a globally recognized and respected country, let’s start somewhere closer to home.

Also posted on my blog

Am listening to this album for the first time ever. It is just amazing. The version of ‘Visions of Johanna’ is the best. Must have heard it from ‘Blonde on Blonde’ a million times, but, this is so so much better. The intensity in his voice is amazing when he sings:

Louise, she’s all right, she’s just near She’s delicate and seems like a mirror But she just makes it too concise and too clear That Johanna is not here

or

How can I explain? Oh, It’s so hard to go on And these visions of Johanna, they kept me up past the dawn

Ask anyone who has a 7-8 month old child. Ashwini turned 7 months old just last week. There is so much going on with her, I am surprised not to see sparks flying out of her head.

She has started to turn over on to her tummy, but, doesn’t know how to get back. Now that she knows this she wants to sleep on her tummy too. A few days ago, it was hard for her to breathe in that position, but, slowly she is figuring it out. But, still she wakes up after an hour or two and wants to turn on her back.

She wants to sit all the time while she is awake. Can maintain her balance, but, tends to fall after a few minutes.

She is also at an age when her teeth would be coming in, so, something is going on on that front too.

On top of all this, she is developing separation anxiety. She wants someone, preferably one of her parents, with her all the time. Left alone in a room even for a few seconds is unacceptable. Her happiness is inversely proportional to her distance from parents. Although she is such a joy to play with and it is hard to leave her to come to work, I now know what is “being loved too much”.

Here is a picture of adorable Ashwini

This would be a great thing to say while making a new friend… Thanks, Bob!

I ain’t lookin' to compete with you, Beat or cheat or mistreat you, Simplify you, classify you, Deny, defy or crucify you. All I really want to do Is, baby, be friends with you.

I don’t want to fake you out, Take or shake or forsake you out, I ain’t lookin' for you to feel like me, See like me or be like me. All I really want to do Is, baby, be friends with you.

Many had mentioned this before, but, after watching the trailer for ‘Lord of the Rings: Return of the King’, I have to say this. It is just awesome. It gave me goosebumps. Anticipation is building up. Hopefully, we’ll get to see it on the big screen.

It got so cold last night. We had a frost advisory, but, didn’t see any frost in the morning, eventhough, the thermometer showed 30F. I am glad that I brought all the plants in last night. It almost broke my back with the huge pots of Plumeria, but, they probably would have gotten damaged in the cold.

The weatherman was expecting some snow, but, the system didn’t make it all the way down to southern Michigan. Hopefully, we’ll see some nice snow before Halloween.

Looking forward to our trip to Niagara Falls over the weekend. Will get to meet a dear old friend, and his wife and daughter for the first time.

An indication of end of summer, other than the cold temperatures that we are experiencing now, is end of summer hours at work. Now, we have to work 5 full days every week. No more half-day Fridays. I am going to miss those Friday afternoon naps :(

This summer was good while it lasted. Have to accept that it is over…. C’est la vie..

• Nebraska didn’t play, because they beat Southern Miss on Thursday night (38-14) They move up in rankings. They are now 8th in Coaches poll and 12th in AP poll.

• Texas beat the crap out of Tulane, which was expected (63-18).

• Ex-Texas coach John Mackovic got fired from Arizona after a 1-4 start of the season.

• B.J. Symons of Texas Tech threw 661 yards and 6 touchdown to beat Ole Miss.

• The opposing quarterback, Eli Manning had a great day too with 409 yards throwing and 3 touchdowns.

• Eli’s brother Payton had a great record setting game on Sunday night in the NFL against his father’s old team, the New Orleans Saints (55-21). He threw 314 yards and 6 touchdowns, which is a record for Indianapolis Colts. The New Orleans defense looked pathetic. Couldn’t do anything. They just kept falling down for no reason.

• Notre Dame lost again. Yippeee!!! The most overrated team comes down. “Rudy Sucks” as one of the posters said during their game against Michigan a few weeks ago. I think Notre Dame’s best program is communications, and they keep pumping out hundreds and thousands of reporters every year. All these alumni keep hyping their Alma Mater. There is no other reason for making such a big hype for this talentless team.

• Third ranked USC tumbled in the triple OT game against Cal.

On Monday, I wrote a long post with Semagic about the wonderful week and weekend that I had. But, a power glitch rebooted my PC and I lost it all. Oh, well…

Picture of Mars taken on early morning of Sept 6, 2003. The image on the right is the prediction of how Mars would look like at the time, when I took the picture. The southern ice cap (at the top of the image) is very clear, and the light and dark areas also match with the predicted map. This image is a composite of 15 pictures taken through 8" Meade LXD-55 using Sony DSC-85 at f/2.5 and exposed for 1/50 sec.

Here is a link to some nice Mars pictures from Hubble space telescope. Even with a larger telescope it is hard to take a good clear picture of Mars from Earth, due to all the atmospheric disturbances. This picture is one of the clearest and sharpest taken from earth.

It was one of the best nights in a long time. The sudden reduction in temperature made it the perfect night for watching the sky. Saw following objects: Mars: The best view ever. The dark areas on the surfaces showed definition rather than just splotches. Moon: A little more than half moon. Clear crisp sky made it better. M57: Ring nebula in Lyra. The central hole was very clear. No haziness. Alberio: Famous double star in Cygnus. Spectacular blue and orangish yellow pair. M13: Great globular cluster in Hercules. Spectacular as usual. Better than a hazy blob even at low power. M31: Andromeda galaxy. Best viewing ever.

It was just a perfect night. Could see moon and one of each of nebula, star cluster, galaxy, double star, and planet. Hope this will continue in fall and winter. Eagerly awaiting reappearance of Saturn and Jupiter in the night sky.

Did anyone ever address you with incorrect gender after reading your writing? Maybe you do write like a person of the opposite sex. Give The Gender Genie a try and find out if your writing style matches your gender?

Last Saturday was the first day of College football season and tonight the NFL season starts. Every year, I wait for this week since February. American sports to me mean only one thing: Football. Maybe because no other nation in the world plays this form of organized savagery. Or baseball is so boring, I would rather watch the grass grow. Basketball is changing from being a finesse game in the Jordan days and now becoming only power game. Everyone just pushing players around, and dunking the ball. Doesn’t matter what the score is through initial 43 minutes of the game, the result comes from the last 5 minutes. Never watched a ice hockey game, so, can’t comment on that.

Teams I always support: College Football: Nebraska NFL: Green Bay Packers, Indianapolis Colts

Teams I’ll also support this year: College Football: Texas, Michigan NFL: Denver Broncos, Detroit Lions