Equal access to education, training and science and technology: Pathway to decent work for women.
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Showing posts with label Women. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Women. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Friday, October 15, 2010
Blog Action Day 2010 - Drinking Water and Women of Thar (Pakistan)
Thar Desert, the 9th largest subtropical desert of the world, is spread over an area of some 200,000 square kilometres between India and Pakistan. On the Indian side it is called the Rajhistan or the Great Indian Desert, while in Pakistan it is known as Thar, mostly located in the Sind province and partly in the southern Punjab province, where the Cholistan Desert joins hands with the Thar. Thar in local language simply means “the desert.” The desert mostly consists of large barren tracts of sand dunes covered with thorny bushes.
Like all other deserts, water is extremely scarce and hard to find, specially the potable drinking water. When it rains, the rain water gets collected in small low lying bowl shaped ponds called the “tobas” where men and animals drink together. There are no alternatives as wells digging is not possible. Even if there is a success, the water is so brackish and salty that it cannot be consumed for drinking purposes. Due to the nature of earth with loose sand, deep wells are not possible as the earth gives in during digging and sometimes costs the life of the well diggers. Even if there is a success that brings sweet water, the well soon dries up. For this reason, there are no permanent settlements in the Thar and people roam the desert like nomads and make a temporary abode around a water source till it dries up too.
While the men move out in search of grazing areas with their prize possession of goats, cows and camels for grazing, which are hard to find and have to travel long distances to find some grazing areas, the women of Thar move out in search of water. Those touring and travelling Thar would often find women dressed in traditional bright coloured dresses with pitchers on their heads wandering around in search of water. If a toba happens to be in the vicinity, they may find some water, otherwise they too have to travel long distances to find water.
Potable drinking water scarcity makes living extremely difficult. Due to its almost non-existence, it gives rise to diseases and many disorders for which no cure is available as a semblance of medical aid is only available in larger towns miles away.
It is a pity that while a segment of our population is devoid of this natural gift, we in cities waste water at leisure. While taking showers, we keep the shower running while we soap and shampoo. We keep the tap running in our kitchens while we wash the dishes. We drink the half of the glass and throw the rest in the wash basin. This is criminal and we are doing it at the cost of those who do not have any access to it. It is strange that while more people around the world have cellular phones, more than 2.5 billion have no access to toilet and some one billion without any access to safe drinking water.
The bloggers from around the world join hand today to raise the awareness about access to safe and clean drinking water for almost a billion people around the world, and hope from those reading their posts to extend their cooperation in the noble cause, sponsored by the blogactionday.change.org, to spread the word. Let us make a resolve today not to waste water and do our utmost to preserve it for the sake of those who are not as lucky as we are.
Photo Sources:
Community Water Project (Top)
Thar Women fetching water (Bottom Left)
Thar Desert of Pakistan (Bottom Right)
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
The shopping mayhem
Yesterday, I wrote about the liberty of women at shopping. But when it comes to the season of sales, their quest for buying more and more of the obsolete and older merchandise at lower rates multiplies. The out of season clothes are sold off at throw away prices, much to the delight of low budget women.
One of the mega shopping complexes at Lahore Fortress Stadium was however different. Right on the first of the month, they had announced 10% discount on almost everything in the store. Except for fruits, vegetable, confectionary and meat, everything was available on discounted prices. I along with my family, on a trip to Lahore, wandered into the store not knowing of the discounts. And I found the place thronged with people as if everything was for free. People were roaming with carts full of household items, while many had come just to enjoy.
And quite naturally, the discounted prices also lured us in and soon we had a cart full of our monthly grocery and confectionary. The discounts were also offered on readymade clothes and everyone was trying to fit in the jeans and shirts to make hay while the discounts lasted. My sons also bought jeans and T-shirts, while I also got lucky to find a full sleeved thing, as due to my height and size I seldom get anything readymade. We also bought ready2eat meals from a wide variety available in the store.
And when we tried to check out, there were long queues on every cash register. The snail placed move forward was both annoying and disturbing as some impatient people at the back would keep pushing forward despite seeing the blockage – just like impatient drivers do by honking on a red light. I took a few shots of the rush and the chaos from my mobile camera, until I was asked by a store manager not to take photographs – I wondered why. The jittery crowd was turning into mayhem slowly and gradually. But I was more worried about the hot meals that I had bought, which were getting colder. After a long wait and pushes and pulls, we finally made it to the cash counter and checked out. But in the process, the boxes of ready2eat meals were turned upside down and we opened to eat, it was more of a mess and less of a ready thing.
Having said that, I really enjoyed the weekend and the shopping despite the rush and the hassle. One enjoys when with people – otherwise desolateness is killing and torturing. So whenever you have time, go out where people are having fun and making merry. That is life.
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Women at Liberty
Women always want liberty – not from men presumably, but liberty to shop. Stuff their purses with the entire month’s budget and the first thing they would instantly do would be to dash to the nearest shopping complex to buy the suit they saw worn by a friend yesterday. And when they are shopping (and you happen to be accompanying them), don’t stop them from hopping from one shop to another. And if they ask you for an advice, rest assured your advice will be straightaway ignored. But the pleasant surprise would come after hours of moving back and forth from one shop to another when they would come back to buy the same shoe or cloth you had selected.
Read full post at: Women at Liberty
