A panel has been set up - demands of the landless Indians have been met - 700 million farmers in India (represented by ~25,000 in delhi) are happy!

Demands?

“Give us land, give us water,” - or simply don’t drive us out of the little that we have, in the name of SEZ!

Response?

“Land reforms has been a neglected field but this council will actively pursue the unfinished work on land reforms. All demands would be taken into consideration by the council within a time frame.” - Union Rural Development Minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh

What is the time frame? They were fighting for the never ending court cases - they get a panel without time frame. Are they happy because the ring leader was made happy with some land of his own, or is this change for real? Can we start seeing results in a time frame which doesn’t last a lifetime (or suicide whatever comes first).

I just hope for once we are moving in the right direction and this is not a politically driven agenda to bank those 700million votes.

On a different note (can be a post in itself) : I had to search for news articles related to land reforms in India just 12 hours into the announcement of the creation of panel, whereas the news that covered the ’so called’ Indian to become the first senator in US was widely available across the Indian newspapers 2 days into the story!

Set in Kabul, Afghanistan during the Soviet invasion and the Taliban insurgency following that, Kite Runner is a story about Amir and his hazara friend Hasan (son of their family servant) and the journey of guilt he goes through after he betrays his friend through a series of incidents. Hosseini takes you inside the character of Amir so well that you start feeling you are Amir, the guilt surrounds you and you feel like making things right for Amir (for yourself).

This is Khaled Hosseini’s first book, I borrowed it from the library after reading about the delay of the movie based on this book. I feel like my bookshelf is incomplete without a copy (hint:gift idea :)). Definitely a must read!

I can’t wait to get hold of Khaled’s second book ‘A Thousand Splendid Suns’

I had started writing this post with something totally different in mind, with the thought of sharing this article (Why are men happier than women?) and asking if you would rate yourself happy and why?

And how will these figures relate in India? Considering that most of the women in India are still in the 60s-70s of US, stay at home mom - keeping themselves busy with dusting and cooking food, having their expectations set low (either by choice or situation) and implying (according to this article) that they are happier than men.

But, more I thought about it, more questions popped, more things I could relate!

I wanted to find out the percentage of women in India that are housewives - surprisingly Google didn’t help much, but it did change how I was approaching this subject with reference to my home country!

Women being happier than men - can that even be a question for countries like India?

She starts her day early in the morning by cleaning the house, getting her kids ready for school (if they go to school), cooking the food, then she goes to the field in the afternoon, works the whole day in the scorching heat, comes back home - cooks food, feeds everyone, cleans dishes and by the time she is done wrapping the house its late in the middle of the night. Next day, same routine awaits her, day after day! She never gets paid a dime in her lifetime, or gets the respect she deserves at home after the whole day of killing herself. Looking from her perspective - definition of happiness just about changes! If asked the question, what will her answer be?

She gets married at 21, right out of college, goes in a family where she is treated well (not the conventional scenario usually talked about) - sits at home all day long, watches every sick soap-opera aired on TV channels, goes shopping in the evening with sister-in-law, enjoys all the riches in the world - Is she happy?

She went to the top school in the country, did whatever she wanted to do, has a six figure job, got married at the age she felt she wanted to. Leaves for work early in the morning, has her usual rift with her boss on some trivial issue, comes back home all tired, throws some ready to eat stuff in the microwave for dinner, goes to bed - wakes up and starts the routine again waiting for the weekend. Happy, or not?

Nothing very atypical about either of these situations, no fights, no burning of girl by her in-laws, no husband cheating on their loving wives!

Who seems happiest? Can we even judge someone’s happiness? I have been a person who has tried judging, mostly because the people involved were the ones I care for. On occasions I have talked with my father ‘they are happy where they are, their parents are happy for them, for them this is what life is all about, no point for you and me to think about it.’

I was at a friends housewarming party and this conversation started, (after I had written part of this post) one of the girls there said ‘their life must be miserable’ - she was referring to the second scenario, another girl pointed ‘they were not given a choice, and when they come across others not like themselves, they will realize what they missed out’. Sure enough, but what about the other cases - most certainly the first women will only come across women like her in her lifetime, getting water from the well and the business women, she had her way in life…