BlogHer - Asia - Comments

Personal stake

snigdhasen — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 12:52:16 -0600

Hi Nita, welcome back! Thanks, I found these blogs very interesting too. I am not surprised you found racist blogs out there. The reason, I feel, these writers are different is because each one of them seems to have a personal stake in India -- they are trying to build a relationship with the society and culture, much like immigrants do. That makes their criticism more constructive and informative, and their praise more grounded. No?

Good list

Nitajk — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 04:10:06 -0600

Snigdha, this is an interesting list and I am bookmarking this page so I can check out these blogs. It is always interesting to know what foreigners living in India feel. However, once I came across a rather racist blog too! I guess one gets all kinds.

Nita

I saw this a while back and

anaesthetic — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 02:06:47 -0600

I saw this a while back and think it's horrible. I didn't know about the case on Maryland. I'm shocked that this is going on in Afghanistan but even moreso that it's still viewed as such in my "backyard".

Women and the Great Depression

dkdanielson — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 10:15:38 -0600

Hi Suzanne - Thanks for including us in this. Glad to see people discussing the topic and not assuming it has "gone away." Your comments made me think back to some of my historical research about women in the Great Depression. Here's actually a good summary of how the women's movement stalled during the Great Depression, yet there are some parallels to what is going on now. http://www.novelguide.com/a/discover/egd_02/egd_02_00550.html.

P.S. I'm with you on the more male caregivers being a big deal. It's an interesting twist. Especially because more people miss work for elder care than child care and it's going to be am even bigger issue. I'm thinking that maybe it's son's out of work? having to move back home? or Single/Divorced? Also, I note that my brother will have the responsibility because he lives near my parents. So, it may be a geographic thing.

Diane K. Danielson ceo, DowntownWomensClub.com

Women and the Great Depression

dkdanielson — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 09:46:13 -0600

Diane K. Danielson ceo, DowntownWomensClub.com

Festivities, why not!

snigdhasen — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 15:58:58 -0600

Melissa, thank you for stopping by.

From your travels to India (you have a nice blog!) you must have guessed that festivitals and traditions are fundamental to binding us socially. So, it's quite understandable if couples hitherto left out of the fun will want to become part of it as a first step toward social acceptance.

We've been talking about it for a while: now it's taking legal shape. I think we will need parents' counselling badly. They are the ones who struggle real bad when children come out. But as you said, it will take time.

2 cents

melavar — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 15:46:15 -0600

So many times the traditions of our parents, even when steeped in archaic gender role-playing, are still held very dear to us.

Aside from the debate about the reality of the tradition, the community seems to be getting a lot of press. Good for them! India has an incredibly long way to go but, the first step towards equality is getting people to talk about it.

~Melissa

www.2girlsintheworld.blogspot.com

recipes, Milk burfi recipe

HSKS — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 01:12:46 -0600

This burfi is very nice and prepared in very simple method.

Absolutely!

snigdhasen — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 13:00:51 -0500

Nita, good to see you here :)

I think you meant "developed" countries, not developing. And I absolutely agree that the rich countries that primarily drove global warming need to take bulk of the responsibility of cutting down consumption. But as we have seen, we do suffer the effects of it, so it is in India's interest that we don't become like the rich countries. As we were discussing on your blog, a lot of our own sustainable lifestyles are vanishing in the garb of progress.

I find myself in agreement with this comment from our now controversial environment minister, Jairam Ramesh:

In his letter to Indian MPs, Mr Ramesh claimed that India had to take action on climate change not because of international pressure but because it affected the lives of Indian people.
"I am very clear that any commitments we take on must be of our own accord, on our own terms and in line with our development priorities. The only entity to which we will be accountable for any form of commitment will be our parliament and our parliament alone," he said.

It's time we looked inward to our own problems and hunted for our own solutions. I think a start has been made. For one, India is finally collecting its own data on global warming instead of relying on Western models to interpret our environment. That's what I am talking about.

I am less concerned about international deadlines as long as we are mindful of what we are doing to our own environment and how that is affecting our own people.

global warming

Nitajk — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 02:16:03 -0500

Snigdha, India being a poor country is suffering and will suffer more as you pointed out. However considering that our per capita consumption is low I think the developing countries have a responsibility. In fact they have done the most harm. Its not good to point fingers, but then if countries are poor they need help don't they.

Nita

Climate Change - Get Involved

millytant — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 08:59:45 -0500

Climate change hurts poor people first and worst.

It is already impacting the work Oxfam do today. If we are to end poverty and suffering for all people, we must fight the impacts of climate change and we must fight for real change..

Droughts, cyclones, floods.

Life-threatening, overwhelming, and extreme. These natural disasters are now more frequent and more intense because of climate change. For poor families, the consequences are devastating. Homes, schools, crops, animals all wiped out – along with years of hard work.

Find out more about the work that Oxfam do at http://www.oxfam.org.uk/get_involved/campaign/climate_change/

Hi R!

Mata H — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 08:50:59 -0500

What a super comment! Thanks for the added information and the lovelty image of Tara. ~~ Contributing Editor, Mata H. also blogs right along at Time's Fool

Thanks Sara

Mata H — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 08:48:07 -0500

It is kind of you to comment. Thanks so much -- I'll keep posting now and again about female images in a variety of faiths. Learning helps bring us all together.

-- Mata

~~ Contributing Editor, Mata H. also blogs right along at Time's Fool

Thank You

goddessdreams — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 12:42:56 -0500

I enjoyed reading this post about Tara. I have learned that the Tibetans see her as having 21 aspects. Green Tara that you've depicted here has one leg stretched out ready to move from her lotus flower, and one hand extended in invitation and welcome. It's said that this Tara is a young girl, quick to aid humans in their time of immediate need. She is the goddess who protects from the 8 fears (sometimes called dangers) ignorance, attachment, anger, pride, jealousy, miserliness, doubt, and wrong views. These include physical calamities related to the four elements of earth, air, fire, and water.

In my home, I display a large print of a White Tara Thangka. White Tara is full-bodied with a face that shows a mature woman in full bloom. She is the aspect of the Goddess who sees past, present, and future. This Tara is associated with longevity and she will help those in spiritual turmoil. The color white as it pertains to Tara signifies unadulterated Truth. Try this link to see am image of White Tara

Thank you for posting about this aspect of the Goddess.

Don’t mind the destination, don’t mind the end. Learn from the past, but grab hold of now. Now is always evolving. ~Rumi

Thanks for sharing this. I

InkAndPixelClub — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 09:26:52 -0500

Thanks for sharing this. I admit that my knowledge of most faiths is sadly lacking, and its always wonderful to find out that they aren't nearly as male dominated as they sometimes seem.

Sara