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Showing posts from June, 2014

Football, the most masculine game

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A whistle is blown. And a sudden rush of adrenaline followed by a whizz of boots and bodies diving and swinging is in the air as a less than 500-gram weighing, not more than 70-centimetre, spherical object starts rolling on the ground.  It's the magical moment a sport enthusiast falls in love with any World Cup Football. For ninety to 120 minutes they chase the players with one heart and mind taking different sides. Some might be sitting and watching the game from the stadium, some from home or cafes on TV screens. But their mind run as the players run, they score goals with them and even foul and fight to see off their rivals from the match. There are plenty of football matches across the globe every year but there is nothing like the football carnival in every four years that holds a magical spell. What is the charm of this fight for a air-filled ball? Is it a make-believe battlefield where all the best footballers come together to prove themselves before their fans? Or an...

Rape or organised crime?

Is there any link between the horrifying rapes and election results in UP where the pro-Dalit party BSP faced a humiliating defeat at the hands of BJP? Or such incidents were happening even before the elections? If so, why the rape incidents were highlighted soon after the election results? According to media reports, four Dalit girls were raped in different parts of the state. Why Dalit girls were targeted? Who is going to benefit from it? Who wants to prove Dalits are still being targeted in the casteist state? Similar to this, a chain of gangrape cases were reported acoss the country soon after the gruesome Delhi gangrape of a physiotherapy student on December 16, 2012. Not to forget, it was then the One Million Signature anti-rape campaign was in full swing. Are rapes and violence against women are organised crime to create a fear psychosis and thwart the attempts of women progressing and making their voice heard in a patriarchal society? I don't have any evidences to pr...