Wednesday, April 28, 2010
blogging universe - the new home!
the writeup dated 25th april, 2010 that is posted here is also posted on the "note" section on my Facebook account. I am touched by the way people are writing about their experiences there - it is full of energy, talks about their angst, their sadness, their grief, their loss, their exhilaration, their need to break free, their desire, their aspiration and so many other emotions.
someone wrote there that he feels my writing sometimes evokes and creates a collective shared space. I was wondering perhaps that is what a blogging space is all about ... to create a collective shared space for expression and relating of people who are otherwise not related .. across countries, across culture, across interests and professions, across gender ...
I follow various blogs on the net ... blogs of men and women who regularly posts wonderful and moving stories about their lives along with cooking recipes and photograph, of grandmas who talk about the education system, of men and women who are writing about their passion in life be it food, literature, daily life, children, politics and what have you. I also read the comments that are left on the posts by other bloggers, readers and they are equally thoughtful and thought-provoking.
It is a whole new world out here in its presentation and format but the content and emotion are the same as we would have done sitting among friends - except that here we are presenting ourselves to the world at large without knowing who sits on the other side. for me it provides both thrill and excitement of reaching out to an unknown audience and be totally open to being evaluated by them one way or the other.
If not anywhere else, here, in the world of the world wide web, do I have feel of what the universe would be like - infinite, unknown, inviting and has both the potential of being a second home as well as a real threat.
someone wrote there that he feels my writing sometimes evokes and creates a collective shared space. I was wondering perhaps that is what a blogging space is all about ... to create a collective shared space for expression and relating of people who are otherwise not related .. across countries, across culture, across interests and professions, across gender ...
I follow various blogs on the net ... blogs of men and women who regularly posts wonderful and moving stories about their lives along with cooking recipes and photograph, of grandmas who talk about the education system, of men and women who are writing about their passion in life be it food, literature, daily life, children, politics and what have you. I also read the comments that are left on the posts by other bloggers, readers and they are equally thoughtful and thought-provoking.
It is a whole new world out here in its presentation and format but the content and emotion are the same as we would have done sitting among friends - except that here we are presenting ourselves to the world at large without knowing who sits on the other side. for me it provides both thrill and excitement of reaching out to an unknown audience and be totally open to being evaluated by them one way or the other.
If not anywhere else, here, in the world of the world wide web, do I have feel of what the universe would be like - infinite, unknown, inviting and has both the potential of being a second home as well as a real threat.
Sunday, April 25, 2010
ambition and women or is it about ambitious women (men)?
What is it about ambitious women that sends the society in a tizzy? It sounds as though ambitions of women ought to be fulfilled through their near and dear ones, like through children, through husband, father, brother, etc but never for herself? Take for example Sunanda Pushkar and the IPL row - columns and columns are being written about her and Tharoor's relationship (how it matters to other people, i am yet to get a clue), about her ambition, her social climbing, including her plastic surgery, etc. yuck, how low can we get?
But if i were to take all the things that are written about her ambition and her "social climbing", I can see a pattern that gets established between being ambitious and being a woman, that I am sure many women have faced and are facing in their lives. I remember my corporate days when I used to be an aggressive marketing person and I was questioned by one of the most revered HR practitioners in the Company as to why was I so ambitious? This question of course had a link to his wife who was also involved in business link with us, but that is another story at some other time. Being in the awe of the gentleman in question and always ready to take the "blame, I felt suitably chastised and small and decided that being ambitious was against having a sense of well being for oneself and for the context. It took me nearly ten more years to come back to square one and accept that being "ambitious" was a healthy and powerful part of oneself that makes us realise our dreams and helps us shape our chosen destiny. Of course, I am not talking about fulfilling ambition at all costs and trampling everything and everyone who come in the way. But to accept ambition for what it is and accept that as a natural phenomena for women, i think is still fraught with ambivalence in our society.
I am cognizant about women being encouraged to study, to take up employment, to take up entrepreneurship and to fulfill their ambition in today's society. However, if we are to take a moment here and actually follow an end to end path, then i am not sure how many actually end up fulfilling their chosen dream - it can be due to marriage, to child birth, to family pressure or simply because one is a woman in an area which is traditionally dominated by men. I know these are cliched but lets not hide behind it any more. I was watching with dismay all the things written about Sunanda Pushkar in the various media including Facebook and the tonality used about her. Not many people wrote about Tharoor or Modi and their ambition but people went to town about her and her "amorous" linkage with Tharoor. I found it disgusting.
Lets come back to "ambition". I think ambition and power are inextricably linked. Power and women are a lethal and unsavoury combination in many people's mind, more so with women. Women who do make through the corridors of power, often have to pay a heavy price, usually character assassination being the primary among them. But beyond these done to death issues, are there other areas that we usually don't deal with when it comes to power and ambition? what are they? how do we view them for ourselves? what has been our experience?
If I were to look at my life, I find that actually accepting my ambitions to myself has been the greatest task for me and often times, the ambitions felt illegitimate for a variety of reasons - for not having the right pedigree, for not having the right connections, for fear of loss of a fragile balance, for fear of being perceived as an aggressive person, etc, etc. Hence my action and my responses to my own ambitions have always been ambivalent and hesitant and the result has been less than what I could have achieved or should have achieved.
My question here to others are - what has been your experience, both as a man or as a woman? how have you experienced ambition for yourself? what has been the enablers and the blocks as you faced them?
But if i were to take all the things that are written about her ambition and her "social climbing", I can see a pattern that gets established between being ambitious and being a woman, that I am sure many women have faced and are facing in their lives. I remember my corporate days when I used to be an aggressive marketing person and I was questioned by one of the most revered HR practitioners in the Company as to why was I so ambitious? This question of course had a link to his wife who was also involved in business link with us, but that is another story at some other time. Being in the awe of the gentleman in question and always ready to take the "blame, I felt suitably chastised and small and decided that being ambitious was against having a sense of well being for oneself and for the context. It took me nearly ten more years to come back to square one and accept that being "ambitious" was a healthy and powerful part of oneself that makes us realise our dreams and helps us shape our chosen destiny. Of course, I am not talking about fulfilling ambition at all costs and trampling everything and everyone who come in the way. But to accept ambition for what it is and accept that as a natural phenomena for women, i think is still fraught with ambivalence in our society.
I am cognizant about women being encouraged to study, to take up employment, to take up entrepreneurship and to fulfill their ambition in today's society. However, if we are to take a moment here and actually follow an end to end path, then i am not sure how many actually end up fulfilling their chosen dream - it can be due to marriage, to child birth, to family pressure or simply because one is a woman in an area which is traditionally dominated by men. I know these are cliched but lets not hide behind it any more. I was watching with dismay all the things written about Sunanda Pushkar in the various media including Facebook and the tonality used about her. Not many people wrote about Tharoor or Modi and their ambition but people went to town about her and her "amorous" linkage with Tharoor. I found it disgusting.
Lets come back to "ambition". I think ambition and power are inextricably linked. Power and women are a lethal and unsavoury combination in many people's mind, more so with women. Women who do make through the corridors of power, often have to pay a heavy price, usually character assassination being the primary among them. But beyond these done to death issues, are there other areas that we usually don't deal with when it comes to power and ambition? what are they? how do we view them for ourselves? what has been our experience?
If I were to look at my life, I find that actually accepting my ambitions to myself has been the greatest task for me and often times, the ambitions felt illegitimate for a variety of reasons - for not having the right pedigree, for not having the right connections, for fear of loss of a fragile balance, for fear of being perceived as an aggressive person, etc, etc. Hence my action and my responses to my own ambitions have always been ambivalent and hesitant and the result has been less than what I could have achieved or should have achieved.
My question here to others are - what has been your experience, both as a man or as a woman? how have you experienced ambition for yourself? what has been the enablers and the blocks as you faced them?
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