Words don't come easy

I read in a blog that sometimes words come as easily as bunnies in a field, while other times it's like plucking the teeth from a rabid dog's mouth. I'm staring into the maws of the brute right now. It's stupid how it's so hard to pick up where you left and start writing again when you're rusty. I guess like all good things, it needs practice. That whole 'you need to work on something for 10,000 hours before you're really good at it' thing might actually be true. Damn.

Moving on, I've had a busy month. Apart from work, I was part of a beach cleanup and a wedding. Both of them rocked. The beach cleanup was messy and sweaty and fun. And incredibly satisfying when you look at what a difference you've made. I was completely beat when I got back home. It was great.

The wedding was also very cool because for the first time, I wore a dress. It's all very well saying saris are traditional, ethnic and beautiful. I agree, but I'll always be more of a dress person. Saris are for women who know how to drape and can manage to look graceful and non-klutzy in them. I possess none of these desirable qualities. I was thrilled to be wearing a simple dress to an Indian wedding. I really hope the trend catches on.

More importantly, the church was gorgeous and the reception was fun. The bride and groom looked fabulous!  There was a classy, minimalist feel to the whole affair, there weren't too many guests (rare in a South Indian wedding) and you could tell that people were enjoying themselves. I'm not usually a wedding person, but this one gets a double thumbs-up.

Don't skew things up

I recently read an article in the paper which talked about how men have to pay high dowries to the girl's family in China to get married. Why? Because there simply aren't enough girls. I think India is heading there too.

This means that really bad things could happen. I talked about PGD in a previous article and I could go on forever about the evils of sex selective abortions and the 'girl child' stigma. Although I can see conditions changing, there is still a deep rooted preference for male children in the conservative Indian psyche. There are very few families who don't wish for at least one boy.

I think people should come to grips with the fact that a skewed sex ratio is NOT going to help them. In the best case scenario:

Do you want to end up paying dowry for your son? (Because society is stupid like that, and this might sound like sweet revenge to most girls and their families.)
Do you want to make your son wait on a queue of several years in the marriage mart to glimpse a girl who might just consider him?

In the worst:

Do you want to promote social violence and human trafficking?

And that's just the tip of the ice berg. Think about it.