समाज

Some days ago, a friend, Anju, sent a video of hordes of hens and cocks racing out, as if celebrating their ‘azadi’ after heaven knows how many days of being ‘cooped up’. Her caption said it all – ‘Us after lockdown is lifted’. Never have I empathized more with the condition of cooped-up species than I do now…. And this, despite being in the care and company of loved ones. It makes me ponder….how …

How many of you can even imagine living 24x7 under the same roof as your abuser with the constant fear of what he (in rare cases she) might do next to hurt you?  How would it feel when coughing results in merciless beating or throwing you out of the house on suspicion of COVID symptoms or your partner constantly meting out verbal abuses for no reason or starving you or not letting you use the toil…

I was done with the OPD and the receptionist let in a slew of medical rep. It was late afternoon and I was busy, simultaneously suppressing a yawn, checking my phone, posting updates on FB, surfing for some reference and in general trying not to pay attention to the rep’s sonorous sales talk. There’s hardly anything worth attention, in their routine, rote, monologue. All of a sudden one utterance …

मनुस्मृती हे समाजातील वेगवेगळ्या घटकांनी कसे वागावे ह्या संबंधातील प्राचीनकालीन कायद्याचे पुस्तक आहे. त्यात चातुर्वर्ण्याचा पुरस्कार आहे. त्यात उतरंड आहे - ब्राह्मण, क्षत्रिय, वैश्य हे तीन द्विज (वरचे वर्ण) तर शूद्र हा शेवटचा वर्ण. उच्चवर्णीयांची सेवा करण्यासाठी निर्माण केलेला वर्ग म्हणजे शूद्र वर्ग! अनुसूचित जाती (किंवा अस्पृश्य, दलित) आणि अनुसूचित जमाती यांना चातुर्वर्ण्यात स्थान दिलेले नाही,…

महाराष्ट्रासह देशभरात भटक्या-विमुक्त जमाती दोन वेळच्या पोटाची भूक भागवण्यासाठी भटकत आहेत. भाकरीच्या शोधात भटकताना, लाचार, आगतिक अवमानित जीवन जगत आहेत. भारतीय समाजव्यवस्थेतील वर्णव्यवस्थेच्या आणि जातीव्यवस्थेच्या उतरंडीमध्ये या जमातींचा समावेश केलेला नाही. त्यामुळे या जमाती अवर्ण राहिल्या आहेत. गावगाड्याच्या उत्पादनव्यवस्थेमध्ये या जमातींना सामावून घेतले गेले नसल्याने, या जमातींना उत्पादन प्रकियेती…

‘Am I only capable of being a wife to a man and a friend to women?’ – a question of a teenage girl, who is targeted by the society when she performs these roles the other way round. Her sexual urges are being suppressed, sexuality stigmatized and her basic freedom to achieve this is somewhere locked up.  She would look into the mirror and feel disgusted by her own reflection. She would tell hersel…

In the recent years, the ever controversial topic about the lives and rights of the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender) community is ‘out’ in the media as well as in the society. Legally there have been ups and downs and the social prejudice is far from over. However, it is now possible to access a large amount of information, including recent scientific findings from various sources. Now s…