When will the stereotypes disappear?
St Anthony’s college had a wonderful 3-day film festival packed activities, film viewing sessions and discussions. One would have thought that this is a co-educational institution where a gender-sensitive curriculum would lead to gender equilibrium within the campus but that’s still a distant dream it appears.
While the number of faculty in the Mass Communication Department of the College comprises more women and just three men, the general atmosphere is still a stereotype of the world outside. Adorning the reception desk at the entrance to the auditorium are well dressed young ladies.
Those serving tea and snacks to invitees were girl students. Their male counterparts were not seen doing any of these tasks usually associated with social graces and therefore with women.
It appears that there is and has been a sizeable presence of girl students in the Mass Communication Department of the College but when asked how many women film makers there were in the three-day film festival, only one hand went up. So one wonders if women who study Mass Communication ever become sensitive film makers or whether they only end up as journalists or public relations personnel.
Not that film making is the only goal but why is film making still a male domain? Or do these smart young women end up as home makers only? Perhaps it’s time for a research on what happens to men and women who pass out of Mass Communication colleges and universities.
Midday Meal: To eat or not to eat
Following the recent fatality reported on deaths due to midday meals from all over the country, most parents in the city have asked their wards not to eat anything in their schools.
It is learnt that some city based schools, which reported that students are unwilling to eat since their parents and guardians have told not them not to.
The recent tragedy in Patna followed by discovery of lizards and all kinds of creepy crawlies in food served in Goa and Jaipur have flooded the public domain like plague forcing parents and guardians to be extra cautious with what their wards are served as midday meal food in schools. A conversation with some school teachers revealed that students are in a dilemma. They are hungry but are also afraid to eat. But this is only with city schools. In the suburbs and villages the midday meal story has not got around so children were seen enjoying their meals during the break.
The callousness of the Indian system is bizarre said some worried parents. Yet midday meals are such a boon for so many children and it is what draws them to school. To eat or not to eat has indeed become a catch 22 situation.
Hawkers galore!
Hawkers have started to appear in new corners in the city. Though the Shillong Municipal Board carries out regular demolition drives in the city’s commercial hub such moves are also required in other parts of the city before they are taken over by a hawkers who have thronged the city.
They are like ‘ants.’ One person puts up a stall and soon others arrive as if on cue. Not a single footpath in the city is free from hawkers. The entrance to the State Central Library is occupied by a fruit seller.
This village hawker has come up with a ramshackle shop during the recent Seng Khasi festival held at the library’s auditorium. It is indeed an ugly sight. Next, near the Eastern Air Command Holiday Home, a kwai seller has come up with another shed selling tobacco and betel nut from behind a mammoth pine tree outside the boundary wall of the holiday home which used to serve as a urinal in the past.
This hawker is selling his wares despite having to tie a handkerchief round his nose since the stench of uric acid is overbearing. Pedestrians observed that if these hawkers are not removed now then we might see another private slum like the one in front of the imposing OB Shopping Mall.