2nd inaugural post ;)

“i do not consider myself less ignorant than most people. i have been and still am a seeker, but i have ceased to question stars and books; i have begun to listen to the teachings my blood whispers to me.”
these words are from the prologue of demian by herman hesse. i haven’t read any further in the book yet, but i think these lines hold true, especially for this page.

when i finished writing the words in the profile of this page, the excitement i felt was palpable. i felt good about myself. as time passed and a fortnight went by, a fear came to dawn on me. lot of questions came flashing in my head: who am i to write on issues that have never happened with me? what will be the basis of my writing? i have never been hit or abused at home, never witnessed a rape. i do not have a father who is an alcoholic. i do not belong to a family that mistreats women. i have never been sexually harassed at work. i have never been homeless. i have never gone to bed on an empty stomach. i have never had to earn money to make ends meet. i have never had to make money doing something that’s against my will. hell, i haven’t even been in love and lost.

so if none of this has happened with me, have i got it all easy? have i had a smooth run so far? no, certainly not. so then, are my experiences with pain and suffering been forceful enough to make me feel just the way a rape victim or a homeless person would?

i have faced such questions in the past whenever i attempted to work on awareness campaigns for female infanticide and domestic violence. infact, the questions on domestic violence have been so overpowering that whatever i came up with, was rejected as insensitive and harsh, but that’s another post.

the point is what to do of the questions. they never stop coming. they never will. so then maybe that’s the way it’s meant to be. the questions have to come first, the answers always follow. or maybe answers lie in the questions themselves. or maybe when we actually find the answers, we won’t have the courage to accept them, won’t know what to do of them.

having said this, i have very little clue of how this page will turn out. today, it seems it will be a platform for two individuals who have many many questions and possibly no answers. tomorrow, it may turn out to be something entirely different. if you are with us, enjoy the ride as long as it lasts. if you don’t enjoy it, remember we never guaranteed it. :)

~ poonam

Welcome to the world of believers

Its been almost fifteen days since polioman was created. For fifteen days, something has been nagging me to breathe in life in him and all I have been doing is merely thinking about it. Oh, how our lives are an endless series of procrastinations! And, the 'right' things to do, almost invariably, are pushed towards the end , as if our mere acknowledgement is enough for their survival. But then, isn't this the rule of the world that all that is right, pure, unsullied and innocent is to be put to test for fortitude and patience? Is innocence another word for faith or is it for fatuousness?

So, what is my vision of polioman? It is definitely not just a daily diary or our dabbling in creativity. Polioman is a testament of how the world looks from our eyes; from the eyes of two women located far apart, on the two sides of the globe, but are so much in tune emotionally. They have been knowing each other for little over a year, but have been understanding each other as if since lifetimes.

Polioman is a place where we will express our views on stereotypes and presumptions, openness and freedom, faith and belief, equality and responsibility. It deals with our visions, our opinions, our dreams and all the other big little things that matter in our lives as women, as professionals, as believers, as dreamers.

Polioman is a dedication to someone who became a victim of stereotypes and did not have the strength to fight back. It hails the cause of someone who had to hobble away in shame, and live once more, the pain of what its like to be dispossessed. But then, this is also a dedication to the perpertrator, who, victimized in her own way, preferred to resort to stereotypes.

Polioman is our voice because we are both perpetrators and victims in different ways and different situations. But, still, we have not lost faith in the world. We want to question the roots of stereotypes. We are willing to believe, to push away presumptions and open our hearts so that somewhere, the innocence is preserved and the light in its eyes is not sullied by stereotypes of this world. We want to be strong in dealing with aberrations but we also want to be sensible. We want to learn to give the benefit of doubt before turning perpetrators ourselves so that the chain of victimizations is broken, somewhere.

Welcome to the world of believers!

~ Arundhati