Archive | December, 2009

Women of the year, 2009

31 Dec

In no particular order,  here are my Women of the Year for 2009.

Sarah Brown: for supporting, actively, such great causes as the White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood and Women’s Aid and for creating her own path in that most difficult of jobs,  wife of the Prime Minister.  And for embracing Twitter and using technology to both reflect her authentic self and to support her chosen causes with warmth and humour – all in 140 characters.

Lee Chalmers and Indra Adnan: for seizing the nettle of women in politics in general and the concepts of soft power and balanced leadership in particular,  and establishing The Downing Street Project.  May 2010 be a year in which all the three main British parties work with you to support the ideas of being the change we want to see – and we come to experience a more balanced group of representatives in the House of Commons and elsewhere in public life.

Dame Vera Lynn: for having a Number One album aged 92. Respect, sister.

Joanna Lumley: for refusing to take no for an answer, hijacking the system (and government minister Phil Woolas) and forcing a government U-turn on the issues of Gurkha soldiers having the right to remain in Britain. “Ayo Ghorkali!”

Jordana: for giving me straight hair via the miracle hair treatment that is the Brazilian Blow Out, for being the reason that I flew to LA twice in four months and for making it possible for me to refer to,  with something approaching a straight face “… my LA hairdresser …”.

Victoria Wood: for being the funniest thing on TV over Christmas,  particularly with her sublime “Lark Pies to Cranchesterford” spoof.

 

 

 

Anita Edgar: for allowing a kernel of an idea which came to her whilst on holiday in Goa in 1996 to flourish and grow into El Shaddai – a charity which, through homes, shelters and programmes now supports 3000 children in India. And Stella, manager of the children’s home Rainbow House,  who, with almost no resources other than huge quantities of patience and love, manages a team of 4 staff who in turn support and care for 50 girls aged between 8 and 13.

Jade Goody: for encouraging the tragic circumstances of her illness and subsequent death in March, aged 27, to be a springboard for women to become more aware as to the fact that cervical cancer can kill – leading to a 12% rise in the number of women aged 25-49 having cervical smear checks.

Michelle: who I met at the nail bar earlier this week whilst having a post-Christmas manicure – and who told me that Tuesday was her first day off of the “Christmas break” because she’d been working, as a residential social worker, to ensure that the ten teenaged kids who live in the local authority’s halfway house had a decent Christmas even though many of them have no friends or families. She hadn’t been scheduled to work,  but she decided to do so on Christmas Eve rather than leave the kids alone without “someone who cared for them”. Bravo to Michelle and everyone else like her who does these difficult jobs, often unseen and unthanked – and I’m glad that she managed to take some time for herself and get her nails done!

And finally – to my many girlfriends (Annette, Carolyn, Christine, Kristina, Lee, Leisa, Lisanne, Liz, Maureen, Pauline and Priya, to name but a few) and my amazing mum Sandra: who have all done so much to support me both personally and professionally during what has been the most challenging of years. You have made me laugh,  poured Sauvignon Blanc and skinny lattes into me, sent me books, magazines, articles and job listings, listened to me moan,  helped me raise money for Plan UK’s “Because I Am a Girl” campaign, invited me to events, read the blog and commented on it on-line and off and generally been the very embodiment of Fantastic Women. I love you and thank you and wish only Fabulous Things for us all in 2010.

Happy New Year!

Belated season’s greetings!

28 Dec

I’m back,  after my longest non-blogging spell since I got started in May.  December has been so busy; I returned from India and had a whole FOUR days back in England (during which time I had two – unsuccessful – job interviews) before then using up some more airline miles and going to California for a week.  A greater contrast with Goa I’m not sure exists and I spent my time there in complete flux; three countries, three time zones (in opposite directions), three currencies, a million contrasts.

I then returned to the UK a week ahead of Christmas and had to frantically “get organised” with sorting out cards, presents and food in time for cooking lunch last Friday (I know that Christmas is about so much more than simply “cooking lunch” … but when you see the queues and the all-out fights which break out in British supermarkets … I wonder …). This is the Christmassy image that I meant to post at the time but didn’t get a chance to – it’s my grandmother,  wrangling a Christmas turkey into a basket,  back in 1938:

For those who follow me on Twitter (@TheGenderBlog), you may have seen that I tweeted that I was emulating Sarah Brown, doyenne of number 10 Downing Tweet Street and trying to avoid using paper to wrap my gifts.  My packaging of choice was these Goan canvas shopping bags,  of which I brought around a dozen home with me on December 7th and so I used them as both an additional, sustainable gift in their own right and also as “wrapping” for this year’s presents:

Unsurprisingly,  most people on my list this year received pashminas, Indian tea and sarongs within their shopping bags. And, on the receiving gifts front,  there was a distinctly Indian theme to my own presents: “The Jewel in the Crown” on DVD, “The Darjeeling Limited” also on DVD, “Being Indian” and “India’s Unending Journey” in paperback.  Along similar lines,  I also decided that I would really like to learn a few words of Hindi for my next trip to India and so I ordered a “teach yourself Hindi” CD pack from Amazon which arrived on Christmas Eve.  OK, so it’s still in the packaging as yet … but the intent is there.

One of the most unwelcome contrasts between the beginning of December (Goa) and the end of December (west London) has been the weather.  I’m so cold! We’ve actually had snow in London,  which has both been quite unusual and also caused huge chaos,  given that the British are not a nation who cope well with extremes of temperature,  be they “heatwaves” of post 22 degrees or,  at the other end of the spectrum, a few flakes of snow at a level that the average American East Coaster would doubtless not even recognise as the same substance.

Here’s The Observer’s Barbara Ellen with a sublime quote on the white stuff:

“Indeed, snow is the one-night stand of weather conditions: initially surprising, even magical, but you end up wishing it had never happened, and would indeed just melt away.”

Apparently,  more snow is “promised” over the next few days,  so cue total news coverage,  which I suppose will make a change from the many (many) shots of people queuing up at assorted airports.  Happy days!

Holiday snaps

11 Dec


A link to my on-line Snapfish album of captioned photos is available here - enjoy.

A few gender based nuggets from an Indian newspaper

10 Dec

I just love Indian newspapers … they are the gift that keeps on giving in terms of provoking my thoughts and giving me fresh ideas.  Here’s a couple of adverts from Monday’s Hindustan Times,  which I read on the flight home.

Firstly, a front page advert for a TV show aimed at, I think, empowering young women:

And also this advert from a finance company offering women specific mortgages:

It’s wonderful to be home and to see my friends and family again,  but I’m already missing the warmth and vibrancy of life in India.  I hope I can go back again soon.

“Dear Santa …”

My Top 10 “useful in Goa” list

7 Dec

So I’m on my way home and am currently resident in the business lounge at Mumbai airport (again – a pronounced contrast to much of my life for the past four weeks), availing myself of their free wireless.  I’ve got so many topics about which I want to blog, not least about my time spent in Bangalore and with the children at Rainbow House,  but have been profoundly hampered by limited wi-fi access – but I’ll get to it as soon as I’m home.  Perhaps I can write off-line during my forthcoming ten hour flight …

Ahead of then, here’s my Top Ten list of things which have been really useful over the last month in Goa – in no particular order,  may I offer up:

  1. A universal bath plug: a traveller’s cliché, to be sure,  but it was very handy when doing the odd spot of hand washing – which leads me to:
  2. Laundry paper: a small plastic box of soap sheets which dissolve in either hot or cold water and are handy for freshening up swimsuits and the like; available from top kitchenware porn site, Lakeland;
  3. High factor suncream: mahogany’s the colour of a wooden table, not my skin and so I’ve been smothered in SPF 40 for the last 4 weeks. On the one hand,  I don’t have much of a tan (leading to pitying comments from other Brits – “You’ve not got much of a colour love,  have you just got here?” – last Friday …) ; on the other hand, my skin looks and feels really good.  On one occasion,  I dialled the SPF down to 25 and I burned,  which just goes to show how deceptively strong the sun can be in Goa. If you visit,  bring your own high SPF,  as I didn’t see anything stronger than SPF 15 for sale; I also saw many tourists using pure coconut oil,  but that’s a whole other post;
  4. As predicted – my own reading material. It had to be done – I saw many second-hand books for sale,  but nothing that I wanted to read (cf previous posts on Dan Brown et al);
  5. Clothes pegs: useful for so many things: clipping errant bedroom curtains together, securing my sunhat to an umbrella spoke whilst sunbathing – as well as their primary use;
  6. My laptop – say no more. As well as for blogging,  it’s also been a great conversation starter – what am I doing, why am I here, what am I writing etc.  Great way to meet people and make friends;
  7. Boots Protect & Perfect Beauty Serum: I’ve gone through two tubes of this stuff; fabulous on sun parched skin.
  8. Lots of pairs of dark-coloured flips-flops: there’s no point in wearing actual shoes,  because of the sand and dirt; and the soil here,  due to the iron ore,  is very red and it stains,  so black/dark brown/navy footwear is the only way to go. Get rubber ones rather than fabric so that you can rinse off the crap under the shower.
  9. Linen/cotton trousers (full length): they may help to deter insect bites in the evening. Perhaps.  And finally:
  10. Anti-bacterial handwash: for both your bathroom (none of my bathrooms over the past month have had soap provided,  so it was useful to bring my own)  and your bag. I use the dry type when I’m out and about (a tip for which I will always be grateful to Leisa) and I’m sure my rigorous, almost OCD-cum-Lady-Macbeth like sluicing of my hands a million times a day has kept me healthy whilst away.

There’ll be more about Goa once I’m home,  but for now – my Jet Airways flight is being called. Jaldi, jaldi!

Meet the girls from the BBC

6 Dec

- that’s the Baga Beach Clean crew, rather than the more usual British Broadcasting Corporation, however.

They’re a team of three ladies who walk up and down the beach all day,  clad in their tabards, picking up rubbish,  sweeping if necessary and generally making sure that the beautiful Baga beach remains clean and tidy.

Another interesting example of the difference that women make to the workplace in India.  What a hot, dirty job that must be.

A sidebar trip to Bangalore

3 Dec

And so to Bangalore,  a short one hour flight from Goa but a world away in terms of weather (cloudy) and atmosphere (business like). I’ve been invited by the Confederation of Indian Industry’s Women Business Leaders’ Forum, on which I serve as a global advisor,  to participate in today’s workshop on mentoring (still a relatively new concept here) entitled “Mentoring as Power Advancement” – so here I am.

Very strange to be back in the corporate world again … other than for interviews,  it’s been over three months since I’ve had to prepare for a meeting (drafting notes etc) or get myself appropriately dressed.  And,  as I wasn’t expecting to be participating in this event,  I didn’t bring any proper clothes,  so I’ve had to improvise a bit,  as I doubt anyone would take me seriously as a potential “global mentor” if I rocked up at the Thomson-Reuters India HQ in my typical Goan attire: sarong, t-shirt, flip-flops. Luckily,  I brought a black silk dress out from England,  with the goal of getting it re-tailored to fit me. I’d had that done in my first week here,  to the tune of £4 and the loss of 4” from the waist and it now looks quite smart,  although my footwear (Boden sandals) is less than conventional.  However,  I’m comforting myself that I will probably be the only woman there not wearing a beautiful sari, who’s dressed in black – and in that case,  I’d stand out whatever I wore.

This is such a great topic for the workshop;  mentoring is still in its infancy here in corporate India and it’s a privilege to be invited to join in and reconnect with some of the wonderful women I met at last year’s NASSCOM event. It also ties in a little with my work in Goa; I hope that I am providing support and informal mentoring to the 50 girls aged between 7 and 13 who live at Rainbow House and who cannot have too many positive female role models to nurture them and show them the benefits of education and working hard.  I love this quotation from the current President, Pratibha Devisingh Patil, who reminds us that she is both a role model and a mentor to Indian women in saying that she is:

“ … deeply committed to the cause of education and would like to see every person, man and woman, boy and girl, be touched by the light of modern education. Empowerment of women is particularly important to me as I believe this leads to the empowerment of the nation.”

The CII have put me up in a lovely hotel (a comfortable bed! HOT water in the shower! How a month in a 1* hotel has changed me …) and I’m so appreciating the free and fast wireless connectivity in my hotel room that I haven’t even left it since I arrived last night.

But I must venture out now,  ahead of the workshop.

On “Two Under the Indian Sun”

2 Dec

So I’m working my way down that huge pile of books and have landed on “Two Under the Indian Sun: an evocative memoir of the days of the Raj” by Jon and Rumer Godden.

I loved many of Rumer Godden’s books as a child and her writing style in this memoir of life in northern India (now part of Bangladesh, since partition) during the period 1914-1920 is just as lyrical and evocative.

“TUTIS” was written in 1966; here is the author’s memory of Indian women in 1914 (my use of bold):

“The two societies, English and Indian, did not often intermingle then except in the larger towns where there were more cultured circles. It was partly prejudice, partly because it was so difficult; Indian women, who play such a prominent and vital part in political and social life now, were still inhibited, most of them still sheltered and their husbands would hardly ever bring them – and when they did come it was awkward. Hindu wives tended to be even more orthodox in eating than their husbands; they were trained to silence rather than conversation and many of them disliked contact with westerners while most upper class Muslim women were in strict purdah”.

Fascinating to consider the changes brought about since then.

And another thing …

1 Dec

…. I’m sorry to have to report that the vitamin B1 option does not work.  As previously referenced, I have been faithfully taking 500 mg of B1 per day since 1st November,  in the hope that it would,  as promised,  serve as a more natural and organic mosquito repellent.  Even before I left England,  TLS mentioned that he could “smell the tablets” on me and it’s true that I did whiff a bit … of the container of tablets.  It’s not unpleasant, and could best be described as distinct – but I thought that this was a good thing,  as presumably that’s the idea: you excrete an aroma, which the mosquito dislikes and so they keep away.

Or so I hoped.

Anyway,  I haven’t been aware of the smell lately,  but I thought that was possibly a combination of getting used to it and, more likely, being able to smell so many other, stronger smells here (cows, curry, suntan oil … ) that I’d just stopped noticing it.

However,  I’ve now concluded that the vitamins just aren’t working,  as I was eaten alive the other evening. By accident,  I found myself outside at around 6pm,  just as it was getting dark,  which is prime hunting time for the insects. After about 5 minutes, I felt a sharp bite on my ankle – which was not in The Plan. I do normally carry an insect repellent spray or roll-on with me (although I hadn’t had cause to use it, as I’ve not been outside at 6 ish,  other than on the beach,  which is more insect free) but,  due to the inadvertent nature of my evening … there I was,  on the veranda of Rainbow House, waiting for my little sponsored daughter, Renuka,  to come home from her dancing class … and,  by the time she arrived,  half an hour later,  my legs were a mass of bites – in spite of being clad in long cotton trousers.

By the time I got back to the hotel,  I was itching and I later counted up that I had nearly FORTY bites on my feet, legs and wrists.

So I’m going to give up on the vitamins and just carry on using the Indian anti-mozzie product, Odomos.

I hope the bites fade soon – they are really unsightly and itch like hell.

(No photos; I’m not ready for my close up whilst I look so spotty).

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