A Woman for a Woman

‘The loneliest woman in the world, is the woman without a close woman friend’- Toni Morrison

This blog post was inspired by a very awakening incident that I had today. Nothing unusual about my day really, just the same old routine that I was accustomed to, waiting at the bus stop near my college, getting on the bus, asserting my right to sit anywhere I want, and not just the reserved seats for women, getting off the bus and walking back home, thinking about whether to go for an easy-junk way for lunch, or the hard working healthy option, in my case, eggs and cucumber sandwich. 

While my habitual thought process was responding to the hungry growling in my stomach, I heard a lady behind me yell, ‘Watch out! He’s coming towards you!’

I turned to find a middle aged man, swaying left and right, yes drunk out of his cerebrum, carrying a stick, wearing faded, torn clothes, approaching me with some idea that was definitely put out of his brains, when the lady aggressively walked up to him, and said, ‘I saw what you did! To the other girl as well! I've been noticing you for quite some time now!’ As a successful attempt at scaring away the pervert, the woman went on saying, ‘You wait right here! I’ll call the police!’ Then she turned to me and said, ‘This pervert has bothered two girls till now and he was now aiming you!’ I turned to look at the man walk away and said, ‘He’s totally drunk.’ She looked at me with an expression that made me feel like an idiot and think about what I had just said.

 She said, ‘So what? He’s drunk so he has the right to touch a girl’s ass? Drunk is no excuse.’ She walked up to another man and asked for help saying, ‘Excuse me, bhaisahab, that man is touching and harassing girls’, she turned to few others, with the idea of getting the pervert beaten up.

The first man that she spoke to turned to look at the pervert sway and mumble away in his own delusional world, then he turned to the lady and said, ‘Let it go. He’s drunk and he’s anyways leaving’, and the man walked off.

A few others turned to look at him, but no one did anything about it. The lady walked back to me and said, ‘There’s no police officer also here, the police station is far, otherwise I wouldn't have left this guy alone! And these so called men, it’s not their daughter or sister getting harassed right? Why the hell would they care of it’s just some random woman on the street asking for some help? Huh! I mean that pervert right in front of my eyes harassed two girls and those two also just giggled, and walked off scared, should have straight off slapped him right across his face!’

I just stood there, listening, admiring this woman, who may not have slapped him or done anything major, hero like, but standing in the middle of the road, addressing to all those people who chose to ignore what happened, spoke for a woman. She wasn't the one who got harassed or who’s butt got pinched by a drunk pervert, but one of her own did, and she was one of those very few, who didn't hesitate to make and raise her voice about it.

It’s true what Toni Morrison says, ‘The loneliest woman in the world, is the woman without a close woman friend’. Only this woman wasn't close to me in an emotional way, but she was close to me in the way that all women are close to all other women of the world. We’re all Women.

In a world where people may play witness to an incident, but few come forward to do something about it. In world where gender studies is still central to women and violence and discrimination against women, it is only the woman, who can be a woman’s best friend.

Because a woman is born in a society and in a world, where their position is still not shoulder to shoulder with a man, and hence, where a man refuses to help or make a difference, it is the woman that needs to step up and be the light for another woman, because in the end, we’re all the same, a human first, but unfortunately, divided into man and woman, which has made all the difference in who gets paid more and who gets raped.

This incident taught me three things. First, streets are not all safe even if it’s 2 in the afternoon, and you can’t be thinking about lunch, because there is someone out there, drunk, thinking about harassing you. So, lesson? Don’t think. But watch, all around.

Second, you are not crazy if you’re helping and you’re not crazy if you’re raising your voice about something wrong that is happening around you. I didn't find the woman who made a noise about the drunk pervert crazy, instead I hold her higher than the Mt. Everest in my mind, and I respect her for what she did. I didn’t know about the pervert who was planning on approaching me from the back and pinching my butt, but this woman did, and she didn't hesitate to warn me about it and not just warn but scare the guy away so he knows he doesn't have the right to get drunk at 2 in the afternoon and loiter around touching girls' butts.

Third, is the title of this blog post. In the incident that happened, few men chose to ignore what was happening, and it was only the woman that came forward. I am not saying that men do not help, or that men do not come forward when it comes to a woman in crisis. But what I am trying to emphasize is no woman should be alone no matter what struggle be. Every woman’s story is different, and yet the same. To reach a stage and time, where women don’t have to struggle, women need to stand together and united. Women need to stand with and for women, for no fight can be fought and won alone.

So if you’re reading this, make sure that you be a woman, for another woman.

Cheers!

Zainab's Zainab

He plays at other's weddings. At weddings of someone's daughter, sister, brother, son, imagining the day when he would marry off his daughter. That is what he plays for, that is what he earns for, for that one last wish through her one last breath.
He still remembers the day when she gave birth to her, knowing that the family wished for a son, knowing that she had, but, given birth to another unwanted mother, but she trusted her husband's morals without any doubts. She knew he would do anything for their child, because soon that will be all that he has.
As she pushed out what had become of her fetus, she whispered in his ears, "Marry her off proudly. She is the only one". He knew then, she won't live any longer, she won't live to call out to her child, who was named  after her mother, Zainab, only it was this Zainab that he loved more. He felt strange how he could love her more than the Zainab that he was so passionate about, but after all, she did take after her mother.
He brought her up like a daughter and a son, playing the role of both, a mother and a father. He never stopped her from being who she wanted, a Qawwali singer, a doctor, a teacher, a soldier, he kept all doors open for her, not knowing what the future held for her, and leaving it up to her to paint her life, when she aspired to be an artist.
She wanted to change the world, she wanted to be and work with people, for the people. She enrolled herself in a rescue programme, went to the hills to help the landslide victims, and now she herself is a victim.
Thousands have been buried, missing, maybe dead, but her father knows nothing. He prays for her safe return, so he continues to play at the weddings, earn for that one last wish of His Zainab, to 'marry her off proudly', marry off the Zainab he loves so dearly.
And yet, no one knows whether a wedding awaits in her future, or whether she has already united with the Zainab, that she was named after.

I am an Eraser

I would never refer to myself as a murderer

I answered the police officer

Sitting there fearlessly

I’m sure he has nothing to worry,

Being, after all, a 'man' that he is

I thought all this to myself,

While he flipped through my criminal record,

Although, all I did was try to erase, what was wrong.

And that’s when my mind traced back,

To that life changing night.

I deliberately went out at 3 AM

To prove to myself

That I can be a woman and walk out

Maybe that was lame,

But I ‘took’ and I ‘gave’

a chance to my lane.

A chance to society and to the ‘man’

To tell me and prove me

That we’re at least heading towards a change.

Just when I was about to be proud of my lane,

Maybe pass a smile to all that had changed,

Tell the passers-by ‘I trust you’

And we’re all just the same,

I felt a pinch right at my waist

And turned to watch the man run in a haste.

I tried to ignore and run back home,

My heart pounding faster than ever,

Thoughts of my life changing forever,

Rushing through my brain.

But then,

I stopped and thought to myself

He’s not a man,

But just some muck in MY lane.

I walked and I thought,

I wish I could trust.

I jogged and I felt,

I want to trust.

I ran and I yelled,

‘I will trust, you muck!’

I could see the grin right on his face,

And I thought to myself, that’s sadly a pretty face.

Well, maybe I don’t have to bother with that.

I could aim for, what not me, but only his kind have.

And that’s when I kicked him right between his legs

I laughed as all the childhood kicks and punches

With my brother, came rushing back.

As he was getting lathered with whips and rods,

By people who had my back

I smiled to myself, and looked around,

 Turns out I CAN trust at last.

I told the people maybe we should cut him some slack

And give him a moment to relax

And let him witness this moment of all those people,

Filled with anguish, wanting to erase him.

Erase this muck from our society

Erase this one who is doomed,

And with pity, I let him go.

Sitting in front of me now, he filed a complaint

Poor little boy says, I attempted to murder him

But I tell the officer what it really was,

It was not an attempted murder,

But instead an attempted eraser.

An attempt at Erasing this muck who calls himself a man

An attempt at Erasing the reason why we can’t trust our own lane

An attempt at Erasing the reason why we can’t trust our fellow countrymen

An attempt at Erasing the reason, why I became an Eraser.

So here I am in front of you,

I would never refer to myself as a murderer

Because on that life changing night,

 I became an Eraser.

Although, this time I let you go,

But remember

If need be, I will erase you again,

And this time forever.

If you're a woman and if you're reading this, you're a Feminist.

This post was inspired by a question that Mr. Jerry Pinto (author of the award winning book Em and the Big Hoom, among many others), asked during one of our enrichment sessions, wherein we have guest speakers from the media industry talking to mass media students about what the industry is like, what career options do they have etc. Mr. Jerry Pinto, a fine gentleman, highly knowledgeable, and let me add, a bit intimidating, was talking, among many issues, about women's rights and feminism. He asked, 'How many of you are feminists?'. A plain simple, raise of hands question. Surprisingly, in a class of around 80 girls, and to top that, 80 mass media students, of one of the finest girl's colleges in India, we just had about less than half hands raised. This less than half of the classroom filled with young, aspiring media professionals claimed they were feminists. I was one of them too.
What struck me was not how this less than half of the class is confident and bold enough to raise their hands and claim to be feminists, but the more than half who, sitting in a classroom, acquiring knowledge, moving on from the traditional, subordinating roles of women, stepping out, travelling in Mumbai locals, great distances to become educated young professionals and make something of themselves, said that they were, indeed, NOT feminists.
Ha. Non-sens. Conneries*

Who is a feminist? What is feminism?
Since Google/Wikipedia, have become our most reliable sources of information these days. I will define Feminism and Feminist, as defined by Wikipedia/Google.
If you Google, Definition Feminism, this is what pops up: the advocacy of women's rights on the grounds of political, social, and economic equality to men.
Next if you Google, Who is a Feminist?, this is what pops up: a person who supports feminism.
Now if you observe and try to understand it in simpler terms, it basically boils down to, equality for all, be it man or a woman and in all spheres, be it political, social or economic etc.
A feminist is a person who believes in equality of rights and opportunities for both, men and women, and the concept of this equality for men and women, is Feminism, in very simple terms.

So, let me justify my reason for shock, when more than half of the classroom didn't raise their hands to Mr. Pinto's question.

The fact that these women, were sitting in the classroom, listening to a professional talk about issues, educating themselves, choosing, to gain the same or maybe a better quality of education as the other men in colleges, than sit at home and perform household chores.
The fact that they were exercising their right to raise their hands or not.
The fact that they were exercising their right to have opinions, ideas, their own set of beliefs and values, so they can be independent individuals with independent identities.
 Wearing what they want, any colour, not obligated to wear the clothes that would act as markers of their sex or gender.
What is all this?

It is these women, who say they are not feminists, indulging in feminism. They are participating in activities that were anciently not allowed or meant for them. Women were restricted to the household, suppressed and denied participation in male dominated activities.

As Sherry B. Ortner has pointed out in her, magnificent research paper titled, Is female to male as nature is to culture?**  women are perceived as being closer to nature due to their impressive physical ability to give birth to perishable humans and hence contribute to the continuity of species, and men are considered closer to culture and held responsible for creation of life long technologies, intelligence etc.
She states that because of the lactation process in women, a baby naturally tends to be closer to the mother and hence the mother is also designated the job of grooming and nursing the child, till it comes of age after which the father takes the responsibility of teaching the tasks and making the child capable of being a part of the contributors to culture (only in  he case of male child, a female child is taught what the role of a woman should be, i.e. household chores and preparing to bear a child and cater to her husbands' needs, and thus begins the vicious cycle). So what we learn is that, due to a woman's biological ability, in ancient times, men were the one who used to step out and perform the so called 'tough', 'intelligent' tasks, while women stayed indoors. I won't go into the great details that she has mentioned in her paper, i have attached the link at the end for your perusal.

Coming back to the present, what we need to remember is that it took a long time and a lot of struggles, revolutions and sacrifices by women and feminist groups in the bygone centuries that we have arrived at this stage and time, where we can exercise our right to NOT call ourselves feminists, to be able  know what it means, to be able to freely leave after the class for a smoke, to have an all girl's college among all the other colleges under a governmental university, meaning that the constitution of our country recognises feminism and equality for men and women.

So i ask those more than half students that i shared the classroom with during Mr. Pinto's enriching session, why do u say you are not feminists, when you are sitting here, enriching and educating yourselves so that you can be equally capable as any other man that you may face in your professional, competitive world?
Why do you say you are not feminists, when you are clearly choosing to not raise your hands and enjoy a world of choice, unlike the era that women of the bygone centuries have faced, where they would dream of nothing, but a world where they could have a choice?
Why do you say you are not feminists, when you are sitting here, becoming aware of issues relating to your sex/gender?

And most of all, why are you in a girl's college, if you are not a feminist? Why are you sitting in classrooms of a professional educational institution, the education of which is aimed at making you independent, empowered women, in a male dominated, patriarchal society?

And why do you say you are not feminists, when you are not feminists? Meaning Why practice your right to raise your voice and have an opinion, when you are a woman who doesn't believe in standing tall, shoulder to shoulder with a man?

So this is what i believe in, if you are a woman and if you smile while doing something, you are a feminist, because you ARE doing something for yourself, as a woman, and not just what you may be told to do.

Very well explained in the book, Full Frontal Feminism by Jessica Valenti, a lot of us confuse feminism with extreme hatred towards opposite sex, and practicing extreme forms of liberty, but what these people overlook, is the little things that have maybe become almost non existential NOW, but they were at some point, a spark of a revolution, that has successfully led us here to a time, where i can write this blog post, and express my views on feminism, and leave it open, not anonymously, but very much with my identity, with no fear, for the world to read. But, there is still a lot to achieve on the road to complete equality and feminism, and Jessica Valenti has done exactly that in her book. She has highlighted and discussed issues that women of the 21st Century are fighting for and a lot of us need to join in. Ranging from the issue of a 'girl just wanting to have fun' to 'contraception debates', she has covered it all. Stereotypes attached to feminists, to how she is a happily married woman, her book is to feminists what An Imperial Affliction was to Hazel Grace in John Green's Fault in Our Stars, also a movie. I am not going to summarise the book for you, because i believe every woman should read it, at least once in her life, because it tells you why, as a woman, feminism matters, and why you, as a feminist, matter.

So if you think, that you being a woman, are not a feminist, and if you are continuing to read this line, then i'm sorry my fellow woman, but the bitter truth for you is that, you ARE a feminist, you're reading this just as any other person (male/female) in this world, and exercising the most basic principle of feminism.

So congratulations, you have just unambiguously proved that you are a feminist!
Welcome on board, my lady! :)


* 'bullshit' in french 
**(You can read the whole research paper here if you  like: http://www.radicalanthropologygroup.org/old/class_text_049.pdf)

A birthday wish for a Woman- My Mother

Happy birthday to you woman!
Sparkle of the family you come from
Strength of the family that you make
From the day that you were born to today you've grown
And as you go ahead to cut your cake
Make a wish, for once, not for anyone else
But You.
Thank your stars, for once, not for anything else
But You.
For today is the day that you came into this world.
Today is the day that you became You.
Today is the day you became One in a million.
Today is the day you became a reason,
For many to smile and be proud of.
Today is the day that you mattered the most
For not just your loved ones but all the women and a lot more.
So, go ahead and blow out that candle,
and make a wish and thank your stars
For making you, just who you are.
For if it wasn't for you, dear woman
Many lives that you filled with love
Many people that you gave hope
Many smiles that you brought upon,
the faces of the low,
They all wouldn't be if it wasn't for You.
You exist, You live, You smile,
For a lot more than just you.
So wish yourself and look forward to another year of YOU!
Happy birthday to you woman!
 Happy birthday Mamma!

19 October 2014

A Soldier's Missus

Every time that her man in the green uniform is to return, it is a day of joy for her.

Her mirror becomes her best friend, with whom she giggles, while getting dressed, excitedly putting glitter on her face.

Through her living room’s net curtains, she peeks every now and then, eagerly waiting to give that glass of cold water to her tired, sweaty and bearded husband.

Waiting, proudly, for her man, who is to return after winning back the honour of his country, fighting at the border front.

She waits and waits, and soon it’s sunset and there is still no visible sign of him.

She turns to her best friend, the mirror, reflecting, how the glitter on her face has faded.

Thoughts of accidents that might have occurred, take over her mind. 

She braces herself with a strong heart attitude, now ready to face a news of any kind.

The ticking of the clock becomes a challenge, a challenge to pass time.

Just when she is ready to reason with herself and take on the role of a widow, the knock at the door takes her by surprise.

A surprise she was expecting hitherto, but had given up on.

As she opened the door to feel the pleasure of being a soldier’s missus again;

 her day of joy, returned.

That happy place i forgot i had..

'It's been a long time since i came around, been a long time but i'm back in town, and this time i'm not leaving without you'- Song 'You and I' by Lady GAGA.

It has actually been a long time since i sang those lines. The last time i sang those lines at a karaoke, i got another song to sing, because i was that good. (Yeah i know you're thinking i'm showing off, well, so be it!)

Very often we ask for certain things that are usually completely in our hands to achieve, like happiness.

We all want happiness. All that we do every millisecond of our lives is to be happy. And if you're not, well then please stop doing what you're doing and do what makes you happy.

Having said that, we often wonder, 'what is happiness? How do i know that what i'm doing right now is making me happy? Am i happy? What does being happy mean?'

Well, let me tell you what is happy.

I don't know. I don't think anybody does.

But i'll tell you what singing, strumming my black beauty(PLUTO) and composing does to me.

And that for me is happiness, because i have failed to experience something better, more inspiring and soothing than that.

So, it's been days since i strummed my guitar or opened up my vocal chords, except for the shower time of course and it had been AGES since i composed something.

Now, i'm back from college and i have nothing to do, and i'm being lazy about picking up my guitar and strumming it because i know i have to tune it first, so i just fire up my laptop, thinking 'let's watch another episode of Sherlock'. Now the desktop flashes before my eyes and i see the 'Vocal Exercises' audio right in front of me and i think, 'well, let's see if i've still got the vocals to pull off a Whitney Houston'.

And my lip rolls, and aahss and ooohs start.Once i'm done with my warm up, i start off with the Whitney Houston classic, 'I will always love you'.

What i felt while singing that song is indescribable. It was extraordinary. I was the best i could be and i was damn proud of myself. I never really believed in meditation, but singing is my meditation because i feel so relaxed and least bothered about anything. I enter a place i didn't even know existed in my world and it's the best feeling ever. It makes me feel like, if i can do this, there ain't a thing i can't do in this challenging big-bad world as they say. I wanna believe in the world again and do everything i can. I feel energized, ready to take on anything and everything. Singing for me, is like a chain smoker's cigarette, a drug addict's shot of coke, only my singing purifies me, instead of intoxicating me. It's the only thing that makes me believe in God and that supernatural power that binds us. It's the first thing that comes to my mind whenever i need to count my blessings and all the things that i've been fortunately blessed with.

It's that one thing that would give my brains a kick and say, 'Damn girl! Why don't i do this everyday?' And then would start my craze about never wanting to stop singing, and then i would strum few chords on the guitar and voila! i get my new composition unless i go off because that's the only sign i understand, when it comes to resting my vocal chords.

And that's when i get my kick. And then there's no stopping.

My music and my vocals keep me grounded.

Get my back to my happy place where i belong and know that i would be truly happy.

My vocals get me back to my reality and protect me from the evils that surround us.

They bring me to my happy place i forgot i had.

And i come in happily singing to my happy place, 'It's been a long time since i came around, been a long time but i'm back in town. And this time i'm not leaving without you.'

This is happiness for me. 

What about you?

'You're a woman in the Indian society, you have to be perfect!'

I don't know how many girls my age, FYI i am 19, have heard this line, but i have heard this line quite a few times especially now that i am in college, and since i am in an all girls college, i am well aware of all the feminist thoughts and women's rights in a patriarchal society, lines like these piss us off like someone getting the wrong order when you've been hungry for 24 hours. I am not allowed to and cannot make a mistake, because 'i am a female in the Indian society' and hence cannot make a mistake.

I cannot have too many male friends because that would term me as a 'slut' or a 'whore' or a third class girl, or as they say in Hindi 'banjari'. To all the parents who have put their daughters in a co-ed schools, please note, that if you don't expect your daughter to get close to or make male friends, well then, you made the first  mistake of putting her in a co-ed school.
Someone i know, a girl of course, recently confessed to her parents, that she drinks cocktails with her friends, basically that she consumes alcohol.
Her parents of course shocked out of their wits were just not ready to accept the fact, that their oh-so-perfect-GPA-daughter 'drinks'.
She tried explaining to them that she made a mistake and she wants to stop. She knows how much she has upset and disappointed her parents and the two things that she can't get out of her head are, her dad telling her that she was here (raising his hand above his head) and now she has stooped down there (lowering his hand to way below his knees), and when her parents mentioned that had it been a guy it would've been like okay, but being a girl, that too in the Indian society, she is going to pubs and bars and drinking, like WTF?
Well, that girl feels unfortunate that she was born as a female, in this world. She tells me, that she now understands why there are so many cases of female infanticides in the Indian society, because females are apparently not supposed to and cannot go out and make mistakes, experiment, take risks, just have a life and then come back and have the guts to come clean to their parents. Because females are just not supposed to have the guts to be fearless and be honest. She tells me she now feels as if her life is over, she's gonna be looked down upon by the society, she feels mentally raped by all the horrific pictures that were put into her head. She feels useless that there is nothing worth while that she can do with her life, now that she touched alcohol with her pure, virgin lips. She made a mistake and THAT is a sin.
Girls cannot make a mistake.
No, they are supposed to be daddy's perfect little girl, who would wait for her father to come back from the office and play with her. And as the girl grows she goes on to be the perfect girl who gets the perfect scores and results in her studies. They also want their daughter to go abroad on scholarship for higher education and carry the burden of having to be the perfect Indian cultured girl. Please note that if this girl consumes alcohol in her limits, goes out dancing, gets the perfect score in her studies, probably becomes really close to an American male or a female, but is doing really well, gets a great job and is independent, she is still not cultured, and she has gone down the wrong road and is never gonna be able to get a good, rich, NRI husband for herself, because she isn't the perfect 'bahu' and is an independent, young woman, who enjoys her drink and that once in a while cigarette and is a feminist.

I guess what i'm trying to say here is that a lot of times, we girls are made to feel as if we are not entitled to the right of making a mistake, whereas what people need to understand, especially elders is that, the wisdom that you're sharing with us is something that you've gathered over your 30,40,50, years of your existence on this earth, and we are just teenagers, in the phase of gathering the wisdom, and as they say, actions speaks louder than words, hence your lectures, i.e. the words, are not gonna effect us that much. Hence, someone came up with another quote, learn from your own mistakes, so its time for us to make mistakes and for you mature adults to forgive us and stand by us.
One learns the most from experiences, hit and try, risks, and everyone knows that the young blood always wants to experience and try new things, because let's face it, this is the age.
One is not gonna wanna bunk college or work when they're 50 years old.
One wouldn't wanna try their first drink when they're 60 and on pills for god knows how many ailments.
One wouldn't wanna date the hot guy in class, when they're 40 and married with two kids.
So when do you do all of that stuff?
And why are we so hell bent on having our daughters be perfect and be the ideal role model for all the other girls around?
Why?
Why can't we ask our daughters to be the most independent woman, who isn't answerable to anyone, one who doesn't need a lecture form anyone, because she's been there, done that and has great experience.
Why are we stuck in the race to make our teenagers perfect beings who will be asked for the most in the corporate and professional world?
Why can't we ask them to sit back and relax, let the world race?
Why do the girls have to be girls?
Why can't they just be human beings just like anyone else, with the right to make a mistake without stooping to the lowest level? Without being termed 'sluts' and 'whores'?
Why can't they just be, them, without having to put on and fulfill the criteria of an ideal woman of an Indian society?
Why?

Who Decides ?

With the Indian Supreme Court criminalising homosexuality, and refusing to accept a petition seeking a review of the judgement on Section 377, one often questions and doubts the priorities of our government and judicial system. The Section criminalises sexual activities "against the order of nature", asserting that the whole concept of homosexuality is "unnatural".
A very strong and valid point was put forth by one of my classmates during a discussion on Section 377, and the whole notion of homosexuality being "unnatural", and she said that, a man suffering from erectile dysfunction or impotence and not being able to perform sexually, is unnatural too, because "naturally" a man is supposed to have an erection during sexual performance, so shall we put the man behind bars, because it's "unnatural' of him to not have an erection?
And if one said that impotence or erectile dysfunction might be caused by certain health conditions, then the condition of homosexuals is that they are attracted to members of the same sex, so what's SO "unnatural" about that?
And what about the uncountable rapes that take place in our country every day? Is that natural?
Having forced sex with someone without consent and physically harming the other person, is that natural? But yet, the least the court can think when it comes to that is declare a rapist a juvenile and let him go? WOW. That's one applauding decision. We can't solve rape cases with proper justice and we are one to talk and judge other's people's matters of personal choice.
Now, one would say that, a man and woman are supposed to be together, because "naturally" they would be able to make babies, and members of the same sex cannot achieve that. So we're saying that, a person's genitals and sexual organs are the decisive factor in choosing a partner for oneself?
WOW! Society never sounded lamer.
Also, lets ask ourselves, if it's just about a man being with a woman, then why do we have such things as"break ups " or "divorces", if it's just about a vagina being with a penis?
Every man should be able to get along with just any woman, right?
But that's not how the world is. It's not about a guy being with a girl, but a person being with the right person, now that could be a girl wanting to be with a girl of her class, because she makes her happy, or just makes her feel something that no one else ever did?
A guy might wanna go out on a date with his male office colleague to just see if he is his type, and what's wrong in that? They might wanna get intimate later, hold hands, indulge in sexual acts, do whatever the hell they want, who are we to decide and tell them NO YOU CAN'T BE WITH ANOTHER MAN BEING A MAN YOURSELF, BECAUSE NATURE DOESN'T PERMIT IT AND IF YOU DO, YOU'LL BE PUT BEHIND BARS.
Sounds like an elementary classroom case doesn't it, where the kid blackmails saying "I'll tell Mrs. Know-it-all, give me back my underwear."
Also, i don't think we heard any rumbling or thundering or any cases of cyclones, every time homosexuals made love, so i guess NATURE is least bothered about WHO you Do.
Well, the Supreme Court tried to be like those scary teachers in high school who blackmail you saying they'll take you to the principal and blah blah..but here, the rebels (homosexuals) are the  BAD KIDS of high school, who, no matter what the teacher or the principal or the director of the whole institution says, they won't give a shit. Nothing you can do or say or assert, will stop homosexuals from loving and making love to their partners.

It's funny how we talk so high of being a developing country, progressing towards becoming one of the most important economic powers of the world, but we cannot even accept people, people around us, our own countrymen, normal human beings, we can't accept them and accommodate them in our society and instead declare them criminals for making their own PERSONAL CHOICES.
WOW. Such a shallow society and we talk about being united and cultured beings who will prosper and be a great nation.
PEOPLE make a nation great and if one cannot take care of it's own people and ensure a certain degree of satisfaction for them, one will only see the nation being gulped and pulled down by it's own judgements and decisions, and for those who watch, it's only a matter of time.