Reporter’s diary

Dasi to rani?

Speeches delivered during Women’s Day functions are often testimony to our own muddled ideas on empowerment. At a function recently, all speakers (mostly male) urged women to take nothing lying down. However, their speeches were punctuated with statements of admiration and endorsement of mothers and wives who make great “sacrifices” to keep families happy. The Governor, who was the chief guest, spoke about his wife who had studied literature but had not pursued a career so that she could look after him, the children and his mother. A government official even quoted the famous shloka extolling the six virtues of an ideal wife. Compelled to show a spot of political correctness, he changed ‘Karyeshu Dasi’ (works like a servant) to ‘Karyeshi Rani’ (works like a queen).

No thoroughfare

One size does not fit all. The organisers of an event in the city learnt this the hard way. HCG Foundation and Infosys Foundation launched a mobile cancer clinic here on Thursday.

The event, originally scheduled to be held at Mitralaya Girls High School, Mission Road, was shifted abruptly to the hospital premises on the same road and the waiting reporters and photojournalists were a little baffled by the sudden change of venue.

They later learnt that the mobile clinic, which is a fully-equipped bus, was too big to get past the school gate. The mobile clinics are to be deployed in rural and semi rural places. One can only hope that the roads there are not as narrow as the ones in Bangalore.