For your eyes, and head, only

The Indian tradition of applying 'kajal' on the eyes of small children has been drastically brought down with doctors strictly advising mothers against it. But the practice can still be witnessed in some places where mothers believe that 'kajal' has a cooling effect and helps babies relax. The tradition passes from one generation to the other. 

Pandit Avadhesh Tiwari explains, "the babies are adorable and elders love to play with them. Sometimes this can have a negative impact on babies. In order to protect the baby from evil eye or any negative effect, the 'kajal' is applied. It nullifies the effect of the evil eye. That is why we have this practice of applying 'kajal' in Hinduism.” 

Another ritual of head shaving, commonly known as 'mundan', is also mandatory among Hindus. Some Muslims and native Americans follow it too. The ideal time to perform 'mundan' is between four months and 1.25 years of age, though it may be performed anytime before the child turns three.

Some communities tonsure boys only and no girls. The time and ritual of tonsuring vary from region to region and religion to religion. Some families prefer to perform the ritual in the presence of a priest while others do it at home in the presence of other family members. The ritual involves a big ceremony where relatives and friends are invited to give blessings to the baby. 

According to Hindu scriptures, a soul experiences 84 lakh 'yonis' (births) before coming to the human body, and every 'yoni' leaves some influence on human birth. Head shaving is a gesture that purifies and frees the soul from the past. Some ancient scriptures say that it helps in boosting the growth of nerves and brain.

"When a child is in mother’s womb, he is in an unclean condition with many germs in hair that go into head cells. They are required to be removed with an 'ustra' (razor) for better growth of the brain. Our scriptures say that there are impurities carried from past lives and shaving the head helps one free from the effect of those impurities", adds Pandit Avadhesh Tiwari.

Here we are reporting from Laxmi Narayan temple.

Piplantri goes plant-tree

When it comes to environment protection, women empowerment and employment generation, Rajasthan's Piplantri village has been leading the way in a unique manner.

At a time when stringent legal provisions have failed to check female foeticide and infanticide in the country, a man’s single-handed mission in Rajsamand district's Piplantri village has set an example of incredible change.

The village never welcomed the birth of a girl child. Female foeticide and infanticide were not unusual due to the vicious dowry system rampant in the village.

Then in 2007, the then Sarpanch of Piplantri Shyam Sundar Paliwal lost his 18-year-old daughter Kiran to dehydration and heat stroke. 

Paliwal's personal tragedy led him to reflect on how to save the girl child and, consequently, the environment. He then planted a tree in Kiran's memory. 

Seeing the support and emotions of other villagers at that time, Paliwal asked each family to plant 111 trees on the birth of a girl child. The birth of a daughter which was once considered misfortune became an occasion for celebration.

Significantly, as many as 350,000 trees have so far been planted.

The village 'panchayat' (local administration) looks after these plants so that no effort of the local people goes waste. Several women and self-help groups look after the maintenance on regular basis. 

“The women are making products from Aloe Vera which are then sold in the market. The women are becoming independent. When they become independent, they provide better education to their children. Thousands of girls and women are benefitting from this”, Paliwal emphasised.

Many village panchayats are now following Paliwal's footsteps and replicating the idea in their area.

Every year on the festival of 'Raksha Bandhan', a 'rakhi' (wrist band) is tied to the trees as a symbol of "brotherhood" with nature.

“I treat trees as my brothers because they were planted by my parents when I was born. They help keep the environment pollution free. They give us wood and fruits”, class 10 student Komal Paliwal said.

Besides tree plantation, a fixed bank deposit of Rs 31,000 is created with a contribution of Rs 20,000 by a Trust owned by Shyam Sundar Paliwal. The money, meant for girl’s education and marriage, is withdrawable only when she turns 18.

“I have two daughters. I was happy when my daughter gave birth to a girl child. For me, goddess Laxmi had arrived in my house. A fixed deposit was made at the time of her birth. Our daughters are our pride, not burden”, villager Sosar Devi said.

There is no stopping to Paliwal's unique work and now he wants the whole earth to turn green. 

"Today there are 3,50,000 trees in Piplantri giving employment to people. When so many trees can be planted in Piplantri, I am sure it can be done in other parts of the country as well," Paliwal averred.

Even after she is gone, Shyam Sundar Paliwal's daughter Kiran standing tall with 3,50,000 trees in Piplantri

Free ride for women in DTC, cluster buses.

Women in Delhi can now travel for free on Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) buses, courtesy the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government. The scheme allowing free travel to women in DTC and its cluster buses came into effect on October 29, 2019 on the occasion of 'Bhai Dooj' festival.

Women are issued pink tickets with the face value of Rs 10 which are then reimbursed by Delhi state government to DTC. The government has kept aside Rs 140 crore for implementation of this scheme.

Around 30 lakh travellers use DTC buses everyday and around 12 lakh people use cluster buses. Approximately, a third of these passengers are women. 

So far a total of 1.5 crore pink tickets have been printed. These tickets also bear social messages on women empowerment.

"The free ride will not only empower women financially and logistically, but also help them reclaim public spaces," claims Raghav Chaddha, AAP government spokesperson.

He added that the scheme encourages and incentivises women to use more and more public transport which, in turn, will make public spaces safer for women.

Women from low income group are super excited as they can now travel in even air conditioned buses which they could not afford earlier. Ridership in AC buses will be very high in summers as Delhi is very hot then.

College student Anuradha Mandal says, “I have to travel a lot. It is not easy to shell out Rs 20 each day on bus travel, so this scheme is very beneficial for me. This scheme is a boon for jobless people.”

Housemaker Sheetal Joshi is happy that she can use the money that she earlier spent on bus tickets for her children’s education.

“Women who drop their kids to tuition classes by bus can now save the money and use the same in other productive manner”, Joshi said.

Data from DTC indicates rise of women in DTC buses from thirty per cent earlier to forty per cent now. The number will go much higher as more and more people become aware of the scheme.

According to DTC bus driver Bharat Lal, the number of women in the bus he drives has risen dramatically. The total number of passengers in his bus has risen from roughly 60 per cent to 90 per cent.

There are around 5,600 DTC and cluster buses in which women can avail free ride. As many as 13000 marshals, along with 6000 civil defence personnel, Home Guards and ex-servicemen have been trained and deployed in buses to ensure safety of women. 

Consultant from Urban Catalyst Sonal Shah talks about ensuring safety of women in buses. 

"We need major emphasis on gender sensitisation training for transport service provider. In peak hours when buses are badly crowded, a woman may or may not raise alarm even if she feels sexually harassed or groped. Having marshals in bus alone won’t solve the problem. Women should feel comfortable approaching a marshal who is a male. There should be more women in transport sector because women feel safer complaining to women, instead of men,” says Shah.

She suggests a provision where women and men board and alight the bus from two different gates so that there is no or less scope of sexual harassment.

Measures such as ample street lighting at night and effective patrolling along public transport corridor are key to women safety.

Shah extols the benefits of the Delhi government's scheme to allow free travel in DTC buses.

“Women will be immensely benefitted by this scheme. It is the first time that a state government has taken such a bold step. It is indeed commendable”, she adds.

Yours truly travelling in DTC bus.