On Sugar Paper

The question I constantly find myself asking (and would like to ask more often) is how can I rise above everything ? I came across this exhortation, 'rise above it all', when I was pursuing my masters course. At that point, I did not know what it meant to rise above everything. In particular Satishchandra Kumar, my professor, spoke of how one might need to go above and beyond one’s job description to get something done. Hence, a government employee who might strictly follow the bureaucratic process might, for once go out of his or her way to help some hapless person. Or, it might include, an executive doing a little extra for another colleague or a project or one's company- going beyond what the stated requirements of one's job role are. When I heard Jo Chopra speak at the Achieve Together Conference, in Delhi in 2014, she shared a story about how there are two wolves inside us- one being a ‘good’ wolf and the other being the ‘bad’ one. What we become at the ...

So who among you is fighting sexism every single day? Did I hear you say 'me'? Or did I hear you ask what is sexism. Or have you been too busy to notice or you don't care because it is too pervasive and you need to pick your battles? Well, I have been there too, first not knowing what sexism is and then not wanting to fight it because life is hard anyway until I reached a point, where I said, let me start. Being a teacher I am very watchful of how I conduct a class where there are both girls and boys. The examples I give, the pronouns I use, the one's I call on to participate are all making an impact on the psyche of the children. One of my girls is an excellent sports person who has the potential to become a swimming/ athletics/ yoga or gym trainer. I once went to watch a cricket match where she was part of the team (only two girls in the entire team that consisted of boys) and I heard the opponents being encouraged to hit the ball towards her when she was fielding b...