Sita - An Ideal Indian women

I have been following Ramayana on NDTV-Imagine for a week or so. TV serial is based on Ramayana a Hindu manuscript about life of Lord Rama, an incarnation of God Vishnu.

Various characters are woven meticulously e.g
Sita – beloved wife of Rama
Laxmana – Younger brother of Rama
Hanuman – Loyal friend
Ravana – Stong, powerful, Intelligent but arrogant villain
Kaushalya – Loving Mother
and many others…

This holy manuscript portrays ideal characters like ideal son, ideal wife, ideal brother and ideal king. As Hindus we always look up to these characters and try to bring few attributes in our personal lives. Sita – an avatar of Lakshmi is considered to be a benchmark for all Hindu women and similarly Rama is epitome of virtue and justice. I believe all holds true about Sita however Rama failed on both fronts of being righteous king and ideal husband when it came to give verdicts against Sita.

Rama relinquished his right to throne and went into exile as commanded by his father. Sita willingly renounced all comforts of the palace to company her husband during travails of his exile. An example for all Hindu women to standby their husband at all phases of his life. She endured a painful life and was later abducted by evil King of Lanka – Ravana. Rama waged a furious war against belligerent army of evil men and finally rescued Sita. However to prove her chastity to the world she had to walk through fire. She passed the test in front of Rama, Laxmana and Hanuman and was gracefully accepted Rama. After returning to Ayodhaya (Rama’s Kingdome) some people raised voice against Sita’s long captivity by Ravana and such slanderous statements led to second exile for Sita when she was pregnant. But this time Sita went into exile all alone. This raises a question in my mind isn’t it a responsibility of a Hindu men to standby their wives in arduous times? Secondly if Sita has already proved her purity in front of three member of Rama’s council including King Rama himself then why she was forced into exile again? Well in my opinion Lord Rama has set a wrong example for men as a righteous King and Husband.
Later Sita gave birth to two sons Luv and Kush. Here Sita again proves strength of Indian women by raising her sons to be as intelligent, educated and talented as they would have been in taught in Rama’s palace. Circumstances lead to meeting of Sita and her two sons in front of Rama’s council and where she was asked to testify and prove that Luv and Kush were Rama’s son. This was an end to patience Sita, who pleas for release from a barely happy life of a queen and a wife of a God himself. She surrenders her life and enters into split open earth from where she came from.
An exemplary life by Sita teaches all girls to adhere to these sacred womanly virtues however I don’t think Lord Rama leaves a positive impression for boys (especially in light of being an ideal husband). My personal feeling is that every boy would love to have a wife like Sita but I really doubt girls would ever want a husband like Rama.

Well then this is all my personal opinion ...as it’s always difficult to understand what girls want ;)

And lastly this thought doesn’t hold true only for Hindu religion but for all religions where men are considered superior to women.

Top Management

In present scenario when dark clouds of economic crisis still loom over multinational corporations, companies are fighting hard for their survival. Once czars of their domains and nations pride; names like GM, AIG and Citibank are on the verge of bankruptcy. Strategists are burning midnight oil to keep these big names afloat. Governments are providing massive bailout packages and buying stakes in these companies to save thousands of jobs. Leaders from these corporations are setting examples for their comrades by working harder and giving away big slices of their packages and bonuses. Citigroup CEO said he will take salary $1 a year and that too without any bonuses till banking major returns to profitability. This example clearly shows western corporations are pushing for top to bottom approach i.e. slicing off big expenditure so the shock is felt least at the bottom layer. However back in India companies have totally opposite approach i.e. bottom to top. Think tanks here are showing doors to number of employees, imposing salary cuts, interdicting promotions salary hikes and even cooling down hot coffee vending machines. However in this time of global meltdown when tissue papers are disappearing from shelves in these institutions, Top management is enhancing pay packages of their TOP personnel and board members. Hopefully these intellectuals will understand blocking supplies of coffee powder, tissue papers and stationary doesn’t even amount to 1% of monthly pay packages of our Leaders Top Managers. They should really understand an institution can outperform when the leaders lead from front. Leaders are meant to set examples to look up to and be a guiding torch in dark times. Talking big, and calling an organization as a BIG united family sounds less meaningful when parents eats child’s hard earned share.