Reasons to celebrate ...

Author: Frank Krishner

So October is here with a bang, action packed, what with a national cleanliness campaign being launched on World Non-violence Day (October 2), and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s maiden speech over All India Radio attracting listeners from Harnaut to Hajipur and  later in the evening, the chilling news of a stampede in the heart of Patna.

International day for Older persons (October 1) passed quietly as usual, lost in the Navratra celebrations. October 4, the birthday of St. Francis of Assisi (and my feast day) was World Animal Day.  International teacher’s day is celebrated on the 5^th of October, and that’s when the UN focuses on teacher’s issues. No plans are afoot to observe this day in India. 

The first Monday of October is when the UN celebrates World Habitat Day. The theme  is especially significant for Patna and other cities in Bihar. This year, the United Nations chose the theme ‘Voices from Slums’. The World Habitat Day 2014 campaign aims to recognize life in slums and give a voice to slum dwellers for improving quality of living conditions in existing slums.  

This year, the festival of Bakr Id also falls on October 6-7, and since the festival is also about showing charity to the poor, we could be more conscious of this while offering our prayers, suggested a student who believes that “faith must also reflect twenty first century concerns”. Of course, suggesting that one become vegetarian on a day like this is an apostasy, and it would be wise for publicity seeking PETA activists to think carefully before making brainless appeals.

World Post Day is celebrated each year on October 9, the anniversary of the establishment of the Universal Postal Union. It’s when philatelists look forward to new stamps and products from the General Post Office to add to their collections. October 10 is World Mental Health Day

Yet another reason to celebrate girls comes around on October 11, the international day of the Girl Child. It’s yet another opportunity for us to remind ourselves and our neighbours that we have to keep girls in school, and empower them,  says a resource person from Bihar Mahila Samakhya on whose desk lie numerous case studies of parents who resist educating their girls beyond the fifth grade. October 13 is the International day for Disaster Reduction.

Don’t forget to wash your hands on October 15, because you may be pulled up by schoolchildren, rural women, Panchayat ward members. Bihar will be observing Global Handwashing Day with poster competitions, rallies, and other activities.

Village women have their own day to celebrate themselves and their achievements, and October 15 is when leading NGOs that run Bihar’s self help women’s groups will be looking to organize programmes. “This can be tied in with  World Food Day which is on October 16, especially as several state government programmes are being run to promote women cultivators,” observed a social activist. 

“The festival of lights falls on October 23^rd and that’s an occasion for all of us to celebrate,” says Melvin from Kurji, and of course Chhat will follow six days later, and that’s Bihar’s mega bathing festival.

On October 24, the United Nations celebrates itself, and it is also the World day for Development Information.

On  October 27  call over friends and watch all those classic movies and sing out those really old songs because it is World day for Audiovisual heritage. Audiovisual documents, such as films, radio and television programmes are our common heritage and contain the primary records of the 20th and 21st centuries. They help to maintain our diverse cultural identity; but countless documentary treasures have disappeared since the invention of image and sound technologies that help us to share experiences, creativity and knowledge. All of the world's audiovisual heritage is endangered, and that’s why this day was earmarked in 2005.

October 29 is International Internet day, and October 31 is an excuse to hold fancy dress parties because it is Halloween. Have an eventful October.

Daughter's Day... What's that?

Footloose & Fancy Free: the uncensored version

This weekend the ‘jolly pages’ of a local English daily tried to tell us that the hep and happening creatures were busy planning mega splurges for Daughters’ Day.

And when’s that? This Sunday, of course. Some people dreamed up this idea around the year 2011, to celebrate a new ‘daughters’ day’ in India on the fourth Sunday of September, and of late, the sellers of soaps, shampoos, baubles and Barbie dolls have yet another excuse to pick parents’ pockets.

So what’s this ‘daughters day’ tamasha all about? Who should know better than the women in the NGO sector? So one phoned Bihar’s most prominent women’s organization, the Bihar Mahika Samakhya Society. “Daughters Day on Sunday? You’re not serious? We already have a women’s day, a day for the girl child, the One Billion Rising Campaign, and we initiated the Celebrate your daughter days all over the state. Whose idea was this one? Not the government of India, otherwise there would have been a circular to that effect!” That was their answer.


Thinking that UNICEF would probably be the best place to get an answer, one diligently rang up Nipurnh Gupta, the rights and media point person. If anyone should know about daughters days in the offing, it had to be Nipurnh. Anyway in the past week, she was behind a workshop for kids and cinema, and a two day regional conference that stressed the duty of the media to inform everyone about prompt and regular immunization of babies, especially daughters. Ms Gupta, hemmed and hawed a bit, and then said that if anyone came up with the idea of having a daughter’s day it was a good thing. “The more the idea that one should cherish daughters is brought into the discourse, somewhere it will impact the adverse sex ratio. Let’s ask parents whether they have really made sure that their baby daughters have received all the immunization? Has the child received DPT three times before she reaches 7 years of age? Has she received two doses of immunization for Japanese encephalitis before she reaches two years? What about Hepatitis B vaccine before her first birthday celebration?”



So, I decided to do a quick pop survey. Out popped my phone and I did a bit of screen tapping, and waited for the results.


Professor Muniba Sami what’sapped: “Daughter’s Day- this Sunday? For us every day is our daughter’s day.” Media professional Ann Mary John messaged, “Till date haven’t celebrated it, heard it was on the 28th, and I’m not sure that many of us are aware of this day. Marketing ploy?” Mehraz Haque, currently doing a PHD from Banaras Hindu University messaged: ‘Had no idea about this. Great. Wonderful opportunity to demand something from Daddy dear.”


So now, what's Daughter’s Day about? For the few with expendable incomes, it’s another reason to splurge and party; for those in the social work sector, it is another opportunity to drive home the point that daughters are not expendable, and to combat what they perceive as patriarchy and misogynist traditions; for the businessmen it’s a potential market to be exploited. For the harried middle class urban parents living in boxes called apartments, it’s a beautiful opportunity to stop for a moment and tell their little girls aged 5 to 50… that they are truly special.


Come on ye Fairy Godmothers! Celebrate that hardworking Cinderella. Pull her out of the pantry, wipe her face and give her a pair of glass slippers, take her on a ride to the Mall, waltz her into the food court. Treat her like a princess. Never Mind, she’ll be back among the pots and pans come Monday morning!


Author: Frank Krishner