The Tiger's Day

On a bright sunny morning on February 3 2012 in Bangalore, amidst green surroundings, children corners and an unusual sense of solitude in the middle of a bustling city, more than 650 children assembled at Bal Bhavan in Cubbon Park for a day of celebration and fun - Celebrating the tiger.

Kids for Tigers together with Sanctuary Asia and Aircel held the

annual Tiger Fest of the year; over 30 schools and hundreds of eager children looking forward to a fun-filled day away from classrooms and school routine - To spread the message of tiger conservation and saving the national animal. Cubbon Park famously known as one of the few 'lungs' of a bustling metropolitan city, where despite climbing pollution levels and an expanding population is one of the quick green getaways.

The event was in the entertainment area surrounded by joyrides, lots of trees and shrubs and endearing statues of wild animals giving an aimless stroller a double take just to make sure. Walking around my childhood memories suddenly came rushing back of all the birthday parties, Sunday outings and endless amounts of bhutta (corn on a cob), cotton candy and popcorn we used to gorge on.

The enthusiasm of school children displaying their work was wonderful. From small skits on stage including colourful costumes of tigers/poachers/hunters, to face painting on the lawns and stalls filled with dazzling wildlife art, posters, games etc, it was a fantastic day. The knowledge and resource coming from schools was impressive, the kids had taken a lot of effort to showcase their work in the best way possible.

Each school put up scroll hangings which displayed mother nature's fury against the apathy of man, the woes of the tiger and educational snippets. All material displayed was used from recycled material, no thermocol and plastic allowed. Music from junk where plastic bottles, shoe boxes, extra wood parts were magically turned into guitars, drum sets, even the sound of crunching paper explained as music by a student was remarkable. Faces were painted not only to mimic tigers, but peacocks, butterflies, the birds and the bee's were not left out either!

The purpose of the event was to showcase each person's support and fight against poaching the big cat, how the tiger is responsible for maintaining the ecosystem and most of all the strength of children in showing their support for the cause.

My Take on the Gender Issue

Looking at the social side of development in India, it is obvious that India is one of the last nations in the world on a socially progressive level. 2011 was the year of highest mortality among girl children with 914 girls born out of 1000 boys. In a country which prays and worships goddesses for centuries but kills their own girl child why is this act still present? The saddening and disturbing fact that India is still a country in the 21st century which condemn girls and majority look at the female sex as a burden, inspite of education, wide media coverage, information and advertising.

One of the primary reasons for this development to continue is the availability of sex determination clinics which are still illegally present in the country especially in cities, towns spreading to villages and other remote locations where the practice never used to exist. Female foeticide is easier, simpler the offenders get away with this since few laws are against abortion which is still a controversial issue. Another reason for this beastly act is dowry (which sounds more like death) and increasingly prevalent among the rich in today's times. In the past 10 years 20 millions girls have been killed, 50,000 illegal abortions continue every month and despite sex determination being a crime, the business of sex determination clinics exist throughout the country and remain packed with customers happily ready killing their unborn children.

Many parts of India are already feeling the impact of this issue, villages filled with men and boys and not a single woman to be seen. Families unable to find girls have started sounding out the alert. These areas overrun by men leads to violence, gangs, rapes, bride-trafficking added by an unhealthy amount of testosterone and illiteracy. The movie Matrubhomi was a disconcerting movie that represented the reality of this truth. Also the issue of sex selection occurs highest in rich states of Punjab, Gujarat and Haryana where wealthy families exist and encourage this practice. So its the rich that practice and leads to the spread of this disease.

The social system of killing girls in India is highly contradictory where our culture and religion make the common man worship the female goddess and purge his society of girl children.