Dowry dilemma

Dowry is an evil still prevalent in Indian society. It is still common in most of the communities but some of the communities are especially notorious for this practice.

I would like to give an example. Funny but sad........last year one of our family friends were looking for a bride for their young, handsome engineer boy who is well settled in Canada. They belong to a specific community of India, in which dowry is even more vital than oxygen! But the parents of this boy were reluctant to take any dowry, as their son in law refused to take any while asking for their daughter's hand. So the parents were kind of thankful and hence they didn't want to take any dowry for their own son too.

Anyway, last week after a year the parents met us again. We asked for any progress about their son's wedding. Sadly they said, they are finding it very difficult to get a good bride for their son now. They said since they don't want any dowry, so the girl's family would suspect that there must be something wrong with the boy. On top of that some of the family 'friends' would brainwash the girl's father with words like “ You know, the boy is living alone in Canada....and they are not asking for any dowry.....There has to be something wrong with the boy. He must be in some bad company or he must be having some bad habits. Otherwise how is it possible that an engineer boy in our community is not asking for any dowry??”

Sad to say, but now they are not getting a bride because they don't want to take dowry!!

Better half gamers

I love video-games. I love games so much, that sometimes it can be labeled as an 'addiction' for me. That is why most of the time I avoid playing games, because I know once I am into it, then nothing could help me. :)

Anyway, recently I was little free from my mundane life and I started playing an on-line game on PS3. This game is called lost planet, which is kind of interactive war-game with other players who are on-line at the same time. This game is fast, hardcore and violent. The game also provides voice-chat facility with which players can speak to each other and discuss strategy.

To my surprise, when I started playing this game for the first time, I noticed that I am listening 'female' voices amongst rest of the other players.......What? How could a female be playing a hardcore fighting game like this? Games like these are meant for guys only, who seek adventure out of violence? Females are too genteel to play games like this? But gradually in next few days I noticed that females contribute a good chunk of these war-game players, and they enjoy violence and killing to the same extent the guys do. Surprisingly they are too good in these games. I have noticed female gamers are mostly from USA, UK and Japan. They are hardcore gamers as they experience immense pleasure whenever they defeat someone in the game. They discuss strategy and make many comments out of joy like “ I love kicking this guy's a**.......whoa, I just ripped his b**ty” :p

Later I did some research and found this jaw-dropping data that 40% gamers are women!! Please follow the link of entertainment software association survey data.

You can also download the 2008 survey result as .pdf file format from that page to have a better understanding of the data.

So here are some final conclusions.....

1.Everybody likes games. Gender has no role in that.
2.Only males don't have fancy for violence. Females too derive adrenalin out of that.
3.If you are a male and you think that you are a hardcore gamer and no one can defeat you......think again!! :)