"She doesn't give the 'feel' of a President..."

Just last month, I had sat at an Ivy-League panel of entrepreneurs and answered the question, "What hurdles do you face as a woman in entrepreneurship?"

I indignantly responded, "there are no hurdles! We make up these hurdles as an excuse. Our gender is not a dis-advantage and let us stop asking this question because we then seed this idea in our minds, in little girls' minds. We just make up self fulfilling prophecies."

I had gone on to explain how anyone who takes up a challenge worth taking has to overcome great odds and all we needed were loved ones who gave us confidence to tide through the lows. I thought of my father, I thought of my male friends, I thought of my many open minded customers.

"We all face many hurdles. Gender is not one of them", I said with finality.

I was indignant, I was confident, I was self-righteous, I was successful. I was wrong.

This week, I wasn't sure why Americans had voted for Donald Trump as President, over Hillary Clinton. In my mind the choice was clear, if we could even call it a choice.

So I asked a very close friend, "Why do you think the Americans voted for Donald Trump".
"I don't know....", he said, "...she doesn't give the feel of a President".

A little taken aback, I was expecting some reasoning in favor of Trump, like, 'maybe he appealed to the greater masses; or 'he promised jobs'.

"She doesn't give the feel of a President,"....Just like I don't give the feel of an engineer?

Because she doesn't have a penis?
Because she isn't a he?
She doesn't give the feel of a President, but Donald Trump, with his p***y grabbing and bigotry, does?

Coming from someone who has always been proud of my 'unconventional' career choices, whose voice had been the loudest in dissent over gender differences, this came as a jolt.

I have an wonderfully supportive ecosystem and never felt disadvantaged in college or while growing up. There were the frequent episodes of mansplaining in meetings during my employment in the US; and many questioning customers who were 'surprised, people took me seriously'. I had learned to overcome these episodes with confidence in my abilities and the obvious experience in my field.

However, this new piece of input, from someone so close, I am still unable to process. Why did he say that? Most of the people around me, don't want to be sexist, they are liberal (that's a loaded word), conscientious and consciously, genuinely believe in gender-equality.

So why did he say this?
My assessment is that this reaction was based on something deeper. A sub-conscious, evolutionary, deep-rooted response which very subtly recognizes differences between gender roles. The question is, how do we overcome that?

#Fashionable

Brown spots, on my white shorts,
Are from mud bathing with elephants in a Thai village.

Ripped knees, on my blue jeans,
Are from jumping onto a train from a crowded Chinese platform.

Yellow splotch, on my pink top,
Is from gorging on crab Xacuti on a Goan beach.

Worn toes, on my black shoes
Are from climbing at sunrise up an Himalayan massif

What’s the story again behind your Versace dress?

The Dangerous Movement Among JNU 'Students'

I am forced to ask the question- how did a statistically disproportionate number of Kashmiri separatists make it into the leadership of the student union at a premier organizations in Delhi. Can it be possible without design or perhaps a professor's (SAR Geelani's) systematic brain washing? Are these mature rabble-rousers posing as 'students'.

In 2014, we were on our way from Leh to Srinagar, the road was smooth, of international standards- a highway lined on both sides by unmatched beauty, each bend offering a new vista more beautiful that the last. I was lost in revere, thinking how great my India was- when we drove by a green Pakistani flag fluttering proudly on the road.

The next day, I had taken a taxi from Dal lake to the outskirts of Srinagar. The radio was on and blaring. A very angry man was talking about how Muslims would go to heaven if they fought against India. Loud. Persuasive. Illogical.

I was reminded of that radio broadcast today, while watching a speech given by Shehla Rashid, the Vice President of JNU's student union. She was loud, persuasive and her vitriolic speech received hearty applause from the crowd. But when you dug deeper into her words- she did not have a logical focused agenda. She was using multiple populist agendas and was broadly against the Modi government and saffron- but no specific charges or allegations were made. It was purely a play on the sentiment of impressionable students.

She was rousing the crowd for a barge on Parliament. The entire speech really made me restless -that the students at JNU don't know what they are fighting for- their youthful ardor is being used by these anti national elements.

I hope and pray that the students at JNU are not gullible, that they carefully dissect the arguments given by these so called 'student' leaders. For those who can't stand for something they truly believe in, will fall for anything.

Wake up JNU.

Edit: New videos show that Kanhaiya was not shouting "Pakistan Zindabad slogans. He was asking for azaadi from jaativaad, samantvaad. But someone shouted anti India slogans at JNU- who was it?
The case is very complicated and a fair judiciary needs to judge. But definitely the students at JNU should not coming under the spell of aggressive speeches.