Pink Panties

Last month a Hindu mob attacked women who were drinking in a bar in the Indian city of Mangalore. The men who brutally beat these women, calling them whores and prostitutes, are members of a group called Sri Ram Sena, or Army of Ram. They consider themselves the "custodians of Indian culture" but others see this attack and others on women in India as an attempt to "talibanize" India. The group, led by Pramod Mutalik, is also against Valentine's Day. Last week he said: "Valentine's Day is definitely not Indian culture and we will not allow celebration of that day in any form."

Here's where the pink panties come in. A group of women in India have formed a group on Facebook called The Consortium of Pubgoing, Loose and Forward Women to fight against Mutalik and his group Sena. They also have a blog: http://www.thepinkchaddicampaign.blogspot.com/ The group, with over 40,000 members, last time I checked, is asking people to send pink panties (chaddis) to Mutalik on Valentine's Day. The website says: "most women in this country have enough curbs on their lives without a whole new franchise cashing in with their bully-boy tactics. Join in. Be imaginative, have fun and fight back!"

I joined the Facebook group because I love the name and I love the fact that women are fighting bullies like this is such a humorous way. Women really should be in charge of the world.

Have a wonderful Valentine's Day everyone!

Valentine's Day 1960

This picture is of me, age 6, in front of my home in Houston, taken on Valentine's Day in 1960. We were at school, Mark Twain Elementary, when it started snowing and we got to go home early. It was the first snow I had ever seen and I was pretty excited. Houston had 4.4 inches of snow that day which is very unusual. My sister made a snow angel and then later we made a snowman together. I've been in snow a few times since that, but this is one day I will always remember.

The house in the picture is on Drummond, right off of Stella Link. A lot of the other homes in the area have been torn down to make way for the McMansions that are so popular now. Fortunately, this one is still there and whenever my sister is in town we always go look at it together. A few years ago, when we were driving by, the owners came out and we told them we used to live there. They were the same people we had sold the house to in 1961 or 1962, when we moved to New Orleans, and they invited us in to have a look around. The house was the same, except for the hardwood floors that had been covered with carpet. We also saw our initials on some concrete in the backyard. It was a nice experience seeing everything again.