Summer in Brazil

It was one hell of a summer this year. Even wearing the finest quality cotton cloths wouldn’t withstand the amount of heat hitting my body every second in a day. Every morning when I left my home, I would look fresh as a daisy but one trip to my office was enough to wilt all the morning freshness out of my physical being. And the Brazil summer they say, was only just beginning.

I couldn’t bear this Brazilian heat. It was a new job and a new place but me being from the Canadian country-side, you could imagine my state to adjust to this very new and different environment. I hadn’t even packed my cloths properly to commemorate my move to Brazil’s most talked about, hottest place: Rio de Janeiro.  I had moronically packed all my thick-full sleeved tops and corduroy pants and jeans and tight knitted leggings.

The first day I entered my new work place, I found my fellow colleagues (all dressed in shorts and extremely informal sleeveless and deep necked tops!) look up at me with pity and amusement in their eyes as they took in my ensemble. I was the only person who was dressed from head to toe and sweating profusely, making me look like I had just got out of a hot water tub, fully dressed.

My boss called me to his cabin and gave me my first assignment as a travel reporter- change my wardrobe, visit the beaches, bathe in the sun, do a bit of snorkeling and surfing, socialize with the hottest Brazilian men (and women too if you are into it!, he added with a smirk), let your hair down and have some fun, the Brazilian way!

I was taken aback. Never had I had a boss who ordered me out of his office just to have some fun. Waiting for the cache, I asked him tentatively, “So you want me to just go out there and have fun? And I suppose you have a dead line for me to come up with an article of my expeditions?”

The boss gave a loud laugh before saying, “This is Brazil my dear, and this is how we roll. And also I just can’t bear to see you come here in your military outfit. You need to blow off some steam. Forget you are in Canada. I order you to get out there to the beaches and just have some fun and also find someone who helps you change your wardrobe” he eyed my baggy jeans and full sleeved shirt with pity. “So I’m giving you a few days off. Report back to work in a few days when you are dressed like you belong to the festive carnival!” And that was how I was shooed off from my work place on an extended holiday.

With a boss like that, I was starting to like Brazil already! But where do I find someone who helps me fit in comfortably with the Brazilian wardrobe? I hardly knew anyone here. I visited the nearby beach from my office that afternoon. I saw men and women sprawled over the hot sand, soaking up the sun in just their bikinis. I just couldn’t remember the last time I wore a swimming suit. May be 20 years ago when I was about 8, I thought sadly.

I sat on one of the beach chairs under the umbrella, sipping coconut juice and watched those beautiful Brazilian ladies in their skimpiest bikinis, showing off their curves so confidently. May be the boss is right; I really need to blow off some steam. But I can’t just wear a bikini all of a sudden. I don’t even know how to carry myself in those things. “I probably look like some red sausage bumbling about on the sand!” I said out loud in exasperation.

“Honey, if I were you, I would look gorgeous in a bikini I tell you that”, came a voice from my right. I looked sideways and noticed a pretty girl with long brown hair and in an even prettier sunshine yellow and flowery dress, sitting cross legged on the beach chair and staring out at the sea.

“Oops, sorry I didn’t notice you sitting here. I was just talking to myself and hadn’t realised I said the last sentence out loud”, I said in embarrassment.

The girl just smiled and looked at me, “I’m Kyra by the way. And judging by your look, you are very new to Brazil, am I right?”

“Hi Kyra, nice to meet you and I’m Nancy. Yep, you are not the first one to notice it today!” I laughed.

And soon we got into talking. Kyra was here on a vacation and she was on a fashion and make-over expedition. When I pointed out to her that she looked more fabulous than ever with her current ensemble, she laughed her pretty girly laugh as her sparkly blue eyes looked into mine and said “Well, maybe I’m on an expedition to give you an overall make-over”.

“You know, I really would appreciate that. You look like a girl who knows where a good buy is. So if you are not busy or anything could you hang out with me on a shopping spree?” I asked glad to have found someone to guide me through the unknown shops on the Brazilian streets.

Kyra got up from her chair and put on her big hat. “I’ll be glad to accompany you. So come on Nancy, let’s hit the shops right now. But first you’ll need a big hat and lots of sun-screen. Never let your skin get burnt. It’s a real pain I tell you”, winking at me, she led me to a small cosmetic shop and made me buy one of those Lakmé products with lots of SPF.

“Hey look, that girl on the cover of the sun-screen lotion, she looks exactly like you, with yellow dress and all” I showed her the cover.

“Well how about that! Maybe I’ve done some modelling that I don’t know about!” Kyra said making me laugh. I was glad to have befriended this witty, care-free humorous girl.  

That evening, Kyra and I had visited about two dozen shops all over Rio and that included me burning quite a big hole in my bank balance. Nonetheless, with Kyra’s help I was able to buy really good stuff that ranged from glittery accessories like stoned necklaces and bracelets and feathery ear rings to fabulous clothes like breezy, flowery dresses that were so popular in these parts (and which incidentally complimented my ample curves to my surprise!) and many colourful and fun looking sandals and foot wear.

I did had my doubts when we entered the bikini shop (I suddenly became very aware of all the extra pounds that I had put on recently) but Kyra insisted that I bury my shyness and discomfort as women of all ages and sizes walked around happily in bikinis. “So you have got absolutely nothing to be shy about. And a woman your size is considered sexy, not fat!” she reassured me and that made me feel a lot more comfortable as I solemnly bought two pairs of colourful bikini’s myself.

The next day, I woke up with excitement. Today Kyra had promised to take me out for some sun bathing and relaxation. So I wore my new flowery dress, and sun glasses and pink slip-ons and headed out of my place to the beach. Kyra was already lying on the warm sand, applying sun-tan lotion and she looked amazing in her blue bikini. As I approached her, Kyra grinned at me and said, “Come now sun-shine, let’s see that pretty bikini we shopped last night”.

I was hesitant at first as I eyed my surrounding for any on-lookers, but there were so many men and women disrobing, it really didn’t look like I would be the centre of attention. With a sigh of relief, I removed my dress and lay down on the sand. “Don’t forget your sun screen”, Kyra reminded me again.

I reached into my bag and pulled out Lakmé sun-expert and was in the process of applying some of it to my back when I heard Kyra call my name from a distance. I looked up to see her running towards the sea with a surf board in her hand. I got up and ran to catch up with her in my red bikini and I heard a few wolf whistles at me from random Brazilian guys who were playing volley ball nearby. I imagined gleefully that I might look like a life-guard from the Bay Watch series!

“Kyra, wait-up! I don’t know how to surf!” I called to her, but she was already far off into the sea and she just waved for me to join her.

“I could teach you how to ride the waves, if you like miss.” I turned around to see an attractive Brazilian guy in shorts. “I am Emmanuel and I teach for the beginners”, he added in a strong accent. So I found myself a hot tutor too!

For the next two hours, I graced from being ridiculously clumsy on the surf board to actually sitting on it at least once. Emmanuel was a good tutor and very patient too to handle all my clumsy antics and I immediately took a liking towards him. “You come here every day and I teach you, eh?” he asked me hopefully and I nodded my head in excitement and waved him good-bye for the day.

I saw Kyra drying her hair and galloped towards her with a weird grin on my face. “I see somebody found a new interest in surfing!”She laughed at me seeing that ridiculous look on my face. “Um, you know how it is...” was all I could manage to say without blushing like a little girl.

That night, Kyra took me to an awesome pub by the sea shore and we had a blast with tequilas and martinis. Boosted by our drinks we both invaded the dance floor and I felt like the night would never end. And I bumped into Emmanuel on the dance floor too and we got to know each other more. The night was turning out to be magical after-all.

The next few days were as exciting as the first day on the beach. I was hanging out more with Emmanuel both on and off the beach as we went snorkeling, paragliding and he even taught me how to skate. And gradually, I saw very little of Kyra. She was always around whenever I had any wardrobe or make-over emergencies. Other than that, she used to magically disappear from my sight.

Very soon, my extended vacation had stretched over a week. And within this span of time, I had changed from being a shy, introverted Canadian girl to this care-free, fun-loving and almost-tanned-enough-to-be-called- Brazilian Woman.

I had never given much thought to my wardrobe or make-over’s. Back in my Canadian home it really didn’t matter what I wore as anything I wore would be covered by a thick jacket and a scarf. But in Brazil, one had to be in their bare minimum in order to withstand the heat. And all thanks to Kyra, she had helped me out when I needed proper fashion guidance. Now I can confidently walk into a bikini shop and select the one that suits me the best. Kyra helped me overcome my silly fears and shyness. And only because of that, I was able to talk and hangout with Emmanuel. Kyra lit up a side of me that I didn’t know existed in me till now.

And where is Kyra now, do you ask? Well, Kyra is a part of me. She is that bubbly-sided personality in me who lights me up from deep down. Like you, even I thought Kyra was a different person altogether, until recently, when I looked into the mirror, a pair of sparkling blue eyes stared right back at me and that’s when I realized, me and Kyra were the same person.

There’s always a Kyra within every girl. You just have to trust yourself and boost up your confidence to bring her out!

 ***

P.S: After two weeks of a wonderful vacation, it was time for me to get back to work. I walked into my work place in one of my flowery dress and all my colleagues gave me happy thumbs up as some shouted "Aye Caramba!!" and my boss’s voice drifted over to me from his cabin, “I see the vacation indeed helped you fit in. Welcome back Nancy and I expect your travel report by tomorrow. Now get to work!”

P.P.S:  Well as I type now, I’m ending my travel report with a double post-script. This is Nancy, signing off and Kyra says hi too!

________________________________________________________________________

This post is written for "The Lakme Diva Blogger Contest" and my post on IndiBlogger can be found here.

This contest is sponsored by: 

There she was: A victim of Bullying and Eve-teasing.

girl getting bullied in school

There she was… the little girl with her new pink lunch box that her dad had just bought her. It was the first day at a new school. 3^rd grade, she was growing so fast. Newly moved to the city with her parents, she had to mingle with not only the new surroundings but also with the new kids at her new school. She hated to enter this new territory. But her dad promised her that she will be treated like a princess here. This school loves new-comers and she will make many friends in no time. He promised. The little girl wiped her tears hearing her daddy’s words and waved him good-bye. No sooner had her dad left her, than she was surrounded by four kids, bigger and older than her. “Hello new-comer, what’s that you holding?” enquired one kid, while the other kid pulled the little girl’s plaits with glee. The little girl back-tracked with fear in her eyes. “Where do you think you are going?” the third kid pulled her roughly. She tried to call for help but the kids surrounding her were so tall that she could barely see over their shoulders. “If you scream or cry loudly, we will tear your new dress in half” threatened one of the bullies. The girl was too petrified to stand up for herself. She let them grab her new pink lunch box. She let them push her to the ground as they gleefully ran with their new stolen treasure. First day of her school, she had barely entered the school premises and what a bullying welcome she got!

source

 Her dad had obviously made a mistake. This was not a good place to make friends. She decided to tell her dad about this and braced herself to face the rest of the day. After the last school bell, she was more than glad to go wait for her dad outside. As she made her way out of her class, someone gave her the leg, making her to trip and fall face down with a thud. Her hands got badly bruised as she tried to avoid the fall. The four bullies were back and were having a good laugh at the girl’s misery. “You know, we hate tattle-tales … you are not planning to go running to your daddy with stories are you?” asked one kid. “If you do, you will receive an even better welcome tomorrow”, warned another kid throwing the empty lunch box back at her as the four bullies walked away.  She was 8 years old and a new found terror circled around her. Never had she experienced something like this. Bullying… She was being bullied right now but she barely knew what bullying meant. When her dad asked how the first day of school had went, the little girl silently replied a positive lie. She was scared and bruised both physically and mentally to even bring up the actual events that she happened to face that day. She hoped that keeping her mouth shut would make those older kids leave her alone. Poor little girl, how naively wrong she was. The next few weeks went by and the new school was a place of suffering for this little girl. Her bruises got worse, she frequently happened to lose her belongings. Her parents thought she was being merely clumsy and scolded her to be more careful. She got more reprimands for losing all her new things. Her own mother failed to notice the actual truth being hidden by her 8 year old daughter. Every time the little girl lied to her parents, her eyes were silently pleading them to notice the hidden truth. Two months later, on a day just like any other, her dad noticed that his daughter was nowhere to be seen when he came to pick her up. On a closer inspection with the school faculty, he found out that she was lying, unconscious on the toilet floor, with bruises so severe that she had to be hospitalized for a month to recover completely. Finally the truth was out, but at what expense? At the expense of the little girl’s inner spirit. She was mentally depressed after this ordeal and it was a challenging task to get her back to her cheerful self again.

eve-teasers in the night

Mean while, in a different city and under a totally different situation and circumstance, there she was… a young lady in her mid-teens. A high school student by day and a volley ball player by evening. She was born and brought up in a severely conservative family and they restricted her to go anywhere else but school.  But she had fought with her parents a lot to let them give her permission to pursue her skills in her favourite sport. She was forbidden to wear shorts like the other girls. But she didn’t mind as long as she got to play the game in the evening. The sports field was 2 kms away from her home.  One late evening, her bicycle happened to have a puncture. She was pushing her cycle through the dark street and suddenly she heard a fast moving motor-bike behind her. Before she could turn and look, the bike was right next to her and in the next two seconds, a rough hand grabbed and slapped her behind and before the girl could assess what was happening, the bike was gone. She didn’t even get the chance to shout at the monster riding the bike. With anger and shock blazing through her, she quickly made her way back to her home. She dared not tell her parents about this. They were already scolding her for reaching home so late. If they came to know about this incident, they would surely ban her from leaving the house in evenings. A few weeks passed and the girl almost put the incident behind her. But little did she knew that she was now being stalked by the same monster who had eve-teased her a few weeks back. One such evening, the monster grabbed the opportunity to confront her while she was riding home alone. The manner less brute came close to her and asked her to go with him. This time the girl wasn’t dumb-founded. She knew it was the same guy and that made her even angrier to think that he had the nerve to behave so heinously. She did what she thought was the right and justifiable thing- she slapped the brute once and without further words, she quickly rode back home. Yet again, she didn’t dare tell her mother and father about this incident. Her mother sensed she was upset about something but when she tried to ask, the girl refused to talk and went to her room. The very next day, tragedy took place in the girl’s life. No sooner did she leave the house to go to school, than the brute; along with his friend chased upon her and the brute threw a bottle of acid on the girl’s face. The girl, although survived the acid attack was disfigured for the rest of her life. She became the victim of her own fate.

You see, the above are two independent incidents, the likes of which commonly takes place in every nook and corner of our nation. Bullying and Eve-teasing…. The two major crimes that takes place under the radar of our nation’s law. Bullying is a form of an aggressive behaviour that is forced upon victims who are usually weak to stand up to themselves and fight the oncoming harassments. The harassments can be of any form- verbal or physical; an act often replenished on the same victims through various methods of emotional blackmails and other forms of intimidation. Bullying is often seen at schools and colleges where the senior students usually choose the juniors as victims for their experiments. No kid is born with a cruel intention. They often pick such behaviours off the television or may be due to the surroundings in which they are born and brought up. In most cases, if the father figure is abusive on the child then the child tends to show the same aggression on fellow kids at the school.  Even I was a victim of bullying in one of my school years. Not only I, but many kids in my class became the victims on one such occasion. A group of boys from the higher class self-assessed themselves as the class monitors and said they were assigned by their teachers to our class during lunch breaks and we blindly believed those boys. Every lunch break, they used to come to our class, pick a few helpless kids as victims and they used to beat them black and blue with wooden scales. I’m shocked to remember that even I have undergone the rule of such bullies in my life. I was too scared to speak two words back then and alas, I got my share of unjustified beatings from those boys. Had I had enough courage to voice my own opinion back then, I’m sure things would have been different. But I endured the pain silently along with most of the kids in my class. Thankfully one of the teachers found out about this sooner and those boys got their share of deserved punishment.

By spreading proper awareness among students and parents, bulling can be controlled to some extent. It’s a duty of every parent to make sure their child is not being harassed in his/her school. It’s a very sensitive age to undergo such physical and mental torture. I wish I could ask every kid to stand up to themselves and never let the shadow of bullying upon them. But all kids are not born with bold and outright nature. It should be every teacher’s and parent’s duty to ensure that the kids are not having any problems at school.

source:google

Coming to eve-teasing. Well, it’s another form of bullying but alas it’s not something a child inflicts on another child. It’s in fact an outrageous crime that comes face to face with every woman across India and the rest of the world. Some low lives think there is no harm in simple jeering and cat-calling and groping random women in public as it would give them the satisfaction of god-know-what. But any form of eve-teasing is a tone-down term for sexual harassment on women. No educated man with a little bit of common sense would ever mistreat a woman in public like that. Unfortunately, in many situations even an educated man becomes ruthlessly indisposed in the face of some so called “sexual thrill”. According to Section 298 (A) and (B) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), if a man found guilty of making a girl or woman the target of obscene gestures, remarks, songs or recitation will be sentenced to a maximum jail sentence of three months.  But how much of this rule is our government really following? We hear rape cases, acid victims and eve- teasing on regular basis that has almost made this whole thing to be viewed as casually as a common- crime in a “wattcha-gonna-do-abut-it??” manner. But one cannot blame this entirely on the justice of the Indian system. Every woman undergoes eve-teasing more than once in her life. Some are bold enough to stand up to themselves. They take up the bold initiative and lodge complaint to the nearest authority. But how much can you expect from a helpless teenager? They are just opening their eyes to woman-hood and already they are fast becoming victims to this atrocious crime called eve-teasing. The least they can do is confine such incidents to their parents. Here comes the parent factor! It is very important for the parents to give an open support for their daughters. As I described in my second part of the story, it’s not only the girls who dress boldly undergo eve-teasing. Even a simple conservative girl would be targeted by these monsters. Had her parents given her more support rather than restricting everything she did, she would probably have told them when she experienced the groping attack the first time itself. This would have prevented the latter events that took place. But not only parent’s support but a lot many other factors come into picture when it comes to eve teasing. Poverty plays a main role. In rural areas, this act is probably more common and yet completely hidden from the public eye since the victims themselves seldom wears the courage to speak out loud. I wish I could tell all these ladies to stand up to themselves and fight. Just fight. I’m glad states like Delhi and Bhopal have taken up initiatives and protests against eve-teasing. I would gladly join their ranks and render my support.

source:google

So if I could bring upon a change in this society, then I would support for a positive change that would put an end for both Bullism and Eve-teasing. No child deserves to be picked upon and no women deserve to be sexually harassed. One must stand up to themselves and fight. Just fight. We are not born in this world to live; we are born to live and to fight our way where there is injustice.

And as an old saying goes;

Knowing others is intelligence.

Knowing yourself is true wisdom.

Mastering others is strength.

Mastering yourself is true power.

If you realize that you have enough, 

you are truly rich.

If you stay in the center

and embrace death with your whole heart, 

you will endure forever.

I thank Indiblogger and Stayfree for endorsing this wonderful contest “Time to Change”.

A GIRL LIKE ME

A GIRL LIKE ME

As the day begins to bloom,

I wake up with a feeling of gloom;

I ask myself, yet again

For that particular reason,

As to why a girl like me

Is living her life so carelessly.

I have with me, within my reach, Everything.

Then why am I in constant fear, that I have Nothing?

Could there be a better question;

For which I’m capable to answer?

That is why I ask this:

Why a girl like me

Is living her life so pointlessly.

I rise, I eat, I live, and I sleep;

But I do know there is something

Inside me that is much more deep;

But still, I ponder as if I know nothing,

And could there be an answer for this stupidity?

I guess not;

That is why I say this:

Why a girl like me

Is living her life so emptily.

But amidst all this dark,

I still have hopes to find a ray of light;

And could this particular attitude,

Can make all the difference there is?

And that is why I conclude this by saying:

It is okay for a girl like me

To find my way towards my destiny!

********

Theme Thursday: Inside , Goose Berry garden: Poetry Picnic Week 16: My Life in Free verse, Poetry pantry

My Note:  This is my very first poem. It pretty much refers to me. It did inspire me to change and shape my life in a positive way. Not that I've completely found my destiny(I'm still clueless on that part!), but my first poem did help me to face some dark days!!