Certainly worth a read

If you weren’t there at Crossword yesterday, you missed something. The occasion was the launch by eminent writer Mahasveta Devi of Behind Closed Doors: Domestic Violence in India, edited by Rinki Bhattacharya. The book chronicles the journeys of 17 women, who survived violence in their homes. The release was followed by a reading and a discussion which featured prominent Calcutta citizens such as Ratnaboli Bose, Maitreyi Chatterjee, Sujoy Chakraborty, and Anuradha Kapoor. Bhattacharya told her shocked readers that there are many prominent film personalities – like Nutan, Dimple Kapadia and Zeenat Aman — who have endured violence in their marriages.

What a record

Our friendly neighbour, Orissa, boasts of many things — not the least of which are deep forests and beautiful beaches. Unfortunately, there are other, darker facts about this state, often overlooked. Reported incidents of violence against women, for instance, are highest in the state. A recent study conducted by Oxfam reveals that dowry deaths and torture of women is highest in Orissa. According to the principal investigator of the study, Cuttack-based journalist Farhat Amin, in 2001, the number of dowry cases was reported to be 2,500, 12 per cent higher than the year before. As per estimations of the Human Rights Protection Cell of Orissa, around 1,600 cases of dowry tortures are reported in the state each year. There has also been a rise of 4.9 per cent in rape cases. The State Women’s Commission is worried, not surprisingly.

Nilosree Biswas

Bring down the wall

Irish human rights activist Caoimhe (pronounced ‘Keeva’) Butterly last week launched a 14-day, water-only hunger strike in protest against the construction of the apartheid wall in Palestine. Butterly first attracted worldwide attention in 2002, when she was shot in Palestine by Israeli soldiers, and was profiled by both the Guardian and Time. Now Al-Jazeera is planning to cover Butterly’s attempt to draw attention to the plight of the Palestinians. The wall, she felt, would only exacerbate their miseries.

Shankar Sharma

On duty

The duties of a nurse extend beyond taking a patient’s temperature — they are all about protecting life itself. One such professional, Mary Kelly from County Clare, Ireland, faces trial this week for an attack on a US warplane in the build-up to the war in Iraq last year. Kelly says that her action helped save thousands of lives, and has become an unlikely hero among anti-war campaigners. If convicted, she faces up to 10 years in prison. Former US Attorney-General Ramsay Clarke is one of the high-profile witnesses in the case.

Shankar Sharma

Equal pay for equal work?

Does anyone know just how glaring the discrepancy is between the fees male and female leads command in the Mumbai film industry? The latter get paid approximately one-third what the heroes get. Aamir Khan (right) is the highest paid (Rs 5 crore for The Rising, plus 10 per cent of the profits), followed closely by Shah Rukh (around 4 crore), and Hrithik (3.5 crore). On the other hand, the highest paid lead female (Aishwarya Rai) gets only 2.5 crore — exactly half of the highest and equal to the lowest paid lead male. Preity Zinta and Kajol command around Rs 1.5 crore per movie, followed by Rani Mukherjee and Kareena Kapoor at Rs 1.25 crore. The reason, admit top industry names, is that most of the films are male-oriented. Explains actor Shabana Azmi, “The only remedy is to have a higher ratio of films with female leads”.

Overheard … the following comment from a city policeman, who caught sight of a woman in a car puffing at a cigarette: “Hmm… smoking, eh?” He peered into the backseat, shook his head and sauntered off.