Go to the bar and vent your anger

DRINKING: China a country known for its creative skills has come up with yet another innovation.It has provided men and women harbouring some form of anger or other an outlet to release their bottled up venom.

All one has to do is go to a designated Bar and get the poison out of your system. The Bar provides you with the means. A local daily the other day carried a picture of a Chinese woman making the most of the facility.

"A woman hits a man in protective gear with boxing gloves in an "Anger Release Bar" in Shenyang, North East China's Liang Province ran the photo caption.It says that the Bar lets customers to smash glasses and even beat its employees to vent anger.Another photo caption showed a Chinese woman throwing a beer bottle towards a wall in an "Anger Release Bar".

One is yet to hear of such a facility in this part of the world. At least not in Sri Lanka so far as I know. Even if there was one, one wonders it would attract any 'customers. For, Sri Lankan women we are sure does not need such expiation of womanly wrath.

Their action would be direct and woe betide the man at the receiving end. For Isn't it not said that 'Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned'. This wrath was demonstrated to the hilt by a woman politico at the 1989 General election in a well publicised incident.

This was at time the electorate was first exposed to the manapey and intra party rivalry at its fiercest. Observing that her rival from the same party representing the same district was blissfully ensconced on her own stage securing much mileage without so much as by your leave up strode the woman politico on to the stage and with a kick that a David Beckham would envy sent the table flying with all the snacks refreshments bottles on it.

There was also another famous incident when a spouse of a Minister went berserk at a Sunday fair and used the potatoes and Bombay onions that were at handy to attack a rival vying for her husband's affections.

It seems this is a trait of Sri Lankan women. If not how could one explain all those harridans who would come running with their katties and other implements to pounce on some hapless motorist unfortunate enough to knock down some native in a notorious coastal town down south. Their actions have always been direct. They would not hear of third party indemnity.

Of course there could be exceptions when the Chinese remedy could come in handy. There could be mothers whose children were denied entry to a school of their choice due to lack of financial resources taking it out on a lookalike of the Principal.

There could also be much harried women bus commuters expending their energy on imagined private bus drivers for throwing them hither and thither inside a particularly rickety jalopy through indiscriminate apply of breaks.

Among this group would also be an army of housewives who burdened with high prices of commodities would like having a go at the Minister concerned if not his lookalike.

Politicians no doubt will top the list of villains in the minds of the women whose wrath would know no bounds when indulging in their bashing. They would no doubt single out those who promised the moon but delivered zero.

There would also be those who want to let fly at those doctors who down their stethoscopes at the drop of a hat. They would insist on special effigies of this fraternity to rip their bellies so no medico could put them back together.

- Rambler

Single mother sparks moral debate

DEBATE: Criticized by some as a harlot but canonized by others as a charming expecting mother, a Chinese blogger is stirring a lot of on-line debate because she's not married.

"Ground Melon Pig", as she calls herself, has decided to become a single mother after breaking up with her boyfriend. Her blog, titled "Words to my Baby", is filled with cute little poems to her unborn child whom she calls 'Piggy'.

Reaction to her writings has been varied and abundant. Since she started writing in August, 600,000 viewers of her blog have left postings.

The postings show many people still have hard-held moral beliefs about single parenthood while others are embracing more liberal attitudes. The massive number of postings, most of which offer well-intended advise and opinion, indicates China's growing tolerance of diverse opinions.

"Ground Melon Pig", a young reporter at a newspaper in Beijing, defends her choice to go through with her pregnancy. "It's not impulsive. I know I'll face many difficulties in the future, but I believe they can be solved if I have faith." she writes.

Some postings are from other single mothers who confide their feelings, and praise and support "Ground Melon Pig" for her courage.

"Love yourself and love your 'piggy', that's enough. It's your own business, you're not hurting anyone. Be happy and have the courage to do what you want." says a writing use the name Caoming.

Doubters of "Ground Melon Pig's" choice are concerned the mother-to-be could be making a big mistake that will hurt her future. "You will have a very hard later life." said another writing under the name Linva.

"Your baby's life will be incomplete without a father and your parents will definitely face great pressure from the public" write "Kerenkexin". "Ground Melon Pig" is not alone. Many single mothers have set up websites and internet forums to share their feelings.

"As long as you are financially and spiritually secure, being a single mother is nothing special. Society is becoming more tolerant." said a netizen called "Blue rain" on "Single Mother Forum".

Chinese marriage laws don't prevent unmarried women from having babies.

The Population and Family Planning Law stipulates children of unmarried women have the same rights and enjoy the same treatment as offspring of married women, said Wu Changzhen, a professor with the China University of Political Science and Law.

"People should respect unmarried women's right to have babies."said Xia Xueluan, a sociology professor with Beijing University. "Economic and social burdens might force some single mothers to give up their children." said Xia.

A killing on my doorstep

Sharm de ALWIS

KILLING: It was three to one. Three had poles with which they battered the loner on the head. Having killed him, one assailant who had walked away from the dead body returned to kick the corpse in the face.

Another life lost. A mere statistic? The wheel had turned only 26 revolutions and he has a child and a young wife whose anguish no one can appease, cannot charter their future.

Why is my society so base? I remember the 50s when I was in my callow youth. The country was free of homicide. If there ever was one the entire nation ached and an exemplary Police force got the culprit. I have heard of a policeman who worked as a dhoby and as a servant to get incriminating evidence.

In those days the guilty were hanged. That was a punishment that deterred the next prospective criminal. We had skirmishes in our youth and at the most it was a hand to hand combat, never two or three against one.

That sort of uneven clash would have proved us cowards. It used to be so gentlemanly even in the worst moment.

Turn the clock back, Father Time.

Woman caught in Web of deceit

MARRIAGE: A married man poses as a bachelor on a matchmaking website, seeking a bride. Both meet, but after proposing to her, the man refuses to marry the woman and disappears.

Fortunately, in this case, the Thane city police Cyber Crime Cell (CCC) tracked down the man, who turned out to be married. The woman's father, a powerful politician, however, refused to file a complaint, saying it would 'ruin' his daughter's marriage prospects.

It all started four months ago when the 29-year-old woman, working as an accounts manager in a Thane private firm, put her photograph and profile on www.jeevansathi.com, a reputed matrimonial portal. Police sub-inspector Ravindra Chavan of the Thane CCC told HT that three days later, the woman received a profile (through email) from another 'client'.

The 30-year-old man, who identified himself as 'Sahil', claimed in his profile that he worked as a customs officer at Mundva near Pune. He also left his mobile number and urged the woman to contact him.

The girl responded and a meeting was fixed. After two-three more meetings, the man took the girl to a Badlapur resort where they stayed overnight. The woman had little hesitation, since by that time the man had already proposed to her.

'They continued to meet and stayed at the resort on two more occasions', Cha van added. Finally one day, the woman asked her suitor to meet her father and formally make the marriage proposal. He refused and then disappeared, said Chavan.

The woman disclosed the story to her father, who started hunting for the man.

They soon realised that no one by that name worked with Customs and that his address was fake.

The father-daughter duo finally approached the police.

'It was a difficult task to track the man,' said Chavan. However, cyber forensic investigators finally managed to trace the email address. Investigators then nabbed the man from Ambernath.

During questioning, the man admitted to being married for eight years. He works as a computer clerk with a Talegaon-based firm. He told the police that he pretended to be single so that he could have 'fun' with women.

However, the police have not registered the First Information Report (FIR) on the request of the woman's father.

"Everyday we receive hundreds of profiles from all over on our site. It is not possible to verify the bonafides of claims made in each profile.

In fact, we clearly mention the terms and conditions on every page, which states that we assume no responsibility for information provided to us by our clients," said Abhilasa Vyas, senior client executive with www.jeevansathi.com.

Career women freeze their eggs

LONDON: Career women often settle for someone who may not be their Mr Right for fear of their biological clock ticking too fast, but now a research has revealed that a large number of such women who want a family are freezing their eggs for later.

The difficulty of finding a partner to father their children is a key reason why women try to preserve their fertility into their 40s, the first study of motives behind egg freezing reveals.

Advances in freezing will revolutionise IVF by allowing women to store "young" eggs when they are in their twenties and thirties, reports the Independent.

Using young eggs in IVF improves the chance of success and reduces the risk to the baby. Experience with the technique has advanced most rapidly in Italy.

In England, the law was changed in 2000 to allow clinics to store eggs by freezing them.

Two babies have been born with the technique and 22 clinics are licensed to provide treatment. All the women were single, with an average age of 38.6 and none had a medical reason, such as radiotherapy for cancer, which would destroy their ovaries, to preserve their eggs.

Results showed half of the women said they felt pressured by their biological clock and 60 per cent wanted to be sure they had taken advantage of "all possible reproductive opportunities". Half said they saw egg freezing as an insurance policy but would probably never use the eggs.

The researchers, led by Alan Copperman, who presented their findings to the American Society of Reproductive Medicine in New Orleans yesterday, said the women were highly educated and overwhelmingly described themselves as "intelligent" and "extroverted".

They added: "A number of women said they were interested in egg freezing to take the pressure off the search for relationships.