hmmm....interesting extension. thanks all for your valuable inputs. captain, yeah i do remember that incident. it got all the visibilty it deserved. BRAVO ms. Indira! well, it's kinda strange that many of us do not know the rationale behind a ritual yet most of us end up following it hehe :P. we follow it because that's how we've been taught or we see being practiced in our society. we are educated but we are fools as well on certain grounds, let's admit it. :P as for the claim that women are emotionally weaker compared to men is concerned, while i don't want to pass a judgment or generalize the statement and be offensive, i do however believe that it does hold some degree of truth. women, in general, are emotionally weaker - the ease at which tears come from women's eyes is a small proof in itself. i don't know for sure, if it's the reason for which women are denied to participate in last rituals, but if it is, i would be a touch happier for our religion to have put a more sensible resoning behind a restriction than some mere so-called explanations worth bs as in some of the other things. LooTe