The other day I went to the familiar Turkish shop to buy some spices, the store owner didn't seem as joyous to see me as he used to be earlier. This is a guy who loves Indian culture, enjoys Bollywood movies and can even speak a bit of Hindi. Thinking it might be some of his work related stress, I ignored this and made my way to the spice shelf. A few moments later, he came to me and managed to speak only these words, "In India, 6 men, medical student, girl, horrible!!"
It was that instant moment I realized he was referring to the infamous Delhi Gang rape and the ordeals of that poor innocent girl. Generally, as a proud Delhiite that I am, I try to blame all such cases on stupid/uneducated people from remote areas of nearby states in an effort to console myself and to keep the Delhi flag waiving high. But , that day I could not do that. There seemed no point in doing it as it was India to be blamed for such heinous and brutal act. I was dead silent and chose to change the topic of conversation.
I did manage to change the topic of conversation there, but is this topic really worth ignoring? Why does a girl on Indian streets late at night become an object of perverted, heinous activities? Why do men loose all their humane intellect, sense and culture to savage girls like beasts? Why? Why?
Now, with the sad news of that poor girl passing away, my mind asks me these things... Yes, you are agitated, Yes, you are disgusted, Yes, you want reforms and changes in the society, but what would they do? NOTHING!!! Do we just need more brutal punishments to deal with this issue? Is that the solution??? I don't think so. I am pretty sure that the current rape punishment in India and Germany weigh equally, but here in Germany, you find girls drinking, partying late, wearing clothes they want to wear, riding the subways and walking alone in the streets late at night and seldom they undergo such ordeal or are branded as "Tainted and Dented". This clearly says that introducing brutal punishments is not the solution. In fact, it may even be misused by some vicious members of the fairer sex to hurt innocent counterparts in the country which would again be undesirable.
I think that until and unless Indian society starts treating women equally and respectfully, these cases would not stop. Many more "NIRBHAYAS" would suffer and people who talk about Indian society with respect and weave threads of traditions and values from our culture would be disgusted by the very mention of it.
P.S. - NIRBHAYA- The only mistake you made was that you were born in such a society which also breeds beasts and inhuman characters like those bastards you encountered. Today, I will say that I am an Indian male and I am NOT proud to be one.
MAY YOUR SOUL REST IN PEACE!!!
Pic taken from fc00.deviantart.net
Vaibhav,
ReplyDeleteI know I felt worse than the Turkish man. My respect for India dropped when I heard this. However, I think NARBHAYA might be the sacrificial lamb for future NARBHAYAs. I am also sure there are thousands of other NARBHAYAs who never spoke up because of societal stigma and other nightmares that follows such act. Also it is comforting to know there are people like you who can see the evil in this and at the same time calling for a change; this gives hope.
My heart really goes out to NARBHAYA. It is well with her soul!
Rebecca
Rebecca,
DeleteI do hope we don't witness any other NIRBHAYAs in the future..But again, we need something more than just good faith and hope to solve this issue..
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ReplyDeleteIt still is deep into my mind and its good to know your thoughts expressed in this post. But I do not agree with you mentioning "I try to blame all such cases on stupid/uneducated people from remote areas of nearby states in an effort to console myself and to keep the Delhi flag waiving high" .. There have been numerous cases where The elite of heartland [ delhi] have ruined and maligned the lives of many girls. I do not want to comment on deep rooted history related to barbarism of medieval mughal india which is said to have influenced the culture of delhi [ which supposedly it does not have its own anymore] but it is well accepted that A true delhite does not anymore feel proud to wave its flag let alone be proud on it in anyway. Blaming the nearby haryaanvees or U.Pites is not all right however there is no doubt that this class has made the capital rustic over past two decades. But there are many inherent elements of our very own delhi which are always overlooked by media and all of those who say it " Dilwaalon ki dilli "/// ... This is very sad that education as such has not made a significant difference when it comes to cruelty against women in north india. Isobel coleman,a well known U.S foreign policy fellow describes such nuances in detail and also researched on these issues. A look at her work perhaps on Stanford University's Highwire Press Portal can provide some insights into improvement of situation.
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