Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Delhi Rape case

So what if  we have another incident of gang rape. Maybe the 500th one.
What so different about it that the whole nation and the social networks react with candle lights vigils and shout at the government demanding capital punishment for the rapist. How is this gang rape any different from the 12 gang rapes that happened in Haryana over a period of just one month and was termed as "conspiracy to malign the government". The underlying difference was what has always gripped India as Haryana rapes was of a Dalit women and this is of medical student in Delhi, the metropolitan and the capital of Incredible India. Why today we have Jaya Bahchan and Sushma Swaraj shouting there lungs for capital punishment and quick administration of justice? How are the 2 rape cases and the scars they inflicted on woman any different?

I do not mean to belittle the shocking incident that took place in Delhi recently, but being honest to myself has the similar incidents not been reported every month in national dailies about village gang rapes, the women exploitations, naked parade of woman and more. So this incident for me is yet another of similar degree. And this incident makes my belief stronger that India still lives and thrives in it's beliefs and ideologies in some medieval century. We are still in strong grips of the same evils that shaped our society in the past mainly being casteism , racism, religion and the underlying Manusmiti ( Girls are supposed to be in the custody of their father when they are children, women must be under the custody of their husband when married and under the custody of her son as widows. In no circumstances is she allowed to assert herself independently.)

Women in the history of India has always been subject to exploitation being a meeker member of society and always depicted as a sex symbol ( our Bollywood movies and Item dance numbers add perfect imagery to that notion). Woman are nothing but a subject of hour glass figure meant to be leered at. Today's Indian men cannot handle the sensuality of a woman and the changing image of her and in order to exert that control and influence he has to use power and his manhood to prove his superiority.

Who needs to change? Is it not for the entire society to accept the new face of Indian woman and in which I will like to include all Indian woman and not just living in cites like Delhi and Mumbai. Yes we need to react! We need to do something! We need to make an exemplary punishment for these rapists. Not only capital punishment but I will like them to be stoned in public and let them rot and die. I will not even think it's barbaric. That's what they deserve and should get for stripping  a woman of her pride, dignity and her existence. I hope someday in my life I am able to see a new face of "Incredible" India.


Yet another shooting..yet another outpour

As the nation reeks under the shock and tragedy of the elementary school shooting at Connecticut , I am forced to think about my safety as well. Today I was sitting in deli and having my breakfast and coffee, I suddenly felt unsafe. Being pregnant and carrying my little daughter, the mere thought of not being able to protect her, suddenly overpowers me.

I can't help but reaching a stage of paranoia where every place I go it grocery shop, mall, theater seems a place where someone can start the whole madness of shooting innocent lives.
What am I to do? It is almost 15 years since Columbine massacre happened and we are still wondering what is the right time to talk about the gun control.

The same day that Connecticut shooting happened,  another similar incident happened in a village of China where a man stabbed 20 school children. All of them are now recovering in the hospital. But what chance do you have against this mindless gun killings? Today the country is an argument that definitely gun control needs to be addressed and at the same time the mental illness and stigma associated with it. What is more disturbing is the pattern in all these shootings where the average age of killer is not more than 25. So we are not talking about a  frustrated, tired with life , alcoholic disgruntled man of 50 but youngsters who have barely started there independent lives. Dave Cullen author of the book Columbine said in his one of the interviews that we have to take out the word "snap" from dictionary when talking about these homicidal killers as there are enough events and warning signals that lead to the event and not just happen in spur of the moment.

I feel helpless and challenged at the same time as how to make this world a safer place for our future generations. I am forced to think and act as to what action do we take and after how many more massacres will we react than just sit and mourn about the unspeakable grief. Hopefully this incident will not be erased out of public memories for long before a new one shakes us again.

So till then, what do I do?
Maybe go and buy a gun to protect my offspring! A pure animal instinct.