Wow!!! So many words have been said and heard... So many voices have spoken so many times and so many ears have gone deaf... And I know writing here might get me into legal trouble (pun intended), but where do I vent out my anger... My disappointment... My sadness?
A student... A bright girl... A daughter... A sister... So many dreams... So many hopes... Will she even survive? She IS fighting it out... But even if she does survive, what would her life be like now? What if this had happened to me? What if this had happened to someone I knew, someone I loved...? There are so many questions in my mind... I can't even begin to write... I still do not understand how do these things happen? Why do we only get reaction when something of this sort happens? Who do we blame now? I blame myself. I do... Maybe I was not present there at that time... But even if I was, would I have done anything to protect this girl? Appallingly, I don't think so. As an average citizen of this great country, hailing from a middle class family, with innumerable responsibilities and duties, with hundreds of liabilities, I - the citizen of the Republic of India, would have been a silent spectator... I know that... And for that I am shameful... For that I hang my head in shame today... !!!
It is interesting how the news and media helped catupulate this story into limelight and how it got the Delhi Police to hunt down the perpetrators or in my plain and simple language - rapist pigs, within 48 hours of the crime. But what about those stories which go unnoticed and would, maybe available in only print media... For example a few months back I read a story from Ranchi, where a mother of two returning from her parents place was kidnapped, gang raped, sodomised with liqour bottles and murdered in one of the public parks. I tried following up on that story, but after one or two times, anything about it had stopped coming in the papers. But now I open my tv and there it is on every news channel, the plight of the 23 years old budding physiotherapist battling for her life... I'm happy that at least now the Indian media is open enough about putting this crime i.e., rape of a woman, in their foremost and most prioritized section of News... Be it for their own good... But is this just going to die down like every other news about crime against women?
Crime against women - Starting with Eve teasing > Molestation > Rape... I remember the first time I was molested in a blue line bus... I am not ashamed of talking about it now because I know now that it was not my fault... I had boarded a heavily crowded bus at about 8.15 am to go to my college, and when this incident happened I was 18 years old... Has anyone any idea about what goes on in a girl/woman's mind when something like this happens? I was so distraught that I alighted from the bus, took a rickshaw and went back home, hid under the covers and cried... It was my mom to whom I confessed about it, and she as usual had a simple solution for this... She gave me a saaree pin (For those who are unfamiliar with it, it is a huge safety pin) and said next time something happens don't come back home crying, stick it to anyone any place you find... She taught me to protect myself... She helped me regain my self confidence and made me brave... I think almost every parent in this country would have done something to protect their daughter from such "incidents"... But how can they protect us when we are away from them...? And does that mean that the only way we can protect ourselves is by carrying weapons?
The Delhi Police, The Delhi Government, The Central Government... Every authority responsible for our safety has given up on us... Delhi - A city which has a female Chief Minister... And yet the first comment that comes out her mouth is that the state government is not responsible for the law and order in this city...? Then what are you being elected for, for all these years, what have you been doing? Fine the Delhi Police is under the Central Government... Then shouldn't the safety and security in the National Capital be the best in the country...? When asked how this incident took place under their nose at 9.30 pm in one of the most crowded areas of the city, the Delhi Police chief says not every moving vehicle can be checked? Sir, this moving vehicle had a cancelled licence, why was it even on the road? And being a school bus, what is it doing out at night? The central government? A joke!!! I was watching the various speeches by the women MPs in Rajya Sabha, while I found Mrs. Jaya Bacchan's tearful monologue most touching, the expression on the face of the speaker and the rest of the ministers was in one word "appalling"... While Smriti Irani was giving some insightful details, all that the speaker had to say to her was "Time ho gaya"? No sir!!! Not enough!!! Time nahi hua!!! People of this country are disturbed to their core... These few women are only describing our thoughts, our feelings... Show some respect... Let the woman speak!!!
So in the end, apparently no amount of "dress up properly" or "dont go out at odd times" or "carry pepper spray" or "always be accompanied by a male friend or "guard" when you go out at night" can help you... We are all at the mercy of these animals, who might be from the slums or the banglows and kothis or even our familes, who can choose to tear up our clothes and use our bodies for their pleasure at any time they want... We are indeed a pathetic society, a sick set of people who do worship Durga and Kali but can't show some respect to our women... I am ashamed of myself and of the people who surround me... Yes I am the citizen of this great country... I am an Indian... But today in truly every sense I am ashamed to be one!!!
