Its
9 in the morning. With a dainty coffee mug in hand, I switch on
television to get wind of the news. And the first thing there is..about a girl child who had been assaulted while coming back from some rally
after getting a free laptop. Unfortunately this is not a lone
incident..switch to NDTV or any other, or just pick a newspaper, you’ll find
the every fifth column related to this ravishment. Even if you start
categorizing the news, broadly you’ll find only two- one related to the current
political scenario…and the other being related to this violence (other subjects
just turn out to be short term, like the one happening Sachin era in the last
few days). Here the matter of concern is that even when we all are aware about
this epidemic evil which has crippled our country, still we haven’t been able
to find a solution to curb the same. Does
this mean that it hasn’t one??
Maa Ambey, Durga, Bhawani or other
avatars…we all reckon Her to be the
supreme power of this earth…Am I right na??
Yeah, I am.. even the most ancient holy scriptures Vedas underline the gravity & significance of women. And its
not only about Vedas, go for any...be
it Bible or Kuran or other…you’ll find the same in each.. emphasizing the due
preponderate respect for women in society. On one side, where we are all-ready
to take up swords, pelt stones and even shed our blood on the name of religion (which
most of us aren’t even ready to donate to needy)…but on the other, it’s a
matter of shame that we have failed to understand the main drift of religion
which aims on - creating a society for everyone to live in peacefully! Again
the same question has come to my mind – Why??
Whether we’ll continue to stay aphasic over this? If yes, until when?? Will
India continue to remain the same for generations to come?
NO...a big no..How can we dare not react!! We are a part of this society. Until
when would we be able to shield ourselves from this horrifying truth? We would
have to face it in a way or other at some time...may be today..maybe tomorrow.
Obviously, we are bound to respond yaar! We can’t continue the approach of just
reading all these in daily newspapers & then throwing them to kabadivalas!
The time has come to instigate our mental shift. I was quite happy to see the
people’s anger and resentment after the recent wake of Nirbhaya’s case. People
shifted from their chairs, came on the roads, participated in the debates,
changed their nifty facebook pics with black dots, demanded for more strict laws,
several new organizations for women empowerment came..but to the
disappointment, all that lasted only for just a few days..may be a month or
two! Even the stats haven’t reported of any decline in violence… and as usual,
people are back to muffle lookers-on… and this India still remains the same unsafe India.
I
thought it may be something in our Indian
Constitution then, which would have deprived the women of their stature…but
to my surprise, it doesn’t even uses the man/woman terminologies, and rather it
talks about equal rights to each citizen of this country irrespective of sex,
age or so. And for the people, who brush aside their clothes by laying fingers
on the remit of Govt., lemme tell u that it’s India on this globe which has
laid down the maximum number of laws/schemes for women empowerment (PWDV Act is
such an important exemplum).
Then,
where does the problem lie! Hmm..i guess it would be with us then!! Its our attitude which has been hindering the
implementation of all the laws & empathy of the women’s significance in our
society. We are in 21st century and swash about our development,
economic growth & what not! But still, people continue to stuck in gender
biased thinking & deeply rooted systems of patriarchy, and don’t see women
as compeer to men. All this violence is the outburst of a wrong belief of
supremacy and the desire to project one as strong & fearsome to the weak. I
don’t understand why this cerebration still prevails! See the role played by
women in IT, or be it sciences or economy…we hail from such a country which had
been ruled by female President /PM & continues to be governed by female CMs.
We
need to cogitate on the fact that the women are to be respected and are not a
tool to be played with. The time has come to do action, to take a step forward, to induce
egalitarianism & not being just a mute rubberneck. India can’t no more be a
living hell for women. To stop this violence, both men and women would have to
work in concert towards changing cultural norms & holding debauchers
accountable. It needs
collective action to challenge the habits, norms and cultures that perpetuate
violence. Sometimes, I wish if there were Shaktiman or some superhuman, who could have actually destroyed the
evil which has crippled our society. Anyhow, talking pragmatically, its ‘we’ who would have to bring the change. You would have to! The change has to be from within you.. from your four walls.. from your
society..and only then the change we need will come to this Great Bharat!! One person adds up to one million; one million acts add up to change!!
Time has come to Ring the Bell loud and
clear!!
