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RAPE


Do not be fooled, dear people, as this furore about the victims of rape, and the safety of our citizens will die a quicker death than you can fathom the moment something new shall fancy the arc lights of the media. Needless to say, that the politicians who have promised to do something would be unavailable for this issue since the next applaud seeking topic that would get them that little extra leverage over their cohorts would be of the utmost importance. Sadly, the flame that burns the candle will stop even before the wick reaches halfway with organisations or factions that support such causes. The common creed would revert to their routines as if nothing ever occurred, and the whole thing would merely remain a memory for some and mostly forgotten to the rest of the populace. That, regrettably, is the miserable state of affairs today, not only in our country, but the world over.


1 – Instead of throwing muck on each other, demanding the death penalty or castration of the men who committed the dreadful misdeed, I quite think we ought to stop and aim first to analyse the root of this unrest. It is not about a rape of a woman in India, or of the youth who are increasingly taking to gun culture elsewhere. It is about values. In the pursuit of amassing wealth and driving materialism as the crux of our existence, we as a human race have begun to live each day devoid of morals and ethics. Something as simple as the basic manners and decorum have faded from our society, and as a consequence it has resulted in the erosion of the mind-set of the masses. The lack of a solid family unity has scattered us beyond repair, and the results are but evident for everyone to perceive.


2 – The recent agitation at India Gate and the mayhem it has caused is once again deplorable. Taking to the streets or raising fingers at the police or the politicians would do no good: they don’t run our daily life. Likewise, it is not plausible that one can keep a vigil on each vehicle on the road or every street for that matter. Therefore, as an alternative I seriously think we ought to ask ourselves what we have done to make this place a little monster free? Let me throw light on an incident when I was visiting Singapore some years ago. After I was over being enamoured by its clinical symmetry, I realised something that we saw in abundance back home was missing in Singapore: the absence of the police. One afternoon as I was leaving the Museum of fine arts I randomly asked a bunch of people on the street why one barely saw any police in Singapore. Most of the answers I obtained spoke in a singular voice – In Singapore we don’t need the police. Each person living here are the police. And I then thought to myself, how long would it take us to reach that level of inner policing? I have heard of theories that allege how the population in Singapore is miniscule in comparison to India, and therefore it is rather easy to instil such a notion of self-reliance in them. I have read time and time again how conveniently our leadership quotes Singapore (at a drop of a hat) knowing full well that our officials or the government cannot measure up to anything close to the self discipline or control the citizens of Singapore harbour in each of their hearts in order to keep their city-state pristine and corruption free. If we only stopped deluding ourselves and inculcated the idea of each of us being a protector of each other, I am most certain that the city to begin with, and consequently the nation, could possibly crawl towards a safer pasture. 


3 – No doubt the accused must be dealt with most severely, but death is not the answer, even if it were for the mere purpose of sending a signal to the rest that they would meet with the similar fate when they commit such a violation. We are forgetting that by the expression of such aggression we are making a spectacle of how loosely we take human life. We are additionally making a spectacle of the hatred we harbour for everyone at large, not to ignore that we are perhaps displaying the violence that we are hiding within us. If we examine the chaos in the world with a calmer, reasonable mind, we will discern that it is a progressive measure of balance that could rid the chaotic human mind of its hurt, not an eye for an eye. I agree what has happened with the young woman isn’t something to be taken lightly, but combating hate with hate isn’t the lone solution. The solution in a way would be to learn to respect human beings over short-lived pleasure or materialism. The solution would be to smile at someone whom you pass by. The solution would be to make sure your family has a meal together just so that you feel the security of connection. This is an essential component of human growth given the circumstances that the aspiration of individualistic growth and freedom the nuclear family has given us has also robbed from us the very comfort of security. As I afore mentioned, the lack of cohesiveness in our society is giving birth to such monsters, since they are not born such. Given that we have a hand in creating them, we are very much obligated to annihilate them as well.


4 – The local dailies have been flooded with material on rape, its history, psychological implications and the list could simply go on. This morning I was reading an article about why a man resorts to rape, and the opinions put forth are that it has nothing to do with the mind, but more to do with the criminal aspect of his nature. I don’t know really how to react to such a statement. Isn’t a criminal made what he is because his mind functions in such a manner? If that was not shocking to deal with, I tuned in to the radio station where I heard a fifteen-year old girl asking a body combat expert present at the station what she could do if she discovered that she was being followed on the road. To gentleman replies – Get into a crowded area, say a hotel or a market, or best enter the police station and inform them that she’s being followed. Knowing better she lets out a slight chuckle and questions whether the police would support her, and he assures her that she’ll be immediately given protection. I quite smiled to myself in wonder at the silliness of the man. I then listened carefully as she queried what she should do if she was in a lonelier part of the town. To my dismay the gentleman counsels her to drop down and act like she were having an epileptic fit. He explains further that it would confuse the rapist and he would flee. If this was what people were advising on radio channels, I don’t know really what good they are thinking they are doing to a society at large.


5 – Why is it when the influential people rape, they go scot-free? The society that is screaming for the blood of the men in Delhi does nothing to shrew those well-heeled beasts, why? Why aren’t the rules being rewritten to hang them or offer them life imprisonment as a lesson to the others? Shame on us as a system I tell you. Utter shame, that we have two rules for everything!


6 – I might probably sound preachy and even silly perhaps, but we must remember that criminals exist everywhere. Unless they aren’t a produce of some genetic, medical or psychological disorder we urgently need to keep prejudices aside and learn to love. One should not forget that love begets love, in whatever form and degree it might manifest itself. Once again, I am not advocating that the brutes implicated in this heinous crime must not be severely penalised, I am only suggesting that it should not be a prerequisite that we should have the police or anyone else govern us to do what is right, because what is right is that we ought to respect a woman, and respect anybody regardless of age or gender.


To conclude I would say that it is understandably easy to love someone who loves you, but to love those who hate you is the actual challenge: a challenge that each of us must endeavour to entrench in our blood. Only then will we be able to minimise the restlessness of the society. Only then will we be able to see some change.






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