Angst of a Pained Mind
Today, I have never been sadder. It has taken such a gruesome crime
to remind us of what we have reduced humanity in this country to. I
should perhaps stop calling people human, for the behavior we see
everyday, against women, elderly, children and all the weaker sections
of society, we are worse than xenophobic chimpanzees.
And yet, every day, the cases are just beginning to come out - of absolute barbarity, of absolute horror and utter shamelessness. Those who call themselves our leaders get away abusing women in Parliament, outside it, on television channels, and none of us actually were stunned by it. Our leaders continue to hold up the status quo and assure us that things for the better, and yet, what do we do with this status quo? When will things get better for us? When will our women feel safe? When will the weak in our society feel safe, and emboldened enough to come forward and complain on such instances without the fear of shame, humiliation and further victimization?
There have been cases of journalists being felt up at the protests. There are victims everywhere in this country who die everyday - physically, mentally, emotionally, psychologically - when they are subjected to utter rebuke instead of sensitivity. No one can understand the pain the victims undergo - no one can. And yet, no one tries to share her pain, get her out of the trauma that these victims undergo everyday of their lives.
Why are we demanding death for rapists? What will it achieve? Where are we headed to as a society? We behave like a banana republic and exhibit absolute duplicity about 'justice', when justice should begin at our homes, in our lives. Blood curdling shouts for death sentences does not help anyone. I still am not scared, because the case will certainly be botched up so badly I will most likely walk out a free man. In a country where crime against the weak remains a mere statistic, what else can you expect? A society that is imploding from within - that is all that can describe the state of affairs of this 'great country' today.
When I was a child, I was told that we are all equal. I also wrote that as an answer in an exam. Why then do I not see that in practice with my own eyes? Why then should I be asked to feel numb when the National Anthem plays out? We can call our country our mother, but see its daughters and children raped, assaulted and brutally murdered every day. How hypocritical can we get? Why should I see my nation a country under whose skies people die repeatedly every day?
I do not want any rhetoric today. My heart is too pained to see the hyperbole and the self righteousness on display. What I want is a healing touch for my heart, for the heart of the millions who die every day. Who will give it to me? This political class, which has shown us just how out of touch it is? This police force, who ask questions that feel like a sexual crime unto itself? This bureaucracy, that rapes our souls every day by just fossilizing themselves into their official shells? I long for that healing touch for myself and all those who are tortured, weary, tired and weary souls, souls much sadder than mine. Had Gandhi been alive today, he would have been pained to see our people so devoid of the inability to share the pain. Who will be that person who will share my pain?
My fellow citizens, my countrymen, you are the ones who can share my pain. You are the ones who can lessen my burden. You are the ones who can make me feel alive again. All you have to do is to accept victims as our very own. Treat them with respect and dignity. Treat them as equals, and not as children of a lesser God. Fight for their justice in whatever way you can. Intervene when they are being harassed and bring to light incidents where the weak, the meek are not given dignity. Share the pain, and treat them because they are also human beings; because they are not different from you, except for gender or caste or socio-economic status. Know that they are as much worthy of respect and dignity as we feel we are, only that we are more privileged than some of them. Let us not be murderers ourselves in all these ways, and we shall truly be a great nation - because its the flag that deserves faithful loyal and honest law abiding citizens; because its our Constitution that deserves good citizens; because Fundamental Rights are as much for 'them' as they are for 'us'. And because we are all children of the same God.
And yet, every day, the cases are just beginning to come out - of absolute barbarity, of absolute horror and utter shamelessness. Those who call themselves our leaders get away abusing women in Parliament, outside it, on television channels, and none of us actually were stunned by it. Our leaders continue to hold up the status quo and assure us that things for the better, and yet, what do we do with this status quo? When will things get better for us? When will our women feel safe? When will the weak in our society feel safe, and emboldened enough to come forward and complain on such instances without the fear of shame, humiliation and further victimization?
There have been cases of journalists being felt up at the protests. There are victims everywhere in this country who die everyday - physically, mentally, emotionally, psychologically - when they are subjected to utter rebuke instead of sensitivity. No one can understand the pain the victims undergo - no one can. And yet, no one tries to share her pain, get her out of the trauma that these victims undergo everyday of their lives.
Why are we demanding death for rapists? What will it achieve? Where are we headed to as a society? We behave like a banana republic and exhibit absolute duplicity about 'justice', when justice should begin at our homes, in our lives. Blood curdling shouts for death sentences does not help anyone. I still am not scared, because the case will certainly be botched up so badly I will most likely walk out a free man. In a country where crime against the weak remains a mere statistic, what else can you expect? A society that is imploding from within - that is all that can describe the state of affairs of this 'great country' today.
When I was a child, I was told that we are all equal. I also wrote that as an answer in an exam. Why then do I not see that in practice with my own eyes? Why then should I be asked to feel numb when the National Anthem plays out? We can call our country our mother, but see its daughters and children raped, assaulted and brutally murdered every day. How hypocritical can we get? Why should I see my nation a country under whose skies people die repeatedly every day?
I do not want any rhetoric today. My heart is too pained to see the hyperbole and the self righteousness on display. What I want is a healing touch for my heart, for the heart of the millions who die every day. Who will give it to me? This political class, which has shown us just how out of touch it is? This police force, who ask questions that feel like a sexual crime unto itself? This bureaucracy, that rapes our souls every day by just fossilizing themselves into their official shells? I long for that healing touch for myself and all those who are tortured, weary, tired and weary souls, souls much sadder than mine. Had Gandhi been alive today, he would have been pained to see our people so devoid of the inability to share the pain. Who will be that person who will share my pain?
My fellow citizens, my countrymen, you are the ones who can share my pain. You are the ones who can lessen my burden. You are the ones who can make me feel alive again. All you have to do is to accept victims as our very own. Treat them with respect and dignity. Treat them as equals, and not as children of a lesser God. Fight for their justice in whatever way you can. Intervene when they are being harassed and bring to light incidents where the weak, the meek are not given dignity. Share the pain, and treat them because they are also human beings; because they are not different from you, except for gender or caste or socio-economic status. Know that they are as much worthy of respect and dignity as we feel we are, only that we are more privileged than some of them. Let us not be murderers ourselves in all these ways, and we shall truly be a great nation - because its the flag that deserves faithful loyal and honest law abiding citizens; because its our Constitution that deserves good citizens; because Fundamental Rights are as much for 'them' as they are for 'us'. And because we are all children of the same God.
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