According to Sigmund Freud’s Interpretation of Dreams, dreams of
walking around stark naked have positive connotations (apparently). They meant that one was spiritually so liberated, so uninhibited that he/she was
parading around naked- like breaking through the cosmetics of outward
appearances. Dreams are some figment of
our subconscious or maybe a collection of anomalous memories, desires and
imagination. Just that…Then I read somewhere
that a cop called fully-clothed women “Haramzadiyon” and I snapped back to
reality.
When we started
with Panwadi Tales – we started with an attitude to shed cynicism and talk
about the simpler and smaller unspoken pleasures in life. It is obvious we all
go through a great deal everyday to have to parade our wounds around so we made
PT our anti-battleground. At the end of the day, it is our god damn personal
blog…if this gets personal, so be it.
Ashamed.
Abandoned. Agonized. Anarchy. Proud to be a Delhite; Utterly ashamed by the
falsely ‘democratic India’.
This triggered
off from an argument I had with a couple of friends/ acquaintances over a
status update on Facebook a few days (before the angry protest at India Gate): “If you're a girl child in this country...
there's a chance they may kill you before you're born, rape you after, never
send you to school, molest you on roads, in buses or even classrooms, harass
you in office, molest you / rape you some more
-verbally / visually / physically, beat you or throw acid on you, burn you for
dowry, or throw your newly born baby girl down a staircase - because It is a
Girl Child. So don't walk alone, don't walk after dark... or with anyone less
than a Schwarzenegger for a friend, don't look up, heads down, don't talk loud,
don't talk on the phone, don't party, don't wear short clothes (like dressing
has anything to do with 6 year olds getting raped)... don't be visible - just
don't exist!” .
I think I say now, “This is what I meant in
anger when I said “they”… “us” it is all the same.
Three days of
continuous agitations at the India Gate and I was glued to the TV channels that
brought direct images from the grounds of a Colossal Youth-led Leaderless Self-initiated and Socially-and-Morally-virtuous
protests of all time. For three days I disappeared from Facebook and Gtalk
and just delved in each minute of what unfolded into a prime-time Strip Club of
the various agencies that “pass-the-buck”. It stripped naked everyone
sparing none who came its way- be it the Muted Prime Minister, the Eccentric
Home Minister, a CM and a Lt. Gen. on ‘vacation’, a non-existent 'Youth Icon' Rahul
Gandhi or a brute Police.
Still my
neighbors in Baroda preferred dry commentary with, “Yeh, Dilli mein ho raha hai? Dilli toh bahot unsafe hai ladkiyon ke
liye… aap kaise rehete thhe?”
Shame people!
When are we going to wake up and realize that it is not about Delhi vs. the
rest of India? It is about a simple word- Respect. Something which we as
Indians have become insensitive to - despite being educated. It is when we choose to act like 'a sheep in the herd' that our education flew out that window. Really, “they” and “us” is a shameful concept. And that was bravely
showcased by all those thousands of young/old men/ boys who formed a large
proportion of a seemingly unaware crowd. And let’s put a few things straight.
Not all men are totally useless.
1. This 23 year-old
girl’s rape is the instigator- it was the last pebble that was thrown into a pot
that was brimming with crimes against women in recent times and it overflowed.
It is not THE ONLY REASON why people were gathered that day. And Delhi is not
the ONLY place where this happens. It was a show of solidarity which needed a
spark to fuel it and which was manifest in this very case. And this is not the
only heinous crime or the only time it has happened. It was just beyond a
threshold limit this time.
2. The protest
was not lead by “hooligans” and “goons” with an agenda to bring down the House
of the “hardly-citizen-like-(to even be called) the First Citizen” President of
India despite what people like the politically correct “Vishnu Shoms” or
“Barkha Dutts” of an even more “calm and responsible” or the "brave and on-site" channels portray. It was a spontaneous reaction of
people. In this case a mass reaction of a large majority whose actions peaked
into a fiasco precisely because (once again) the Govt. of India failed to admit
to its FAILING ADMINISTRATIVE SYSTEM. We are the largest and most populous
democracy in the world. It is time we act like one.
3. The crowds
were pretty composed till the police- like a BIG FAT BULLY- or a self-demonstrated
MORON started spraying water cannons and tear-gas shells on an unassuming,
young and morally wronged crowd on a Cold Delhi Winter Morning. I mean
really!!! It won’t take a General to figure out what panic can do to a frenzied crowd…will it? And if you don’t have the balls to own up to your
mischief then don’t commit them in the wide open in broad daylight, in front of
a 100 cameras, thousands/millions of witnesses nationwide and expect to get
away with it. Really Moronic Acts of Ass-ness here.
4. Don’t lathi-charge
an already panicked crowd and don’t keep doing it five times over due to a
general lack of Brains. The crowd will react. It really made me wonder if this
was the plan in the first place? To just aggravate people so that they give a
reason for the police to get violent? Also don’t go around calling unarmed girls/ women
“Haramzaadiyon” and “Randiyon” while charging lathis’ at the crowd. The whole point of the protest is to
demand Respect For Women in India - from the judicial system, the people, the men, the women, the politicians and the police.
Calling them prostitutes in whatever fit of anger or momentary lapse of control
it may have been, just proves the protest right, a grand case of “Paer ko
kulhadi pe khud maarna” by the Delhi Police again.
And then the
Police Commissioner says on National Television that yes, they have “training
programmes” for “gender sensitization” of the police. Well clearly Mr.
Commissioner- It Aint Working! ; Your or should I say OUR “Trained” officers/
constables seem to forget what the word “sensitization” means as opposed to the
words “Haramzaadi /Randii” which they seem to involuntarily use to describe
women. It is not just them it is a general mediocrity of mentality in many people- not all but many- that it is okay to lash out abusively at women this way.
5. Infant mortality, Sexual Abuse, Physical/ Mental Abuse,
Domestic Violence, Genocide, Rape, Gender Bias aren't just Delhi's problems-
they happen all over the country- if we remember Satyamev Jayate and the
episodes. And why do we conveniently forget that Delhi is a multi-cultural
city- Its has a lot of floating population- people from Other Cities who come
to earn there- So this does get general and national and not just regional/
Delhi-Centric because there are people from all over the country in this city-
anyone could be a criminal and a victim- so why just tag "Delhi- the
City?"
6. Like we hail
our laurels... we should also own up as a nation- a network of systems- failed
systems- that failed to protect its citizens. My point is the President of
America made a tearful speech to bring hope to the people within hours of the
tragic Connecticut shooting. Do you or I
have such leaders who would openly say they will get rid of our insecurities?
Even when they do the PM looks like a chicken(no doubt a halal ka murga) and
the CM like a blushing school girl when saying things like “As a father of three
daughters I am deeply…”
WHATEVER! Had the timing of the speech been appropriate to the gravity of the protests, we would have had a so-called-mature frame
of mind that we all accuse each other of lacking, but now I just don’t care if you have
three, two or no daughters… How does it matter now? Are you going to do
anything about bringing judicial reforms in his country of not? Don’t throw
sentimental bullshit at people after asking them to "Control their actions”
a day ago. And mind yourself- If you were that deeply disturbed as a father of
three daughters, why didn’t you bother to address a simmering crowd when it would have counted? At the
precise time when all they wanted was security for their daughters the same as
yours?? A country- is not just people- it is their sentiments, their reaction as
well. It is also a system- the failing system. Just ADMIT IT already!
8. Is it okay to
say "Delhi is not safe for girls" because rapes don't happen in Goa
or Assam or Chennai or Kashmir? Going by the personal argument that general
statements should not be made because they offend personal sentiments; What
about the sentiments of responsible Delhites? They are All To Blame? Where is
that argument when we blame the whole city for the shortcomings of some goons?
Deeply
disturbed and highly aggravated as I am by the shameless vocabulary used by
people right from higher up to lower down in our society, it is a long road
to redeeming the “Izzat” of a woman because each day we involuntary commit a crime against her be it in our gender
bias, our prejudice, our assumption/judgment or our actions. Till then we are
all walking around as naked as any other victim. Like victims of our own
thoughts.
The fact
remains the fastest I have ever seen cops in Delhi budge his ass was when
running with Lathis in their hands.
