India is Walking Stark Naked

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.