Giggling while grieving

16 December 2012, everybody remembers this date in fact how can someone ever forget this horrible day. This was the day when the entire world, especially India was shaken by a very shameful and terrible act. This day was turned into a nightmare for a 23-year-old girl, Nirbhaya. I’m sure this is not the first gang rape case in India, almost every month or I should rather say that almost every week such cases come up. But this is one of those cases which got highlighted in the media and became a massive issue. People came on the streets, they protested before Delhi Chief Minister’s house and even at various monuments of the capital. A huge crowd witnessed at India Gate was fighting for justice for that innocent girl. The anguish was not only seen in the Delhiites but also, people from other parts of the country protested strongly and raised their voice against injustice.

A part from cricket, this is one incident which I think, made all the people come together and be united. People were full of anguish and energy. But does everyone’s feeling and enthusiasm same?
It is true that there were people who skipped their offices, schools and college for the protest, but it is also true that there were some others who just came to enjoy or to hang out with their friends. They just came to be a part of the crowd or probably to try their luck on the girls/boys present there. It sounds really pathetic, but it is a reality.

If there were some people who genuinely made efforts, than there were also some evil elements who were laughing and having a good time pass while everyone was mourning and praying for her. It is really sad to see that we people who are the future policy makers of this country have become so inhuman.

Here are some of the lines which everyone must go through and understand the essence of these words...  

Don’t go without clothes- that encourages some men.

Don’t go out with clothes- any clothes encourage some men.

Don’t go out alone- that encourages men.

Don’t go out with a female friend- some men are encouraged by numbers.

Don’t go out with a male friend- some male friends are capable of rape.

Don’t stay at home- intruders and relatives can both rape.

Avoid childhood- some men are ‘turned on’ by little girls.

Avoid old age- some rapists ‘prefer’ aged women.

Don’t have a father, grandfather, uncle or brother- these are the relatives who most often rape young women.

Don’t marry- rape is legal within marriage.

To be quite sure- don’t exist.

(‘How to Avoid Rape’ from the book War On Rape, by Paul Moulds and Women Against Rape Collective, 1977)

It’s a hard core fact that people will always be there to advice us, but when we are in need and want help, hardly anyone turns up. People will pass some negative comments and laugh at you if you have been a victim of sexual assault. They will blame YOU for the misfortune.
I have myself been teased twice, I am neither ashamed nor proud to say this but the most important of all I am not scared and weak. Despite of the cold bloodedness of the society, we, women are still bold and much stronger than the men without a backbone.

From ‘knowing’ to ‘realizing’

We, human beings know everything. When it comes to intelligence and general knowledge, we are above all the species in the entire world. We are very well aware about various social problems, environmental problems, economic problems, political problems and various other issues prevailing in the society but, apart from knowing, how many of us have actually realized the depth of these problems?

It’s a fact that till the time we people don’t experience anything, we don’t realize it and until then we just know it. An incident made me understand and realize this truth.

It was a normal day when I was returning from my college. Suddenly I saw a dog, with hungry eyes staring at the little eggs, in the middle of the crowd. There were tears in his eyes. That was the moment when I realized the intense feeling of hunger. That was the time when I realized the importance of being patient and not losing hope. I rushed to a shop to buy biscuits for that dog and when I returned back, unfortunately the dog was gone. But after two days, at that same place I fed that dog with biscuits which I had bought for him that day. The feeling of feeding someone and filing someone’s stomach, especially a creature that can’t speak and has no one to care of, is unexplainable. The happiness which I got was just truly out of the world.

This incident made me realize that we are so lucky to have money in our pockets and can buy anything whenever we feel hungry. We are so blessed that we have our moms to whom we can shout and order “Jaldi khana do bahut bhookh lagi hai, yarr kya banaya hai apne aaj mujhe nahi chahiee”. We have become so habitual to all the luxuries and comfort in our lives, that we often don’t realize the value of a single byte of food.

There is a lot of difference between knowing and realizing and still there is lot more in this world which is yet to be felt and experienced by us.  One, who experiences and understands the harsh realities of life, is the one who understands the real worth of living. It’s time for all of us to come out of our dreamy, busy, lavish world and start looking the world around us from a third eye which is much more meaningful.