A letter to Nirbhaya

Nirbhaya,

You may not be aware of who I am. But I, just like the rest of my fellow Indians, know who you are, and what you have stood for.

As I pen down these words, and stare onto the laptop screen intermittently, the December 16 episode flashes in my mind. I have only read about it, and heard about it. And that alone is pretty much sufficient to conceive within my mind, the vicious thoughts of the phases of torture, agony and unimaginable trauma you had undergone on that nightmarish night.

Post that incident, the nation erupted with rage. The common man's heart shredded with empathy and a seemingly unquenchable thirst for justice. But today, the nine-month quest for justice has finally ended. The beasts have been sentenced to death. I heart-fully wish there were a punishment beyond death; as for those barbaric monsters, and the extent of pain and humiliation they had caused to you and the entire strata of womenfolk, even death would be a compromise in justice. But unfortunately, we don't have anything beyond it.

Your demise has not gone in vain. It has brought the hidden and buried concern for women's safety into the nation's front-yard. People actually began to understand the reality; the harsh reality that women in India today are seen through the spectacles of cheap entertainment and disrespect. Your last breath shook the nation and our constitution; new laws came into place, and people started comprehending that 'Rape' is not an easy word. We have understood the enormity of shame and disgrace the heinous act holds, and we also have realised that giving women the respect they deserve is a duty, which has dignity in itself.

But, there are thousands of other women who are awaiting justice. Some have been waiting for it all their lives, unsure of getting it; while there are others, who are hopeful for it. And you have given them that hope. A hope for justice, which, very sadly, seemed to be dying in this country.

The government has just announced death to the four rapists. But how long will it take for those four to be hanged? How long will it take to get justice done to the rest of the victims? Will the government dust its hands off now? Will the people forget about the other victims of viciousness? Will the common man now lay back and rest assured that the 'woman of India' will be safe from now on? Just for you alone, it took a 'fast-track' judicial system nine months to arrive on the doorsteps of justice. What about the innumerable other innocent women, whose spirit of life had been put off by the rough winds of sexual terrorism? When will they get a taste of it? Was this act of justice justifiable enough to invoke fear in the minds of wannabe rapists? Has the day arrived when the common 'woman' of this country will be able to tread the roads of this land fearlessly, and with freedom? Has the Mahatma's symbolic comparison of real freedom with a woman's intrepid walk on a lonely night finally come true? Will guilt pounce upon the juvenile rapist and make him take his own life? Our government failed to give you complete justice; so will time take the responsibility?

I put these questions, not to you, but to myself. You don't have to answer anymore, for you have already given an answer to the flickering flame of womanhood.

Justice to you is done; but justice to womankind still awaits.

Yours Empathetically
A hopeful Indian

The Disaster that brought Greed

When a monstrous amalgamation of tsunami and earthquake struck Japan in March 2011, there were speculations if the island country would be erased from the world map. Such was the magnitude of the devastation.

Tens and thousands of people were reported dead, injured and missing. An unthinkable amount of buildings collapsed, breaking the infrastructural impulse of the country. Roads got destroyed, railway lines got uprooted and fires got spread at frightening scales. Millions of households were rendered without electricity and water. It was nationally and officially stated that the disaster was the most catastrophic since World War II.

Well, let me now arrive at something; something that reflects the attitude of the nation and its people on the face of adversity.

There was dignity that the people held despite losing everything. Proper queues were maintained for water and groceries. And there was not a single exchange of a rough word or gesture. People had grace. They only purchased what they wanted at present, so that everybody could get something. Despite such times of turmoil, they did not allow greed to invade their minds. People chose to be orderly. No looting in shops; no honking or overtaking on roads. It was understanding alone that drove people.

Not just the victims, but even the other side of the populace displayed benevolence and tenderness. Restaurants cut prices and unguarded ATMs were left alone. It was the time when the strong felt responsible and cared for the weak.

Coming to June 2013, where the state of Uttarakhand is being shattered and getting detrimental with the mammoth amount of floods, I would like to draw a stark comparison between the post-disaster scenario of Japan and India.

The Uttarakhand flood, though not as ruining as the Japanese tsunami, still has colossal destruction to its credit. Several people are dead, and thousands have gone missing. Structures, irrespective of their age and strength, had surrendered to crumples to the force of water. The lurking disaster had been yanking the strings of peoples' minds, and is continuing to do so. People who were gone, are gone. And people who had fortunately escaped alive, seem to detest the fact that they are alive, for the businessmen and shopkeepers around seem to take the best advantage of the disadvantaged.

Biscuit packets and water bottles, which don't cost more than twenty bucks anywhere in the country, suddenly had started costing ten times more. If one wanted a full meal for a family of four, he would have to give away with a minimum of five-thousand rupees. And those who cannot afford the luxury of lodges or boarding points, have nothing left but to sleep on dead-bodies.

How disheartening, cruel and inhumane.

What has this disaster brought us? Awareness? Awakening? Or the very bitter fact that we Indians are just beings of corrupt flesh and greedy blood enclosing a heart as hard as stone and as cold as ice?

From 'Mother' India to 'Murdered' India?

I am scared. I am pained. I am angered.

Why am I writing this article? Why can't I just ignore what is happening across the country and mind my own business? Women are being molested, harassed, raped and gang-raped in some corner of the country everyday; some such instances become news bulletins, and some get buried unnoticed. Why can't I just feel 'It is okay' like most of our leaders and a majority of our population, and focus only on my life? I can't. I just can't be that way, and that is one reason I feel I am eligible enough to talk. It is not okay for me when a woman was gang-raped in a moving bus on that nightmarish night; it is not okay for me when a school girl was raped multiple times in an auto; it is not okay for me when young girls are forcefully sold to brothels where they undergo systematic rape and torture everyday; it is not okay for me when little girls are raped in the toilets of their schools, it is not okay when a foreign lady had to jump out of her hotel balcony to escape rape, neither it is okay for me when toddlers are ravished even before they are beginning to grow up; and it is NOT okay for me when the victims mentioned above, and also thousands and thousands of others are still awaiting justice from the so called government of ours'.

Is the idea of freedom being wrongly interpreted? There are a number of freedoms listed in our constitution. Are our leaders trying to include even the 'freedom to rape' and continue to stay blind, deaf and dumb to the ongoing sexual terrorism in our country? A girl inside the mother's womb undergoes the idea of getting killed. And if the female child escapes this act of female foeticide, then there is the monstrous fear of rape waiting to pounce upon her once she is out of the womb. What type of government are we letting to rule us, which doesn't have the heart and sense to protect the country's female beings? And what type of citizens are we in the first place, for whom India losing a cricket match or a famous star's movie flopping are much more painful than an ordinary girl brutally and inhumanely getting ravaged in the hands of sex-crazy devils?

Each day, I am scared to read the news if there would be another agonizing report of a girl being raped. It is pathetic that we are in a situation where women are bound to live in constant fear, and it is scary to imagine if their would come a day when a girl returning home un-raped would become a news. It is extremely disturbing to see the daughters of this country drowning in pools of blood, and it brings tears to my eyes when I realize that several such daughters are still waiting for justice from a government which has forgotten the very meaning of it. I want justice to be done to them. By saying 'justice', I don't mean justice that comes after ten or fifteen years, but justice that is instant. Justice that is real and meaningful.  I want those bastard rapists to be hanged as brutally and mercilessly as they had invaded the freedom of innocent women.

Who am I? I am not a human rights activist. I am not a big man with a bunch of influential people within my hold. I am not a powerful person with stacks of money under my nose. I am not the President, nor the Prime Minister. I am neither a bureaucrat nor a politician. I am not even someone who has the capacity to earn a living. Then, what gives me the very right to write and wrong the spite? Well, I am after all a 19 year old erupting with rage and pain, and I guess that is more than sufficient to think of doing something.

 Will a day arrive when we would have to face the misfortune of reading about women only in books as 'extinct' species; when our country would be considered by the world as the rapist hub; when India would be seen as a nation sans women; when the entire world which once addressed our country as 'Mother India', would start addressing as 'Murdered India'?

I am scared. I am pained. I am angered.

India Today

Since politics is the architect of any nation, and the election system is the architect of the system of politics in any country, I would like to start by talking about the election system in our country. 

I'd call our election system as a festival of bribe, booze and biryani. I say 'festival' because the period of elections is a time of merry, not only for the politicians, but also for the people. For the politicians, it is the votes and the imminent powers and positions, and for the people, it is free food, drinks, household items and services; in other words, election time is a period of festivities where the majority of the Indian population ends up raping our motherland.  Wait, let's raise the first question. Is our country a home for dreamers and leaders or a breeding ground for beggars? Why do our tongues hang out on the sense of getting something free? Empowerment is a sinful deed in our country. 'The rich have to be rich, the poor have to be poor.' - this is the mantra on which our Indian politics is running. And yes, words like 'Change' and 'Development' are words of filth that are highly unacceptable in our nation. 

The second question. Are we a true democracy? We claim our nation to be one of the biggest democracies in the world; but according to me, if we call our country to be a democracy, it is nothing but hypocrisy.  We are a corrupt country showcasing ourselves as a great country under the blankets of democracy. We talk high about our past, of how great a nation India was and how our self-esteem and dignity were wiped out by the British invasion. But wait, what about now? Aren't we ourselves doing the same what the British did once upon a time? We are not allowed to select our leaders directly, then in what way is it appropriate to call ourselves a democracy? 

You might be knowing the recent arrest of two girls in Mumbai for their posts against the bandh in regard to the demise of  a Maharashtra political icon (I don't want to mention his name). If the demise of a politician has to be marked by a bandh, then I had say there are millions dying of hunger and poverty, what about them? You might say there is a difference between a politician and a common man, a difference of power and prestige, but I would like to remind you that it is the common man who has given that power, it is from the common man's sweat and blood the politician's prestige was born.

There is something called 'freedom of speech' that is present in our constitution. What does that mean? In our nation, if you speak something sensible, you will be behind the bars. But then, if you resort to rubbish talks and ridiculous acts, if your mouth dances to insane issues and meaningless comments, you will be hailed and made a member of the parliament (I guess that's how our parliament was formed). You speak the truth about a politician, about our government, and you will be stamped as a criminal and a traitor. Speaking the truth is condemned in this land of Mahatma Gandhi. Is 'truth' a taboo in India? 

Now, let me focus on the current Indian mentality. I am not the President or the PM to really analyse the current state of our nation, but still, I would like to share with you a few thoughts of mine that were born out of my experience. We want India to rock at the Olympics. At the time of Olympic games, it is a general habit of us to compare our country with those of Olympic-hero nations like China and USA. We criticise our country's performance and talk high about other countries' achievements. We say Indians don't have a sporting sense. But then, we don't want our children to get into sports. We brainwash them by discouraging them in every possible way, and show sports as something negative and unsuccessful. Let's come to cricket, which is like a religion in our country, or rather, a binding religion, a religion that unites all other religions. We want India to win every match it plays, to bring home every world cup it is a part of. If we lose a match, we begin to tag our players as useless and irresponsible. We criticise our players in such a way and talk as if losing a game is a heinous sin. But we never want our children to become cricketers. And the explanations we give are far from sensible; saying Cricket is full of politics and one needs a cricketing background to succeed in the game. We will come to cinema, something that is as common as brushing our teeth daily. Comparisons are made between Indian and Hollywood cinema. We accuse Indian Directors for artificiality and lack of quality. We taunt them by saying that all they know is item and duet songs, vulgar comedy and cheap stories. But hey, hold on, are we okay with our children becoming actors or filmmakers? The answer is a NO. We want to watch films, even try to watch pirated versions, but it is a big no when it comes to our children making films. Why so? Yeah, because films too have politics. And one needs a film background to succeed. Otherwise, you would end up on the roads. #whatrubbish!
Lastly, I want to focus on politics, which is like a backbone for a nation. Which can either make or break a nation. For us, politics is an ocean of filth and vermin. The government is corrupt, the leaders are inefficient, lawlessness is plaguing our country etc.; this is what we say. Most people feel politics to be a sin, as a word that shouldn't be uttered. We, as usual, compare our nation's politics with that of USA or Japan and throw tantrums at our own government. We criticize our political scene in such a way, as if we had been researching India's political history for decades. And when it comes to our children joining politics, our mouths begin to spit discouragement and negativity. Serving the nation should be done by everyone else, except us. We are an exception. We have so many problems and lots of responsibilities. And hence, politics is not a good choice.

The tag-line for all the situations similar to the above ones is advising our children to study well, get into a good job, and lead a safe, secured and settled life. 'Someone has to come and Change India. But that someone doesn't include me' - This is the mantra that is penetrating through our breaths. We say India has to develop, but we often forget that today's children of ours' are tomorrow's citizens of this country.

We got to remember this; we don't have the right to blame the system unless we are ready to do something for it. 

Honour killing in India : A shameful misfortune

India is a country of mixed cultures and heritages. Our country is an epitome of equality and bonds of love and affection. The adage ‘Unity in Diversity’ aptly suits our nation. But, the unfortunate thing is that all these things are now becoming matters of the past. As we are heading towards a future that is darkened with things like religion and caste, killing someone in the name of prestige is gaining precedence over love and affection towards others.

The frequency of honour killings has been on the rise in the northern regions of India, with the states of Punjab, Haryana and UP topping the list. These honour killings are directed towards women or girls, and are a result of marriages that happen without the permission of the family, or those that happen with the girl and boy belonging to two different caste groups or religions.
In contrast to this, honour killings are close to null in the south Indian states as well as north western states of Gujarat and Maharashtra. Statistics have given extremely painful and sad results. Over 1000 young people are killed in India in the name of honour killing every year. Punjab has got the credit of having the highest number of honour killings in the country, with 34 honour killings being reported in the state between 2008 and 2010.

KHAP PANCHAYATS AND HONOUR KILLING
Khap panchayats are self driven setups that have gained wicked popularity for having paved a way for honour killing. Boycotting families from villages that chose to allow their children’s marriages to their choice, supporting the families in honour killing are some of the naïve activities of these so called panchayats.
The unlawful laws of the Kap panchayats are imposed through social boycotts where the victims are killed or forced to commit suicide. All these inhumane activities are done in the name of brotherhood and honour. Love marriages are considered taboo in these areas, which is highly unfortunate.

FEW EXAMPLES OF INHUMANITY
In the town of Jhajjar in Haryana, a father allegedly strangled his 21 year old daughter to death just for the trivial reason that she was in love with a guy.
In Uttar Pradesh, a youth who was opposed to his sister’s love beheaded her and threw her head in her lover’s house. This shows how inhumane and devilish one can become when their minds are possessed with spirits like religion and caste.
In yet another brutal act of tyranny, a man in Rajasthan had beheaded her daughter with a sword. The killer father was found roaming on the streets holding the severed head of his daughter.

WHERE ARE WE HEADING?
65 years of independence, development in the fields of science, technology, business, films and sports, etc. and yet, there are these dumb practices that threaten to push our nation backward to a few million years. Our nation’s dignity is being poisoned by religion and caste differences. People, who seem to be modern and broad minded, aren’t really so. Though honour killings are not prevalent in cities and metros, still love marriages are looked down. People tend to allow religion and caste to dominate the very meaning of love, which is a universal language. This mindless practice is not confined to a particular class. Both the educated and the uneducated, the rich and the poor, have this habit of honour killing in practice.

WHAT SHOULD BE DONE?
The laws are there. The rules are there. But all those aren’t stopping the people from becoming merciless killers. Their fanaticism for religion and caste makes them heartless tyrants, and they don’t care for any punishment that they are going to get.  What needs to be done is not to look at the punishment side, as that is not going to shake the criminals in any way. The best way to tackle this religious epidemic is to create awareness amongst the people, and educate them; as the ones who are into this barbaric act are the villagers and the uneducated. All these people are living in the mask of insanity; insanity born out of religion and caste. And only proper awareness and education can bring about a change for the better.

The Hunger Games of India

'The rich gets richer, and the poor gets poorer.' Well, this is not just the dialogue that escaped Rajnikanth's mouth in the film Sivaji, but more importantly, the very line that is now dictating the fate of our nation.

The recent report by the World Bank on Global Hunger shows that India ranks 65 in a total of 79 countries that have been assessed by the Global Hunger Index (GHI). What is even more worse is that according to the latest data on child under-nutrition, India ranks second from last on child-malnutrition in a list of 129 countries. Our economy is growing year by year, but what is the use of an economic boom when the very problems of our nation, which are degrading our development, only seem to worsen? Neighbouring countries like Pakistan and Nepal, which were once undergoing the same fate as ours, have now boomed and are consistently taking steps to eradicate this monster-epidemic of child hunger and malnutrition. There is much to learn from other countries, which, though small or are much behind us in terms of economy, are taking mammoth steps to push of these issues from the national domain. For example, Sri Lanka, whose national scene was blurred with civil wars etc., has achieved impressively high rates of literacy and life expectancy through various people-welfare policies, and enormous investments in health and education. Bangladesh, which is most often looked as a 'miniature' country by us, has succeeded in overtaking us in different social factors, like reduction in child malnutrition and child mortality. That point that deserves much attention is that these changes were possible in these countries only because of the responsible intervention of the states as well as the national governments. I don't know if they are democratic countries, but all I know is that, there, people are the first priority of the government. And yeah, that's what democracy really means.

I have no idea about the percentages of people below the poverty line, or the statistics regarding child hunger  or female malnutrition, and neither do I have the reports of the richest and the poorest in our country. I can say that we have aversion to learning, neither from our very own past, which was a beautiful painting of freedom and values by our national leaders, nor from other countries, which despite of being 'whatever' once upon a time, are now forging ahead while we keep gazing at them in meaningless amazement.

What's the use of a so called economic or IT boom, what's the use of different laws or reforms being brought by our government, what's the use of our nation making breakthroughs in the field of sports or medicine or technology or entertainment, when the very people of our nation are starving and rotting to death. 

Imprisoned for Truth

Do you have the habit of speaking the truth? Does the rampant growth of corruption in our country boil your blood? Do you have this gut-wrenching feeling in you to kick our dirty leaders out of the nation? You want a clean India? Is it like you don't give a damn to pin point the corrupt in the public? If you give a 'yes' to all the above questions, then yes, one day you might end up in jail.

Our system was designed in a way that paves way for development, but it is now being changed into something that punishes the ones who go for development. We are born in the land of great leaders and freedom fighters, the men who are one of the greatest human beings on earth, and whose names our country pronounces with pride. But unfortunately, following those 'men of miracle' today, would give you nothing but a cemented floor to sit on and rusted iron bars to count. Yes, you would be imprisoned.

This blog is in regard to the recent arrest of Aseem Trivedi, the Kanpur based cartoonist who was held for having portraying our leaders in their true colours, that is, as corrupt. If showing the leaders as what they are is a crime in the eyes of the government, then what does raping the nation mean? Our government has one of the biggest collections of thieves in the world; thieves who are completely secured within the walls of a term called 'democracy'.

What is democracy? Is it doing something for the people, or at the cost of the people? We have a number of rights listed in our constitution, termed as 'fundamental rights', which means that they belong to each and every being of this country, irrespective of their race or creed or religion or sex. Then why is it that when a man from the common populace comes out with something, and that which is absolutely true, does our government portray him as a traitor? Who is a traitor; the ones who ravage the country or the ones who point the people who do so? Do our leaders deserve what they enjoy today? Do they deserve the power and the votes? Do they deserve respect or security? And above all, do they deserve to be alive?