The Anniversary

December 16, 2012
Does this date reminds you of something? I’m sure it does. There’s not a single soul in this country who can afford to forget that brutal and fateful night. It was this very date, a year before when a young girl was mauled by six beasts and was left to die on the streets of Delhi.
This incident shook the whole nation deeply. The outburst of the citizens was sudden and huge and triggered something totally unprecedented. Thousands of people came out on the streets to protest, which went on for days and paralysed the capital. All this jolted the judicial system and forced a rethink. And the fact that things have changed a lot in the last year cannot be denied. The law has been amended to change the definition of rape and the provision for punishment has been made extremely stringent. A tough new law now holds the cops directly accountable, with refusal to lodge a case inviting a two-year jail sentence. This in turn has led to the reporting and registration of more and more cases. All these are very welcome steps but I ask is that all? Is that all we need to do to ensure the safety of women in the largest democracy of the world?

I don’t think so. Making a law in itself is not enough; it is its implementation that matters. The rape cases have seen a jump of 125% and Molestation cases are up by 417%. Now tell me, has anything changed? There’s still a lot that needs to be done. Women are still being ogled at, they are still seen as objects in this male dominated society, they are still being raped and still being molested. More fast-track courts are needed to deal swiftly with sex crimes; the police force needs to become more vigilant and empathetic towards complaints from women victims. A lot needs to be done for the care and rehabilitation of rape victims to help them combat the social stigma that they have to face in most of the cases. The trauma of a rape victim doesn’t end with the crime, they need counselling to move on in life. These are some of the steps which still need to be put into force to ensure a positive change. And most of all it is the predominant patriarchal mindset of the society that needs to be changed.
On this first anniversary of the heinous crime that took place that December night, let us all pledge to do our bit to bring about a change, a revolution and ensure that no other Nirbhaya or Damini will have to go through something like this, ever again.

Modus Operandi

A verdict of Ahmedabad court and a statement by BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi followed by it made a buzz in recent political scenario. Mr. Modi published a blog post invites vocal uproars. It was after 11 years became vocal prior to the victims. These eleven years in sot a short time, and 2002 massacre is not dissolved into history. for the last eleven years it was alive and it got new dimensions when BJP announced Modi as their Prime Ministerial Candidate for 2014 elections. Recently Mr Modi has been acquitted by Ahmedabad court from the charges of a massacre held in Gujarat during 2002.

Prima facie Modi was suspected in this case. But the investigating agencies were ‘failed’ to produce evidences against him in court. It might be legally correct. But there is a larger implication of Social correctness. Many former bureaucrats and high level official who worked under Modi like Sanjiv Bhatt and Sharma are still vocal bout Modi’s involvement in the riot. According to Sanjiv Bhatt, ‘the SIT has done as much harm to this country’s ethos as those lying politicians and those blood-thirsty mobs which ran riot in those dark days. What misfortune that we had to expect anything half-way good to emerge out of their investigations. It’s a grave, dastardly fraud perpetuated upon us by the same inhuman system that failed to deliver justice during the ’84 riots, the 92-93 riots and the terrible Bhopal Gas tragedy!’

A mere confession like statement is not at all a closure to the issue until the justice delivered. Though I am not a linguistic, the tongue that Modi used in his statement is not appropriate for a confession which suppose to address the survivors and nation. Literately the statement did not serve anything to justice. But it reflects an eye towards Delhi. By this strategy BJP can pull a minority in Muslim community into chaos and can make them not to vote against him. But it will not happen in a larger level.

There can be no closure to 2002 without Justice and Reparation; and there can be no Justice and Reparation without Truth and Genuine Remorse.

Rise and fall

As a society it is important to revisit the tragic events of history so that we are able to see things in the present times with objectivity and not let history repeat itself

History tells us that the subjective perceptions of large groups of humans have been massively exploited by political opportunists. By the time the truth emerges, it already becomes a dark chapter in the history of mankind. Winston Churchill rightly said, “A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.”

As a society it is important to revisit the tragic events of history so that we are able to see things in the present times with objectivity and not let history repeat itself.

Adolf Hitler was chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945 and dictator of Nazi Germany from 1934 to 1945. He founded Nazism and started World War II and the Holocaust. Hitler joined the German Workers’ Party, precursor of the Nazi Party, in 1919, and became leader of NSDAP in 1921. Hitler was responsible for the death of an estimated 21 million civilians and prisoners of war. In addition, 29 million soldiers were killed in the European theatre by systematically putting fear in the minds of the majority population against the Jews. His brand of German nationalism saw unprecedented support.

Hitler’s foreign and domestic policies had the goal of seizing living space for the Germanic people. He motivated invasion of Poland in September 1939, resulting in the outbreak of World War II. Under Hitler’s rule, in 1941 German forces and their European allies occupied most of Europe and North Africa. In 1945 the Allied armies invaded Germany. Hitler’s supremacist and racially motivated policies resulted in the systematic murder of 11 million people of his own country, including an estimated six million Jews.

In the final days of the war, 0n April 30, 1945, Hitler committed suicide to avoid capture by the Red Army. Hitler’s oratory earned him DAP’s membership in September 1920. DAP soon became NSDAP. By 1921, Hitler gained notoriety for his effective speaking ability to large audiences. He gave rowdy, polemic speeches. Historians have noted the hypnotic effect of his rhetoric on large audiences. Kessel writes, “Germans speak with mystification of Hitler’s hypnotic appeal. Hitler is said to have mesmerised the nation, captured them in a trance from which they could not break loose.”

Alfons Heck, a former member of Hitler Youth, described: “We erupted into a frenzy of nationalistic pride that bordered on hysteria. For minutes on end, we shouted at the top of our lungs, with tears streaming down our faces: Sieg Heil, Sieg Heil, Sieg Heil! From that moment on, I belonged to Adolf Hitler body and soul.”

The effect of great depression of 1929 in Germany was catastrophic. Hitler exploited this by targeting his political messages specifically at people who had been affected by its effect, such as farmers, war veterans, and the middle class.

On February 27, 1933, the Reichstag building was set on fire. He blamed the communist. At Hitler’s urging, Hindenburg suspended basic rights and allowed detention without trial. Activities of the German Communist Party were suppressed, and some 4,000 communist party members were arrested. Historians found that the Hitler’s party itself was responsible for starting the fire.

In 1934, Hitler became Germany’s head of state with the title ‘leader and chancellor of the Reich’. Within months, the other parties were disbanded. A number of Hitler’s political enemies, even from his own party were executed. While the international community and some Germans were shocked by the murders, many in Germany saw Hitler as restoring order.

Hitler oversaw one of the largest infrastructure improvement campaigns in German history, leading to the construction of dams, autobahns, railroads, and other civil works. He sponsored architecture on an immense scale. In 1936 Hitler opened the summer Olympic games in Berlin. Hitler was Time magazine’s Man of the Year for 1938. It may be significant to state here that Hitler was on the cover of Time for as many as seven times: in 1931, 1933, 1936, 1938, 1941 and 1945. The May 7, 1945 issue came out after the discovery of Hitler’s body on May 2 with the iconic cross on his face. A war memorial at Hitler’s birth place there is a stone with inscription: “For peace, freedom and democracy, never again fascism, millions of dead remind us.”

It is fascinating to know Hitler’s personal choices. Hitler wore designer clothes. He loved to be filmed and photographed. Hitler followed a vegetarian diet. He despised alcohol and was a non-smoker. He promoted aggressive anti-tobacco campaigns throughout Germany. To the public, Hitler promoted his own image as that of a celibate man without a domestic life, dedicated entirely to his political mission and the nation through documentaries.

Unknown Dalits

Karukkakkuruchi, a small village near to Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu is now known for a news of commiseration that made in this New Year night. A group of Dalit villagers were brutally beaten up by the so called ‘upper class’ men at the very chilled night of New Year. These dalits were warned not to conduct new year celebrations. Men with arms were attacked them allegedly the dalits violated their ‘warning’.

It not novel that Dalits are considering as second citizens in India, the largest democratic country in the world. It is literarily pathetic that they are facing apartheid in these days while we are celebrating Madiba. In December 2012, European Union has passed a resolution to arrest  casteism, asserted that it is diablotic the status of dalits in India.  They exemplified some incidents such as a consecutive dalit rapes in Hariyana and firing of dalit habitats in Tamilnadu etc. Former chief Justice of India Altamas Kabeer has opinioned that the media and civil society is cruelly indifferent to the atrocities against dalit groups. They are very vocal against rapes and murder of upper class people but used to keep mum towards issues concerning Dalit community. Channels and News rooms alloted more time and space for ‘Nirbhaya’, they skillfully ignored the story of  a ten year old Dalit girl, who has been brutally gang raped and burned to death in the very same day the Nirbhaya episode taken place. We have no answer for an Australian journalist, who asked why there is no dalits in decision making positions of any media house. There was no editorial remembering Dr. Ambedkar in his birth Anniversaries.  Government of India routinely did its duty by publishing ad in  memory of him in newspapers. All else was nothing. It is high to press an unlike button to the anti-dalit pro brahmanical attitude of institutions despite of private or public.

Once Dalits were victims of feudal Zamindari system, now they are that of feudocracy, extreme upper class hinduism and state terrorism. Dalits were inhumanly more treated by extreme hindu groups, that their ideology itself inculcate the notions of ‘chathurvarnya’. An incident happened in Dharmapuri district of Tamil Nadu, which caused alienation of 2000 dalits was a perfect example for this. During this incident the thugs were intentionally destroyed legal documents such as educational certificates, ration cards, possession documents even laptops etc, that will eventually alienate dalits from social arena. It is something socially incorrect that the government machineries also affected by Bharahmanical  notions. Government, especially its executive machineries wickedly coined a term as ‘Dalit terrorism’ and brought all collective uprisings of the community under the shadow of something disastrous. There is no special court for any Dalit issues. What draws a recent verdict by Patna court that acquitted 23 upper class men who brutally butchered 21 dalits?

Dalits are inevitable vote bank for each mainstream political movements and their attitude towards the community was like a patron to look after. They themselves made a political movement under Kanshiram as Bahujan Samajwadi Party, which politically recognised and accented to thrown. But they were remained as socially alienated. Though this conditions  remain still unchanged, dalits themselves assert that “do not try to be our fathers”. In this juncture we can hope there will be a ‘democratic’ India that treats equally its citizens. But still many ideals remains as utopia.

Law too weak?

Whether it is Delhi, UP, Gurgaon or Noida, the scenario regarding the safety of women is almost same. Every girl whether working or house maker or school going children or college student are prone to sexual assault, sometimes even in day time. Not much has changed after the brutal rape case of 16th December, rapes are still happening and people are still turning more animal. “Animals also take mercy and do not do such cruel things” says a girl who doesn’t want to be named, when asked about how she feels when she hears about such cases.

A few days back there was news about 4years old girl being raped, long time back about 7 months pregnant woman being raped and also 82years old woman being raped etc. now such cases makes difficult to understand whether the man is normal or not.

As per the facts, the 6 fast tracks courts that were set up to tackle sexual assault case after the 16th December case, has been able to solve only 380 of 1,670 cases and surprisingly these courts solved lesser cases than the normal courts that take up such cases.

With so slow working of the institution of justice, it is hard to hope for justice to happen at right time. A lot of cases are still pending where the victim has lost her life, waiting for years for justice. As said “justice late, justice denied”, how many actually believe that the 9 months taken to make a decision on the brutal act of rape of 16thDecember was right, when even the evidence were so strong?

Living in era where even organization who is supposed to keep peace and harmony and check over crime is involved in crime, on whom should people trust? This is a big question that is rising every day in everyone’s mind and making everyone to look at every other person like a criminal.

The law has no effect on the criminals or wrong-doers, because of the level of corruption that has developed in country, people think and believe getting away with anything is really easy. Would life-sentence or Death-sentence give justice to victims and deterrence to crime? A question by public, that needs answer.

You are on your own

While travelling through metro today, I saw this lady who was a north-eastern, standing with huge bag on her back and loads of money in her pocket. She was in her night dress, in metro with her sister or a friend, I don’t know. I managed to get a seat and was busy in untangling my ear phones which always messes up. As soon as, I untangled and got busy in listen to songs, my sight goes on this lady’s wrist. And I was horrified. What I looked at,wasn’t what I see rarely, but still I was like “what the heck!”

Now you all must be wondering “aisabhikyadekha”, so this lady, about whom I am talking since last 10 lines, had huge cuts of knife, starting from her elbow and ending on her wrist. No single place was vacant on her wrist. It was all cuts and bruises. The first thought that came to my mind was, what could be the reason behind this torcher she made herself go through? A lot of us go through a lot in life. And for many of us, relationships out of our family are sort of escapism from what we face around us. This typerelationship is the most fragile one; everything and anything can lead to the biggest mistakes of one’s life. No I am not talking of virginity here; virginity is no more called a MISTAKE. I am talking about the suicidal tendencies that are growing in numbers, day to day.

Sometimes not even a relationship, but family matters and all stuff like that, makes one do so. Cutting wrist, eating some medicine, drinking poison etc. have turned like a game, for people nowadays. I know and understand life is not easy to live. But, if you are so weak that anyone and everyone can have access to take away your life, then life becomes hell. We all, including me, need to learn every single day that, we, at any point of life are living for ourselves and are on our own. We cannot be dependent on anyone, and cannot expect that someone would bring peace in our life, because to have peace in life, one has to be in peace within them.

Nothing can raise you in life if you are yourself demoralized and nothing can bring you down if you are respecting your inner-self more than any damn thing around. This doesn’t mean that you start misbehaving with your parents or with anyone, as that would again disturb your peace of mind. But this surely means that we need to grow up, stop punishing ourselves for things we aren’t even responsible for, tit for tat might work a lot of times but not every time. Value yourself; don’t expect that someone else would do it for you. Remember, you came to this alone, you will leave alone. You were never ever born to satisfy or live on other’s terms but was born to live on your own terms.

CHANGE

I’m happy; I just can’t keep others happy!
well, many say I have changed, I say “change is good, change is worth the effort.”
you don’t just change in a day, you see, analyse, get hurt, get emotional, get betrayed and then one day you wake up to be someone totally different. Well, they just simply see the changes not the reasons behind you changing yourself.

There are happy days, and then there are sad days and then just DAYS. You keep yourself going somehow but then there is a disappointment that clings to your mind and body. This disappointment is out of nowhere, because the day you woke up and changed, your mind changed but then you felt stranded and alone. Suddenly you wish everything gets back to normal but it is too late! This is life, life is disappointing and expectations? Well, they hurt a lot more.
So just accept the change and focus on the pros rather than the cons. Because at the end of the day, those people because of whom you changed will themselves figure it out, because it’s not just your mess but there’s too.
Don’t take off on the guilt ride, everyone gets a chance to make a difference, everybody has to adapt to the change and then it changes completely, and this change is good, it keeps you going.

So yes I was somebody else yesterday, today I am someone new. No I do not change every day. I just keep myself going and then I adapt.
In this process, we lose many people, some are close and some are not! They are just stepping stones. You meet people, few stay, and the rest; well they walk away.
You can’t keep acting and pretending, some day you have to let go the people and live with the memory.

and now that I am a grown up, sensible enough to pen down my emotions, I find it easy for me to see and look through the changes and then simply accept them as a part and parcel of life!
But then don’t we a get a benefit of emotions? I mean cant we simply overlook and accept each others as we are, completely flawed and harmless! Just lost somewhere between the monopoly of life. Well, I guess not!
So when life is throwing these changes I me, I changed myself for my better own good!
As they “fittest survive”.
 
 

HEART OR VIRGINITY?

A lot of people believe that everything in India walks the wrong way (like the cars on road). When asked about few things like sex, relationship, love an Indian would probably 99.9% say that love comes first then comes relationship then marriage, that too if they feel connected, and for a lot of people, over the time, connection is on basis of their compatibility on bed. For girls/women, losing their virginity is a big THING. India is still living in an Era, where women are still afraid of losing virginity because they are “THE IZZAT OF FAMILY” and also because of rumors that it can be known if a girl is virgin or not. The question that rises in my mind, while thinking about this is how does it matter? Can you know if a guy is virgin or not, if he does not confess himself? What is wrong in it, if you lose your virginity with someone you love, No matter what happens later in life?

Why is it that in our society virginity is HUGEEEEEE THING, whereas a heart is broken every now and then? On contrary, heart should have been the most important thing in this entire world and one should be afraid to break heart rather than breaking one’s virginity.

A survey says in US or any other foreign country, dating comes first which doesn’t involve words like I LOVE YOU, but they just stick to words “I like you” and “I am attracted to you”, whereas in India even before one actually knows about someone enough to LIKE him or her, one confesses “Yaarmujepyarhogayahaitujhse!”. Then the next step in relationship of foreign countries is sex, which is a big social stigma in India before marriage. Now the thought behind taking this step so fast is, they believe that indulging physically early would not distract them later when they are in love, as in they would like to know heart of other person rather thinking of having sex all the time, which happens in India where love happens first and people think and talk of sex more rather than sharing their life and emotions. Obviously this cannot be generalized, but more often this is what has been noticed.

After sex come’s commitment, that guys in India do not usually like to opt for and later comes marriage, a step that is taken after completely knowing about a person, unlike in India where two strangers are tied together or Lovers leave right before such moments because it wasn’t what they were planning.

Breakups and patch-ups are part of life, why to let it have a big effect on our life? Why we feel our life is waste if we fail? Try to read between the lines; try to understand that relationships mostly fail because of lack of understanding. Not that foreign couples do not part away, they do. Yes I agree that society influence is a lot in India as compared to other countries,  I am not saying that we are wrong and from tomorrow everyone should have sex first then move to next step, but think over it – is heart more important or your virginity.

Over the over confidence!

Confidence is a boon. It’s the internal power inside everyone, which always gives its hand at the time when no one does. It drives people towards doing the needful and achieving what’s aspired. But, as we all know – excess of everything has its own black side. And so, confidence is no exception. We all, in some time of our life, have fallen prey in the hands of over confidence. Be it during daily chores, important exams, or any goals, we have set for ourselves, over confidence blurs our vision and puts us into a path, which is not only the wrong way, but also a difficult one, felicitated with whole lot of surmountable and insurmountable problems. Once moved into that path, failure is an expected and very certain phenomenon.

As wise people say, prevention is always better than cure. Therefore, before we let failure kiss us good-bye, we must appoint our mind and a little bit of conscience as war horses to prevent us falling in the pit. So how can one do it? I, although a routine prey in the hands of over confidence, would like to share a few things, which have helped me a lot.

• Never lie to yourself – The first and the most ignored point. Never lie to yourself! You know it the best when you are lying to yourself. Lies don’t change the facts. The fact that you are not good at something won’t change if you start believing that thing to be a kid’s work. Always set a certain reality around and inside yourself.
• Comparison is a SIN – It’s serious. The fact that you are a separate person says it all. You cannot be as good as someone else in some activity. And comparing yourself with him and repeatedly inching towards failure by trying to do that same act is a grand act of foolery. You are different and so are your abilities. Instead of comparing yourself and wasting time in it, work on your strengths and increase them to a pinnacle standard.
• Limits are sweet – Just because you know somethingdoesn’t make you a master. Being in limits is always an encouraging thing to do. As already told, creating a fake image about yourself in your mind and working according to that will lead to nothingness. Instead, being with your original limits will do wonders, although slowly, but surely.
• Critics are best buddies – Lend your ears to everything that is constructive. May be it will sound rude, may be it will demoralize you, may be will you say a million abuses to the critic’s entire clan, but trust me, words from their mouth always serve as an excellent food for thought for your mind. Spend a little time on them, access yourself by being truthful and not egoistic and then, enjoy the results!
• Stays away from fake appraisals – Your friends are your life. They motivate you with all they have, but sadly, it is bad sometimes. And it is important to tell that it is not their fault. Taking wrong signals from praises and thinking yourself to be a super human is out right stupid! Be humbled with the praises and don’t set new ranks by climbing on them.
• Fantasies and realities are different – Sad but true. We create big hopes in our mind about something, we see ourselves doing things that are a rarity and assume that it can be done easily. On doing this, we prepare for it casually and when it comes to the real test, we find ourselves being roasted with the reality. We should always keep it in our mind that we have to do the thing, not how to do it, or how easy that is.
• Small goals – good goals – Lastly, this point is for improving yourself. Small goals, which are according to your current abilities should be set and achieved. This will not only divide the target into small achievable limits, but also will make the journey towards the feat an enjoyable one, full of small and big happiness of success.

So this is all you need to kill that bug of over confidence, before it starts chewing your grey matter. Before being possessed by it, it’s better to get over the over confidence.