Other Rambings

MY RANTINGS AFTER THE HEINOUS CRIME IN DELHI

I was in the 10^th Std, when a movie called Zakhmi Aurat starring the ever beautiful and effervescent actress Dimple Kapadia and Raj Babbar was released, in 1988. The plot of the movie is about women rape victims who go about taking revenge on their rapists by castrating them. It is one of the boldest ever Bollywood movies ever made and I applaud the movie even today because in a patriarchial society like ours where the movies industry is male dominated and all the stories and themes are hero centric, to see a movie like this being made 24 years ago is a rare phenomenon. I think Karan Johar must remake this movie as a tribute to the movie on its 25^th year silver jubilee anniversary.

I loved this movie to the hilt and it played a major role in shaping the feminist in me I think. The 80s were an era of such female centric or angry young woman taking revenge kind of movies after the angry young man era of the 70s had come to pass. There were many movies of the same genre like Sridevi  starrer ‘Sherni’, Zeenat Aman starrer ‘Insaaf Ka Taraazu’, Rekha starrer ‘Phool Baney Angarey’ and  Vijaya Shanthi starrer ‘Karthavyam’,  to name a few.

This post has been triggered by the recent heinous rape of a woman in our nation’s capital Delhi in a bus by six goons aided by the bus driver and the bus conductor. I am an idealist turned cynic. I used to believe that India is a great country and everything that is not right can be set right by pro active participation of citizens and also involvement of well meaning individuals. I associated myself with various organisations and worked in every sphere possible. But I soon lost my idealism and ‘wet behind the ears’ state and turned cynical when I realised that all the evils and ills of the society have been in existence right from the dawn of humankind and nobody has been able to  set  anything right.

But this post is not about my cynicism but about what I have to say about the crime committed in our nation’s capital. Crimes against women have been happening right from the time of our great Indian mythologies Ramaayana where the wife is famously abandoned by the king and husband just because a washer man said something about her and the famous scene in the Mahabharata where the saree of the queen is stripped in full view of all courtiers and the ministers and all the five husbands and state elders are unable to save her honour and dignity. Crimes against women do not have any national borders, race, colour, religion, caste, creed, educational or economic level. They are committed even in the richest countries and among the richest people to the poorest countries and the poorest people.

Women have to realise that she is not safe from crimes being committed against her. It can happen to anyone and at any time. It is left up to us women to defend ourselves. We have to be alert all the time, be aware of our surroundings, carry pepper spray or other weapons. Do we teach our daughters to be afraid and not venture out of the house? Do we tell them to come home before it is too late in the night.  Why is it that the world is safe for men and not safe for women?

All the restrictions worked with the previous generations. But these are times when we talk about economic independence of the women, financial and psychological independence, emotional independence and spiritual independence. By independence I mean that they are slowly getting empowered to participate in the family and society pro actively and with equality, their voices are being heard and they are also contributing meaningfully and significantly to the economic and educational growth of their families, children and to the society and nation at large.

Today’s girls are very smart. They have learnt the fine art of balancing their family life and work life. They have learnt to carry forward the older generation along with their children and the younger generation. I have been continuously seeing some amazing women who perform some beautiful and deft acrobatics in their family life to maintain a balance in the psycho dynamics of relationships, among different generations, different cultures and between various facets of their lives.

When we have made so much progress through the hard work and the relentless attempts of our previous generations, how can we now go back and tell our next generations to be scared and take their steps backwards? It has taken us centuries to arrive at this space. How can we now revert backwards. we have to make the society as safe to the girls as it is to the boys.

I will only tell my own daughters, be bold. They have had some amazing role models and examples in their own family, women of tremendous courage and strength. So, I will only tell them to be careful and take the necessary precautions. Listen to your instincts. pay heed to the words of elders. but, never be scared or never be afraid. because, jo dhar gaya woh mar gaya.......