The Brink

It's only on the brink that people find the will to change.

There is something wrong about this particular headline for this article:

Walmart Out Of Guns As Americans Race For Arms After Newtown

A few days ago, a crazed just-out-of-his-teens gunman gunned down some kids in an elementary school in Connecticut. It's odd that some people in the first world country have access to things like that... they have access because the Republicans say, Hey! the criminals have guns - we have to protect ourselves... reminds me of Clint Eastwood from Gran Torino. So, some people believe that finally, the US will be forced to do something about the sale of semi-automatic and automatic weapons...

A few days ago, a girl was 'gang-raped' in a moving bus in, where else, Delhi while her boyfriend/ friend was attacked. Some of the suspects have been caught and have supposedly pleaded guilty to some crimes. 

Now, rapes have been a part of Indian history for a long time; fortunately, women's rights have grown off late and the stigma attached to rape and to a girl's 'izzat' or honour have given way to women demanding that they be respected and that Indian men learn how to respect a lady.

My belief is that South India has, in general, been better at this than North India; there are historical, cultural and educational reasons for this. Anyway, we are now witnessing massive outrage across India and especially in Delhi with respect to the police and the administration's apathy.

Experiences are littered with the police themselves being lecherous, may be because people in power often feel powerful (obvious as it may seem), and with general apathy in addition to a social incarceration of the lady/ girl/ woman who has been molested or raped. 

What is it about the male human that makes him want to assert his dominance and fulfill his sexual urges which find an outlet within minutes? Is it that some humans are incapable of respecting another's life? I also believe that our social and cultural upbringing plays a massive role in who we grow up to become...

When Indian movies have been glamourising rape, molestation, the passing of lewd remarks and the objectification of women with terms such as 'chhamiya', 'chhmakchhallo', 'maal' - what is the viewing populace to believe? Then again, why do movies do this? May be they pick it up from social reality? There was a time, in Mumbai, when it was considered reasonable for a guy to whistle at an attractive looking girl - luckily, the Mumbai girl has become self-righteous or may be the guys in questions have been shamed to believing that such behaviour is not acceptable. 

In North India, there is something such as 'tot' - which I think is used when refering to a girl who looks attractive. I had seen this video some months ago and was horrified that while I found it amusing, it was also quite disturbing - how is society capable of accepting something like... "Mast kudi hai... uttha lengey." "Really nice girl... we will pick her up."

All in all, I believe that a society which tolerates untoward behaviour will spawn people who believe in the objectification of women and who are not afraid of showcasing their muscle power through threats like, "Tu jaanta nahi mera baap kaun hai." Mumbai-ites often make fun of such Delhi behaviour because we fail to understand how such a vast society could behave in such a way... It is wrong of me to compare Mumbai to Delhi when Mumbai too has plenty of drawbacks.

In Singapore, drug-traffickers are threatened with capital punishment. It is a form of legal deterrent. The threat of being able to execute such a sentence would prevent people from indulging in anti-social behaviour.

In India, there has been a gradual degradation of order in society because capitalism and nepotism has allowed those in power to throw their weight around - richer folk get off with murder, while the poorer are beaten up by the police for petty thieving.

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And what is with the sexual starvation throughout the country? Why is the word 'condom' censored on TV at times? A society which is as diverse as India's cannot be governed by one set of social regulators.

After all this, I often wonder why people are hell bent on producing kids in a country which does not value them. And after the kids have been popped out, why must the upbringing be so poor, where a girl will rarely feel safe and a guy will be sexually stoked, where the law is subjective, where bureaucrats and government officials have the liberty of pushing us about. It is sad enough for a man to witness a loved one be teased, touched, molested or raped - imagine what parents go through when their own children are not safe. Not safe, not because of their own behaviour (I refer to the first world where people indulge in unlawful activities for fun) but because of the behaviour of somebody else who sees no harm in inflicting fear and pain on another...