Scared and Praying

What is the point of making plans for the future? Falling in love? Making decisions?  Hoping? Or doing anything at all for that matter? I am a woman. And I have no control over my destiny. I am at the mercy of the sexually-frustrated males who think with their dicks, whose lust over-powers their conscience, their morals. These people prowl the streets of 'Shining India' with not a trace of fear or shame. Instead, it is ME, who has to think twice before leaving the four walls of my house. Every time I walk down a desolate stretch of road, my paranoia runs high - I just keep looking over my shoulder, eyeing every dark figure with suspicion and fear. I wonder what piece of clothing in my wardrobe would incite a man on the road to turn into a mindless animal. Is this all that I am? An object to be possessed, desired, owned; never to be treated, leave alone being respected as a human being. This crippling helplessness, this inability to have a say in my own life is mind-numbing.

I want to ask a few questions:

If the whole country is on the streets, protesting the atrocity that just happened in Delhi, the capital of one of the largest democracies and upcoming super-powers of the world, then WHY are rape cases being reported and splashed across newspapers every day? And not just one, but many cases every damn day. WHO are those people who are still continuing to violate women, irrespective of their age, appearance, dressing-sense? Are there really some two-faced monsters amid us who shout slogans during the day and strip females of their dignity during the night?

Also, people are throwing around the phrase "a brutal rape" regarding this incident. Isn't every rape a brutal and heinous act? Or are some cases sweet and gentle?!

Not to mention, the public is coming up with more and more inhuman ways to deal with the rapists. No doubt, they deserve strict punishment and should not be let off easy, but whatever they are made to undergo, it will not be comparable with the trauma they inflicted on the victim. And since when did the law become equivalent to "An eye for an eye"?

There is a surprisingly large number of people who apparently feel that all evil resides in Delhi alone. I am not trying to be a loyal Delhi-ite here; as a citizen of the city where this barbaric act occurred, I am ashamed, nothing else. My point is, do people really believe that crimes against women are isolated to one city or region? If so, they are sorely mistaken. You can quote all the statistics you want but that is all relative! If there are lesser crimes happening elsewhere, it doesn't mean that place is safe. We need to tackle this problem as a nation and stop playing the blame game.

We are all clamouring for justice, booing every politician whose name we know and cursing the police, but for what? No matter how stringent security is, the police can't be everywhere all the time! Change needs to start at home. I'm sure no one tells their sons to rape, but do all parents instill in their children the need to treat men and women as equals and to treat women with respect?
The disparity between the treatment of the girls and boys begins as soon as we are born and ends only when we reach our graves. This attitude has to change. The social mindset is the only thing that can bring an end to this era of horror. And this is not a quick solution. It will take years to straighten out this kink in our societal fabric.


I haven't been able to think of much else, since I heard the news about the girl's death. I realize that this is just another article in the long list of posts floating all over cyber-space, but I just had to say something. She is a living example of how life can be much worse than death, and yet, her desire to live was unbreakable. I pray for her soul, I salute her, and I hope in vain that no one else has to undergo the torture that she went through.

Meandering Thoughts

How do you differentiate between a football club supporter and a loyal fan? When his team is given an unfair decision, the supporter will groan out of disappointment but the fan will curse fluently and punch the walls. And when his team scores, the supporter will hi-5 the ones around him whereas the fan will jump up and down on his couch out of elation, take off his beloved team’s jersey that he had been flaunting and whirl it around like a cowboy.

How do you identify a music freak? You will find his earphones always plugged in. If you look in his wardrobe, you will find at least three t-shirts featuring his favourite bands. The walls of his room will be adorned by posters of the artistes he admires the most. His mobile and laptop wallpaper will be graced by - no prizes for guessing - musicians.

Do you admire any person so much that you want him to be the last person you look at before you sleep and the first one you see when you open your eyes again?

Everyone can completely identify with this level of worship for someone or something.. the ‘what’ can vary but the ‘how’ does not. It could be a car, a celebrity, a TV show, a hobby, a few sentences that resonate with your philosophy in life or just a funny quip, it could be a photo that makes you say “WOW!” every time you see it. There are some things you love and admire so much in life that you could shout it out from the rooftops just so the whole world could know. But since doing that would also earn us a rather.. shall we say, infamous reputation, we settle for more subtle ways of expressing our devotion like plastering the walls of our rooms with an array of posters of rock gods, searching for bags that boldly declare epic lines from epic novels and then decorating them with funky badges, buying jerseys of to proudly declare your loyalty to a specific team.. the list goes on and on. Sometimes we come up with awesome creative ideas ourselves but can’t find a way to bring them to life. And we continue to try to find a way, till we do.

We are the fans. We are the freaks. We are the fanatics. We may not worship God, but we do worship the extra-ordinary.