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Why can India not protect its women? The recent spate of excuses for rape are ridiculous and must be quashed ruthlessly.
What do you do when a state witnesses over 15 rape cases in a month and you are incompetent and cannot do anything about it? You support innovative problem solving techniques that suggests one marries girls off at an “agreeable age” to avoid such incidents. If you cannot protect the women of your country from monsters outside you just subject them to “licensed-rape” at the tender age of 16 in the name of marriage. Welcome to India.
I think we should make amendments in the constitution so that freedom of speech does not include freedom of absurdity. Three days ago a 3 year old girl was raped in the district of Sambalpur. I suggest pregnant women start filling out matrimony forms for their children right now to avoid such incidents.In all honesty, rationality fails me and anger clouds me when I write about this issue.
Why does rape occur? Is it because I am wearing sleeveless? Is it because there are young, sexually matured boys in my town and it’s not cool if I am young, attractive and single without a man by my side? Is it because I have guy friends and I think it is “ok” to hang out with them? Is it because I am a social drinker, a party goer or in your words an open embarrassment to our so called “sanskriti“?
Get over yourself. Rape occurs because I am a woman and I possess the female anatomy. How much longer are we as a country going to take to accept that rape occurs because the criminal is a carnal, dignity lacking animal? And for that animal the only motive is to find something with female parts to harm.
There was also an absurd comparison made about how women in the Mughal era were married off early so that they were not “picked and raped”. I would like to remind them that in the Mughal era a woman was not the head of your Human resources department who had the authority to kick your ass if you didn’t perform well. She didn’t fly planes or fight for the country. They didn’t perform complicated surgeries or lead huge companies!
If so much progress has happened for women from the Mughal era till now, it is for a reason. The most important one being that we are not going to let ourselves be locked in our houses again.
When asked about women a lot of people associate qualities like divine, compassionate, kind , loving and other corny adjectives. They are even associated with celestial qualities. Shakti is the embodiment of power, Saraswati the giver of education and it takes Bharath Maatha, a woman, to give our country a form.
And just like these gods and ideal illusions, women are always kept a little way. A little away from the society, a little away from development, a little away from the opposite gender so much so that whether you think a women is inferior or superior you start believing that she is very different.
Of course women and men are different, but a woman is something beyond all these idealistic standards and differences you associate her with. She is human. Men maybe from mars and women from Venus, but end of the day, we are all equally human!
The only thing that we can hope for in the future is that our country starts treating rape like any other crime where responsibility is on the offender and not the victim!
Pic of Slutwalk March, Sydney, courtesy CreatrixTiara (Used under a Creative Commons License)
A marketing graduate from the Indian School Of Business, Nandhitha is passionate about writing. She loves to write about the world around her and also enjoys dabbling with fiction/poetry. read more...
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Rajshri Deshpande, who played the fiery protagonist in Trial by Fire along with Abhay Deol speaks of her journey and her social work.
Rajshri Deshpande as the protagonist in ‘Trial by Fire’, the recent Netflix show has received raving reviews along with the show itself for its sensitive portrayal of the Uphaar Cinema Hall fire tragedy, 1997 and its aftermath.
The limited series is based on the book by the same name written by Neelam and Shekhar Krishnamoorthy, who lost both their children in the tragedy. We got an opportunity to interview Rajshri Deshpande who played Neelam Krishnamoorthy, the woman who has been relentlessly crusading in the court for holding the owners responsible for the sheer negligence.
Rajshri Deshpande is more than an actor. She is also a social warrior, the rare celebrity from the film industry who has also gone back to her roots to give to poverty struck farming villages in her native Marathwada, with her NGO Nabhangan Foundation. Of course a chance to speak with her one on one was a must!
“What is a woman’s job, Ramesh? Taking care of parents-in-law, husband, children, home and things at work—all at the same time? She isn’t God or a superhuman."
The arrays of workstations were occupied by people peering into their computer screens. The clicks of keyboard keys were punctuated by the occasional footsteps moving around to brainstorm or collaborate with colleagues in their cubicles. Most employees went about their tasks without looking at the person seated on either side of their workstation. Meenakshi was one of them.
The thirty-one-year-old marketing manager in a leading eCommerce company in India sat straight in her seat, her eyes on the screen, her fingers punching furiously into the keys. She was in a flow and wanted to finish the report while the thoughts and words were coming effortlessly into her mind.
Natu-Natu. The mellifluous ringtone interrupted her thoughts. She frowned at her mobile phone with half a mind to keep it ringing until she noticed the caller’s name on the screen, making her pick up the phone immediately.
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