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In a country where we do not hold rapists and murderers accountable, do not expose the 'why' of their heinous crimes, the mere survival is a shame.
In a country where we do not hold rapists and murderers accountable, do not expose the ‘why’ of their heinous crimes, the mere survival is a shame.
NEWS HEADLINES in last week’s papers:
Woman raped for years by her husband survived.
A 3-year old girl raped and thrown into the woods survived, rapists at large.
An old lady raped and murdered in her apartment, murder reason unknown.
A woman tortured to have sex till she gave in, victim hospitalised.
Minor girl gangraped and thrown out of train, seriously injured.
Another girl killed.
Raped girl survives.
I wonder why isn’t anyone enraged by these?
There are so many things wrong about this.
The media that portrays only the victim and their status – raped.
None of the headlines were about the rapists and the murderers.
Every page has the headline raped, tortured for sex, acid attacks, raped and killed, which was so entertaining for most of us and has now become just another boring story.
The word ‘survived’.
SURVIVED.
The raped-tortured-almost dead-girl-with haunting memories-broken dreams-full of fear survived.
What do we do about this?
We read and we move on.
Not caring to want to know the girl, her feelings, her thoughts, her rage!
Not caring why the person raped/murdered her and wondering why ‘she’ was raped.
Not caring enough to see whether the culprits and rapist monsters were punished for their crime.
Not caring enough to check whether the girl really survived or not.
Not caring enough if her family stood by her or if she had to fight all this alone.
Because survival is staying alive.
Staying alive to worry who will marry her.
Staying alive to only be looked down at.
Staying alive to receive a status perceived as impure by the society.
Staying alive to see her offenders roam freely searching for another victim.
Staying alive to survive all this.
Of course she will survive and she will live for a hundred years.
But not for this.
She will live to see that her offenders are punished for their actions, for not respecting her and her body, for not asking her consent, for not being able to contain their cruel intentions, for leaving her to die, for not being human.
It’s such a shame that we who talk about feminism, and pray to women in the form of goddesses and deities still do not respect even the tiniest form of female and dash to destroy it in the most vicious manner ever.
It’s such a shame that we who talk about gender equality limit females and their importance to their body and its parts which define their purity, character, decency, modesty, education, success, eligibility to marry and to have a family.
Its such a shame that we live among the same people and call them hypocrites when all we do is popularise misogyny and support the same hypocrisy that we criticise.
Its such a shame that we do not understand the meaning of survival unless ‘it’ happens to us.
Its such a shame that ‘it’ shouldn’t be happening to any of us, not even the rapists, yet we do it.
‘It’ is such a shame.
Such survival is a shame.
Published here earlier.
Image source: pixabay
Professionally, I am a content developer and editor. Other times I'm involved in various activities as a freelance blogger/writer, volunteer in my college's alumni association, career coach, tattoo and skating enthusiast. read more...
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Neena was the sole caregiver of Amma and though one would think that Amma was dependent on her, Neena felt otherwise.
Neena inhaled the aroma that emanated from the pan and took a deep breath. The aroma of cumin interspersed with butter transported her back to the modest kitchen in her native village. She could picture her father standing in the kitchen wearing his white crisp kurta as he made delectable concoctions for his only daughter.
Neena grew up in a home where both her parents worked together in tandem to keep the house up and running. She had a blissful childhood in her modest two-room house. The house was small but every nook and cranny gave her memories of a lifetime. Neena’s young heart imagined that her life would follow the same cheerful course. But how wrong she was!
When she was sixteen, the catastrophic clutches of destiny snatched away her parents. They passed away in a road accident and Neena was devastated. Relatives thronged her now gloomy house and soon it was decided that she should be married off.
Women today don’t want to be in a partnership that complicates their lives further. They need an equal partner with whom they can figure out life as a team, playing by each other’s strengths.
We all are familiar with that one annoying aunty who is more interested in our marital status than in the dessert counter at a wedding. But these aunties have somehow become obsolete now. Now they are replaced by men we have in our lives. Friends, family, and even work colleagues. It’s the men who are worried about why we are not saying yes to one among their clans. What is wrong with us? Aren’t we scared of dying alone? Like them?
A recent interaction with a guy friend of mine turned sour when he lectured me about how I would regret not getting married at the right time. He lectured that every event in our lives needs to be completed within a certain timeframe set by society else we are doomed. I wasn’t angry. I was just disappointed to realize that annoying aunties are rapidly doubling in our society. And they don’t just appear at weddings or family functions anymore. They are everywhere. They are the real pandemic.
Let’s examine this a little closer.
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