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Till our daughters come back safely, we are forever tracking them with GPS. When reporting every single moment is the only norm, where is the time left to live her life?
Dear Godji,
Do you exist at all?
Sometimes, it feels as though you are truly heartless. Or some of us are children of a lesser God, and so suffer these unending atrocities.
Definitely, a mother has lost all faith in you, considering what her dear daughter went through in Hyderabad. One wouldn’t wish the same fate on even one’s sworn enemy.
As a mother of a daughter whom we have raised saying a career is imperative, sleep won’t come to me today.
How carefully we mothers look after our precious daughters, killing ourselves with hidden tension while putting out a brave smile, praying the world outside wouldn’t be ferocious but would be as gentle with her as we have been?
We spend multiple nights sitting next to our darling daughters, attending to them, quickly anticipating their every need while they burn the midnight oil trying to ace the race of life, or cracking those difficult exams.
How many deaths we mothers die tackling the bloody dichotomy of teaching her to soar high, follow her dreams by giving shape to her passion yet almost immediately curtail her movements or curb her venturing out because there are animals which are prowling around, waiting to prey on the gullible or less-than-watchful?
Wait – calling these demons as animals is an insult to those creatures because even they wouldn’t be so beastly.
Because the entire onus is on her! So to remain safe and alive she has to dress decent with no overt skin-show, not calling any untoward attention to self, not trusting strangers, and arming herself fully with pepper spray, speed dial numbers, data plan and maybe a rod too.
Every day is a battle for survival.
Till our daughters come back safely, we are forever tracking them with GPS. When reporting every single moment is the only norm, where is the time left to live it up?
Did I say live it up? My girl has to be careful, indulging only in Sanskaari fun, else she is the slut 🙁
How many background checks we do before we give our precious princess’s hand in marriage, hoping the man who chants the holy vows today will always stand by her, with her and will always be her prince and not a horrible toad?
My core burns.
The searing pain that a parent is undergoing is unimaginable.
If the hot lava of anger of that mother was to spill over or if she could have the power to will castration upon those mongrels who burnt her daughter or if she could give a shape to the rage that torments her very core…
True, there is a law, true there are courts and true for everything.
But if the outrage of a mother whose daughter has been harassed, pawed, ogled at and pinched, was to find an outlet, the predators wouldn’t be left with a phallus to flaunt. Wishful thinking eh?
Now, wait for the victim shaming to begin.
How she should have dialed 100, or how she should have been more circumspect, or how waiting at the toll-plaza would have been a better choice.
And those beasts? well….
We wait for your next act Godji
Because truly no one deserved that fate.
And no such ghastly perpetrator should go scot-free or be the guest of law unendingly while law takes its own course, while the parents die every second, wondering if only they knew how to avert this horrific tragedy.
If!
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Anupama Jain is the author of * ‘When Padma Bani Paula', listed as 'One of the 5 best books of 2018 - Fiction', by readwriteinspire.com. It is a breezy novel about second chances of life and read more...
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Women in India enter into the institution of marriage not with any guarantee but just some faith, and any man who has a healthy and safe relationship with his wife would understand the gravity of the situation and welcome such a law.
Trigger Warning: This deals with rape, marital rape, and violence against women, and may be triggering for survivors.
The Criminal Law Amendment Act, 1983 has made a statutory provision in the face of Section.114 (A) of the Evidence Act, which states that if the victim girl says that she did no consent to the sexual intercourse, the Court shall presume that she did not consent.
Passive giving in is not consent. However, it is unclear why the above rule is not applied to cases in marriage where clear consent is not given by the wife.
The criticism for Gehraiyaan has irked many women, and given incels, moral policers, and envious trolls the opportunity to harass an actress who has finally played the most realistic character in her career.
I’m sorry that I’m late to the party. But I finally decided to write on why I think Deepika’s character in Gehraiyaan is actually one of her best chosen roles.
Disclaimer: Deepika is a tall, good looking actress, who I never really considered a phenomenal or decent actress. After noticing the hullabaloo around this film, I dared to watch it on Amazon Prime. To be frank, the movie offered me nothing interesting or new, and as someone who is both a movie and TV show buff, I didn’t even lift an eyebrow. However, if there was one thing that I found realistic in the film, it was Alisha’s character. No, this is not another review, but a character analysis of the female protagonist in this film. Honestly, this is one of the most real characters that I have seen this actress play.
A woman hailing from a middle- class family, trying to make ends meet, while her incompetent father and partner have failed to be financial heads of the family. They have failed to keep the family afloat, and Alisha’s character has no choice but to take on the responsibility.