India’s only daughter?

The whole nation is mourning the death of a woman who was gang raped. Protesters are protesting for justice for this woman, the whole nation shoot out different opinions regarding how the convicted men are to be punished while media reports efficiently, a little over perhaps, about the case. The whole nation follows the news intently, waiting for more updates every passing minute. Social networking sites had people gushing out their anger, fear and sorrow. Newspapers reported elaborately by using over a sheet. Every day the size of the reports increased, the letters to the editor became intense. It seemed to look like the newspapers had to have a separate section called Rape, like Business and Sports, because each passing day more than a dozen rape cases were written about consuming a lot of space and print. The very next day after the Delhi incident newspaper along with elaborate portion of Delhi gang rape case report had few other tiny, less space consuming, print wasting reports of other females who were raped, gang raped by other males. One of them being a forty-two year old woman gang raped while travelling in Delhi again. People spoke of it as though it shocked them. Nobody could imagine another such terrible event happening soon after this terrible event. Everybody was agitated, but those cases like the tiny newspaper reports failed to get the recognition that the space consuming one got. Still, rape was the subject; common was the object, female, twenty-three, fifteen or forty-two, the objects were female. The nation went on praying and protesting for the twenty-three, the prayers hopefully divided themselves between all the objects of the subject, all the females who have been, who are raped. All kinds of news emerged, all kinds of descriptions came out regarding what happened to the twenty-three, how it happened and how she is faring, even what she had in her mind right then and right now. Days passed, the year was about to end, rape cases never ceased, newspapers divided their space and print for tiny rape cases and bigger ones. The hard part was only to decide, decide which rape case deserved more space, more acknowledgement, more print. People knew the twenty-three year old well enough, well enough indeed! That now they wanted to see a picture of hers, just to know how she looks. The picture was never released, the twenty-three year old was closer to death, and the government and the doctors decide to take her out of our beloved nation for better treatment. She dies. The nation mourns. The media call her India’s daughter.

The nation praying, protesting, mourning is the people who have access to internet, television, radio, newspaper, education, intellect, purity, goodness and morality. This group of people cannot be called the nation. There are a lot of people who have no access to these gadgets. What of them? They aren’t part of praying, protesting or mourning. They just use their self for the act of destruction and in some cases indifference to destruction. Destruction or indifference doesn’t help but can be dangerous, is dangerous. It is the danger that our nation faces. How to make those dangerous ones listen to us? How to make them have access to the gadgets that we have? Without giving them or letting them or forcing them to have access to these gadgets can we hope to eradicate danger, dangerous men, and dangerous women? The answer is no. Is there hope for a better nation with all this talk, over an issue, when there is dangerous people who are indifferent, angry at all this talk? Is there hope for a woman to walk free at night with all the newspaper essays supporting women’s right when there are people who don’t read them, who disagree to it, who don’t understand them? What do we do? How do we reach them, their brains? How do we alter their intellect?

It is difficult and a time consuming procedure. Women meanwhile can learn self defense, carry around with them a weapon and go on living life to the fullest. It doesn’t help if women stay home, scared. It doesn’t help if parents make the daughters stay home, scared. It helps if the girls are brought up by making them realize their power. It helps if the women overlook the male chauvinist society and the norms and rules that come with it. It is time to act. Face the danger, fight it and you will know that you are capable of winning that fight, and you have always got your boyfriends, lovers, brothers, fathers, uncles and grandfathers. So common women, be prepared to fight the war and raise your sons as good men who have access to all the gadgets.