Saturday, December 22, 2012

A Letter from the common man to Damini - The Delhi Rape Victim.


This letter will probably never reach you, Damini. And if by chance it does, I hope when you're feeling a little better, you read it.
Outside your room in the hospital, outside the corridors smelling of medicine, outside the operating theaters, the world is crumbling. Thousands of people are protesting, signing petitions, updating facebook statuses, writing to the PM - all to bring justice to the accused. Some people want them hung. Some want them castrated. Some want them to be handed over to the public.
Obviously, none of this will actually happen.
I read in an article somewhere that death penalties can only be given to the rarest of rare cases. And (it continued to say) that unless the victim dies, it cannot be eligible for a rarest of rare case.
Kasab qualifies because he killed many in cold blood. Your rapists apparently don't.
We live in India Damini. A country of complications and contradictions. A country with age old laws and age old people fiercely guarding them.
I got an invite on facebook today. It read "Save women". The event was at India gate, I believe. I remember shaking my head when I saw the invite. Save women? All in the course of one day?

Things are not looking good Damini. Not for you, not for Delhi, not for India and not for humanity. People are people, but only bodily so. Inside, they're animals. A man guns down little children in a school. Someone murders his own mother. Four drunk men rape and almost kill a defenseless woman. No, things aren't looking good at all.

Perhaps the damn Mayans were right. Perhaps the world is going to end.
Because as far as I'm concerned, this is the end right here. When humanity fails, there's nothing to look forward to. All the education we've received, all the upbringing we've had, all the degrees we've religiously collected, all the Gods and Goddesses we believe in - amounts to precious little if at the end of the day, we're but as wild as a beast.
And even animals are better than us.
Outside the hospital, there's a blame war raging. The BJP's blaming the Congress. The Congress is blaming it's Police force. The police force is blaming the society. The society is blaming the party in power. And so, like passing the parcel, everyone's shifting their baggage of responsibility to the next person.

Meanwhile, the people who really care, the people who are affected, are organizing protests and candlelight marches. The people who care, are praying for your speedy recovery.
Because Damini, the truth is this. Nothing else can be done.
Shinde says measures are being put in place. No more tinted windows. More patrolling. Speedier case hearings. But you know and I know, and I know that you know that these are mere words.

In a few days, there will be more sensational news. (Paris Hilton coming to India perhaps, who knows?) And you will be forgotten. Your case will suffer the same fate hundreds of cases of despicable crime has suffered -they'll fall into a void of nothingness.
Damini, I wanted to apologize to you.
Because I don't think you've heard it yet. And you need to.
I apologize on behalf of all the men who stare, the men who strip women nude with their eyes inside lifts on a regular basis. I apologize for the men who justify such acts by pointing fingers at the clothes that women wear. I apologize for the police officer whose hungry eyes make you think twice about writing a complaint.
But most of all, I apologize for the scarring trauma and pain my side of the sex has caused you.
From all the Men, We wish you a speedy recovery.. :'( :'(
Dikshit

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

As I Grow Up


Kabhi pehli baar school jaane mein darr lagta tha,
Aaj har rasta khud hi chunte hai..!!
Kabhi mummy-papa ki har baat sacchi lagti thi,
Aaj unhi se jhooth bolte hai..!!
Kabhi chhoti si chot kitna rulati thi,
Aaj dil toot jata hai phr bi sambhal jaate hai..!!

Pehle dost bas saath khelne tak yaad rehte the,
Aaj kuch dost jaan se zyada pyare lagte hai..!!
Ek din tension ka meaning maa se puchna padta tha,
Or aaj tension soulmate lagta hai..!!
Ek din tha jab pal mein ladna, pal mein manana to roz ka kam tha,
Aaj ek baar jo juda hue toh rishte tak kho jate hai..!!

Sachi, zindagi ne bahut kuch sikha diya..!!
Na jaane rabb ne humko itna jaldi bada kyun bana Diya.....!

- Dhaval Shah