Naye, this post is not any critical appreciation of Dostoevsky's famous novel....to be precise nowhere near the context of the novel. Then what is it?......Well it's just an expression of a personal feeling. Being a moody person, I do experience different shades of emotions, but right now what I feel is truly 'Humiliated and Insulted'.
Don't get me wrong. Nobody has insulted or humiliated me today. I had a good night's sleep, woke up late, had my breakfast, read the newspapers for an hour, roamed around the house lazily. So a perfect start for the day, according to me. It's just when I switched on the T.V and started seeing the national news, in a few seconds, my perfect morning became a distant dream and I started feeling what is the subject of this post.
So what was there in the news channel? Well I'm not a celebrity that any news channel would cover any silly stories about me. Honestly I'm only known to my kins, friends and perhaps my teachers. So it was no news featuring me, then why did I started feeling like this? Is my mood swings becoming vulnerable to sudden bursts of emotions and I should be on some mood stabilizers to control it? Naye. Then what???
Well the first thing I saw on the news channel was the gruesome, horrendous and disgusting to the ultimate core video of a teen age girl being molested in full public view, in front of the camera, by some 20 odd people in Guwahati. To say I was shocked would be an understatement. If the television had been on mute, I would have even dared to think it's some stupid scene from a 90's Bollywood movie, where these scenes were pretty prevalent. But no, not at all. It was happening in reality!! I don't want to explain in details what happened, but all I can say that these men (or shall I call them animals) were of different ages 20s - late 30s. They were literally smiling, laughing, making fun of the whole situation, showing their faces brazenly in front of the camera, even forcing the poor girl to show her face as they were 'enjoying' the act of robbing the girl of her modesty. It seemed as if they were pretty proud of what they were doing, such 'brave hearts' that the presence of media even did not detour them from their goal!! Forget about why the by-standers did not do anything, or the role of the police.....we are having debates on these issues for such a long time, no change so far. But to see these men doing this shameless, inhuman act on camera was enough to make my blood get cold in fear.
The first thought that came to my mind was "What if I was the girl?", and then I thought "Thank God, I am not." Instead of feeling relieved that this has not happened with me, I was soon overcome with a sense of fear....fear of going outside my home alone at night or returning alone from work at night. And suddenly another strong emotion grabbed me....Anger, murderous rage!!! I wanted to kill these men or at least see men like them hanged!!! Forget about saying "Inke ghar pe Ma, Bahen nahi hai kya?".....I understood these people don't deserve a maternal care, a sister's warmth, a wife's love even.
Leave these men from Guwahati. A khap panchayat from UP recently had the audacity of declaring medieval rules and regulations on their women in front of the camera. A so-called rehabilitation centre in West Bengal for the Female Handicaps, instead of providing rehabilitation, provided free pass to any man to 'use' the women inmates for their own 'lustful needs' after sunset. So is this where we have come up to? Is this the condition of the society in the 21st century? Is this how certain groups of 'men' like to treat their women - mere objects, with no rights, no feelings,and no needs??
Sometimes I wonder what happened to people like Raja Rammohan or Ishwarchandra Vidyasagar, the great champions of female rights? If you cannot fight for our rights, atleast don't play with them as if they are playthings! It's not that I have not personally met men who have always treated women respectfully, if not equally. I have and still proudly remember my school days, when if any girl in our group would be teased in the streets, all the boys in the group would literally hurl themselves on that teaser. So 'Ram' and 'Ravana' both coexist in this society. Unfortunately it seems as if that the number of 'Ravana's are more these days.
So what can we do? Should we arm ourselves with pepper spray, take self defense classes or roam around with a 'Bodyguard'? Or should we try and change our attitude? I don't want to convey my judgement here, because there are many intellectuals in the society who supposedly uphold the rules of the society...maybe they should make a call. All I can say that these questions will remain and might even keep on increasing with days, if nothing fruitful is done about it and we women will keep on feeling in each such instances 'Humiliated and Insulted'.
"...Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my Country awake."