Of Rape, Protest and Our Selfishness

‘Mard bano aurat ki izzat karo (Be a man, respect women)’, read a poster at a protest against harassment of women. An incident of gang-rape of a young woman working at a bar triggered a lot of anger and protests in Gurgaon, by the people of Gurgaon… or so they claimed. The incident was horrific. I completely stand by the woman. The perpetrators of this heinous crime must be punished… all seven of them. The irresponsible cops, who were informed immediately but instead of acting on the information took a dig at the girl for working late at a bar, must not be let off the hook for this massive dereliction of duty that allowed a rape, that could have been prevented, to happen. I am not sure who angers me more - the seven boys who raped the girl or the three policemen did not prevent it from happening.

Then began a series of protests. Various groups, various places… everyone venting out their anger… and rightfully so. The demand is to make Gurgaon safe for women. Now that is ridiculous - something as basic as safety has to be demanded? Should it not be provided proactively? We have the police, the government and departments and hundreds of officers and a whole paraphernalia to handle everything. Yet we have to struggle and fight for something as basic as safety? How is it possible that even when authorities are being paid to run a state (even the country, for that matter), people keep suffering from a lack of basic necessities - food, shelter and safety? What are those, supposedly running the system, doing and getting paid for? That answer isn’t that difficult to guess. The more difficult question is ‘WHY’. Why is it that things don’t work in this system? Why is it that people are discriminated against, and most remain poor and helpless, while a few keep getting richer and more powerful? The answer is not too difficult to guess but pretty difficult to digest.

In the façade of being civilized and educated, we ourselves are responsible for the way things are. Discrimination begins right here. The power (in)equations are supported by us with a smile as we bow down to please those whom we fear.

We have it all ingrained and drilled into our head. We remain incapable of thinking beyond what is fed and of looking inside our own horrible heads. For example, and coming back to Gurgaon, we love to believe that we, who live in the high rises are ‘the’ people of Gurgaon. Are we really? What about those who actually owned these farmlands and grew crops here for ages till laws were bent and the land was bought over. Where are those people today? What was their culture? Do they have any place in this circus of beautiful words and apparent display of wealth, modesty and altruism?

Read the opening words again and think for a moment what is our own understanding of this system where patriarchal and economic concepts of disparity fuel most inequalities. ‘Mard bano aurat ki izzat karo (Be a man, respect women)’. Does this not follow that very patriarchal concept of being a ‘man’ that makes us believe that a woman is a ‘possession’ or a ‘property’ and thus lesser than man? Should it not have read, ‘human’ instead?

And this was just ONE such poster among various other things. Why do we miss out on the fundamental issues that lead to the problems… be it of safety or women or children or poor or whoever? What prevents us from analyzing our own thoughts and looking deep within? To top it all, one could even smell a silent race (of being on the top with more media coverage and headcounts) among some groups protesting for the issue.

We may believe we have evolved, but in the end we remain little selfish creatures who completely miss the point of understanding both life and humility. To sum up in the words of one of my favorite film makers, Charlie Chaplin, “I am at peace with God. My conflict is with Man.”

Parvez
Dated: March 20, 2012

Con-man's Wealth Games 2010 and the Common Man

Commonwealth games, everyone has come to know this word by now, for good or bad, doesn’t matter. Corruption and unethical transactions have become synonymous. But is it really so surprising? Don’t we know that wherever so much money at stake; thousands of crores of rupees; money suckers will gather around like honey bees around the flowers with nectar. Everyone wants a finger in the pie, before it melts away. ‘How’ doesn’t matter. Hook or crook anything will do… greasing palms, pockets, companies whatever. Substandard work, bribes, money laundering, which of these is a word we haven’t heard before? We know them as a regular part and parcel of our system and our lives. We are also well aware of this amazing magic trick performed by most politicians ‘the shrinking money trick’… no matter how huge a fund, by the time it reaches the people it shrinks to an unimaginable amount, in terms of its deliverables. I really do not find it offensive at all these days. We all indulge in similar activities in some form or the other, when it comes to our personal work, only the scale maybe smaller. However, a completely different problem with the commonwealth games, offends my sensibilities. The word ‘commonwealth’ itself is the problem. Whose commonwealth? Is it not a ghost of our colonial past… referring to the countries that the British once ruled as their colonies. And what were the colonies all about but for looting their wealth and making their people, second rate citizens within their very own land? Is it difficult to imagine then that the games were then a political device of British empire to bring the colonies together and foster some sort of a relationship among them as well as with them, perhaps subtly suggesting to each to feel good about being under one master. The initial term anyway was ‘the British Commonwealth’. ‘British’ was dropped in 1949. One may want to believe that today the Commonwealth nations have come a long way from its colonial legacy. They appear more like a political collective of nations with their own agenda and way of working. But, a mere search on wikipedia yields a multitude of pointers to its deep rooted past. The games for example, must start from the Buckingham Palace with the Queen handing over the baton with a message for all the Athletes. Even though it’s a symbolic gesture, it still means that the queen is supreme. As citizens of a free democratic country, should we accept that? The Commonwealth nations are supposedly a coming together of those who share a common cultural legacy of the ‘British empire’ – English as a common language, literature tainted with the rule and games that came from the empire. For example, Netball, Lawnball and Rugby sevens are some of CORE sports to be held during these games, beside many others from the international (or should I say European) fold mostly. Commonwealth nations today boast of equality as one of the key principles of coming together, had they ever thought of including atleast one local game from each of the Asian or African countries - Kho-kho for example from India? What astounds me is the way our politicians are pushing these games as a matter of Indian pride. We treat our own sportspersons with such disdain that they are hardly left with any soul to fight an opponent. Scandals or not, the games will surely happen and a lot more money will vanish into thin air. We will end up paying more taxes. And Athletes from other countries will happily smile at the loot of all the gold medals they would collect amid the dust and din of one billion hapless people… unless a politician (rather a true leader) decides to wake up his / her sleeping soul tonight. 

Parvez