My memory goes back to my IITD days. A horrendous incident had shook Delhi to its roots. At least the newspapers reflected so (duly discounting the inherent 'spice quotient' of the 'story', or 'scoop').
Was rape a news anymore? Delhi, being the crime capital of India, had regularly witnessed such assaults on women. But the news of a medical student (details not required here) being dishonored in broad daylight was too uncomfortable to be ignored. This was not like watching 'Border' on TV. This was rather like a bullet brushing and burning our own skin. The shock was palpable. Fiction was beginning to intrude upon reality. All who were capable of feeling, felt the heat.
We were sharing our collective shame over the scattered pages of newspapers. Suddenly someone said, "But why at the first place she went through that deadly place? Didn't she realize it was dangerous?"
I don't know how would you feel after reading this line. But I felt a searing rage within me. I smothered my outburst with a violent restraint. Perhaps I overreacted, though invisibly. But even now, when I am emotionally calm, I think that that was an outrageous question.
On second thoughts, that question was not a question. It was rather a comment. It was a verdict. The verdict that pronounced the victim, at least partially, culpable for the crime and made her an accomplice. And this verdict was inspired not the least by a sense of justice but by a frustration engendered by impotent sympathy. The impotence that runs in the water of our rivers, that runs in the blood in our veins; the characteristically great Indian 'tolerance' that shows itself only when someone stronger is around. A pop-legend claims that British couldn't tolerate our collective tolerance and so they had to leave India. They were disgracefully out-tolerated by us. How easy it is for us to tolerate other's pain! We are expert in that. History witnesses that we not only tolerated but also celebrated 'Sutti', for years. Otherwise we are no less valiant than anyone. We have proved our valor time and again, in 1984, and recently in Gujarat.
But I realized that I shouldn't hold grudges against the guy as he simply articulated the hidden belief of our society. This is what we have been conditioned to believe. We pass judgments incriminating those who dare to trespass the conventional. We detest any sort of 'misadventures' and resent lack of fear in others. We feel a secret satisfaction when their defying boldness is 'disciplined' by a stray bully.
Some of us are not ridden by complex or cowardice, they are genuinely idiots. They fail to see that just because someone chooses to take a stroll in night, he doesn't deserve to be looted. They fail to see that a walk in night is not an offense in itself, it is at most unwise. And that is so because our judicial system has collapsed and is incapable of providing security and justice to poor and weak.
Was rape a news anymore? Delhi, being the crime capital of India, had regularly witnessed such assaults on women. But the news of a medical student (details not required here) being dishonored in broad daylight was too uncomfortable to be ignored. This was not like watching 'Border' on TV. This was rather like a bullet brushing and burning our own skin. The shock was palpable. Fiction was beginning to intrude upon reality. All who were capable of feeling, felt the heat.
We were sharing our collective shame over the scattered pages of newspapers. Suddenly someone said, "But why at the first place she went through that deadly place? Didn't she realize it was dangerous?"
I don't know how would you feel after reading this line. But I felt a searing rage within me. I smothered my outburst with a violent restraint. Perhaps I overreacted, though invisibly. But even now, when I am emotionally calm, I think that that was an outrageous question.
On second thoughts, that question was not a question. It was rather a comment. It was a verdict. The verdict that pronounced the victim, at least partially, culpable for the crime and made her an accomplice. And this verdict was inspired not the least by a sense of justice but by a frustration engendered by impotent sympathy. The impotence that runs in the water of our rivers, that runs in the blood in our veins; the characteristically great Indian 'tolerance' that shows itself only when someone stronger is around. A pop-legend claims that British couldn't tolerate our collective tolerance and so they had to leave India. They were disgracefully out-tolerated by us. How easy it is for us to tolerate other's pain! We are expert in that. History witnesses that we not only tolerated but also celebrated 'Sutti', for years. Otherwise we are no less valiant than anyone. We have proved our valor time and again, in 1984, and recently in Gujarat.
But I realized that I shouldn't hold grudges against the guy as he simply articulated the hidden belief of our society. This is what we have been conditioned to believe. We pass judgments incriminating those who dare to trespass the conventional. We detest any sort of 'misadventures' and resent lack of fear in others. We feel a secret satisfaction when their defying boldness is 'disciplined' by a stray bully.
Some of us are not ridden by complex or cowardice, they are genuinely idiots. They fail to see that just because someone chooses to take a stroll in night, he doesn't deserve to be looted. They fail to see that a walk in night is not an offense in itself, it is at most unwise. And that is so because our judicial system has collapsed and is incapable of providing security and justice to poor and weak.
I believe that asking right question is vital. Right questions lead us to right destination. Wrong questions lead to wrong destination. And a wrong destination is no destination. I was offended by that question because it attempted to place the responsibility on the bruised shoulders of the victim. It was something like this - You are driving in your lane. A madman hits your car and runs away. You are left with your broken car and bleeding body. And now you are to share the guilt with the madman - because you must have done something. Nothing happens for nothing.
What a shameful logic!
Most of us don't believe in the existence of ghosts but some say they have seen them. They have seen the ghost of jungle hovering over our wonderful civilization. Time and again, we are made to realize that, in jungle, wisdom is superior to truth.
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