The World Did Come To An End

The world was to end on 21 December 2012. It probably did. We are just not aware of it. We have been dying a slow death for a long time.  Our conscience certainly has been dying for a while. We keep throwing platitudes about women being worshipped as Devi and Shakti in our culture. We proudly quote that India has had a woman as the Prime Minister and as President. So what?Self appointed guardians pull women out of pubs and beat them up. Women are told which kind of clothing will not provoke their male colleagues and are told that that they “need to follow the dress code for their own safety.”In every city, women are harassed and groped when they use public transport. When the woman has protested she is told that if she is that upset about the matter, she should ride a cab or car instead. The underlying tone is that this is part of our lives and that boys will be boys.Bollywood is also out expressing sympathy towards this rape victim. Our cinema has played an active role in legitimizing eve teasing and making it part of standard operating procedure in every other story. Our cinema has nurtured the format of wooing that is one step away from rape. In our films, the hero decides that once a girl has caught his fancy, he will get her any how. In the process he may tease her, harass her, grab her hand and even sing a song taunting her for resisting his charms. Have no fear, he will eventually gets his way. The heroine may protest initially, but not for long. The girl never has a choice in resisting the hero’s blatant advances. The hero may decide to get really up close and personal even when he meets a girl for the first time. For decades we have accepted that this is the way eventually women have to be handled. While they are out protesting today, our writers, directors, actors and opinion makers must pause and reflect to see if they must take some share of the credit for educating generations of males that women have no choice in this matter.In a recent poll India featured as the worst country for women to live in behind Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, South Africa, Mexico and a host of other countries. There is a complete breakdown of the law enforcement machinery in every sense. From assuring the safety and dignity of the citizens, to the rich and powerful getting away scot free (think Jessica Lal’s murder case) and the corrupt and tainted public figures who move around with impunity having looted the coffers of the country. The average citizen seethes with anger, runs candle light vigils and the cycle gets repeated when the next innocent gets violated. The world ended long ago for the women of India. We did not have to wait.———————Read this post on my blog in Times of India