RAPE - "Mahabahrata of the Mindset"

After watching the recent documentary by the BBC on the Nirbhaya case and reading a lot of comments from various intellects, I felt the need to put my point of view forward as well. I believe it’s high time we do something about it and here is my bit.

                Before we go into the “what’s and what not’s” and “Who’s and Who’s not’s” about the issue, let me just give a statutory warning. These are my opinion and in case it hurts your sentiments, then “Tough Luck”, however it was not intentional but in case you end up reading the whole thing, pause for a moment and think.

                RAPE as an epidemic is not something that is concerning the developing nations alone. It seems to be a word wide problem; across borders and even genders. The world numbers for rape are so high that it is worthy of being called an epidemic. There are enough studies available that talk about how and why they occur. But that is not something that I shall be discussing here. Nor am I planning to talk about what or what not the documentary says. This is what I felt once I watched the documentary expressed in words to the best of my abilities.

                Like any deadly disease, the best way to treat it is to treat the symptom as well as its core cause at the same time. Treating the symptom alone will not suffice. Apprehending the rapists and having fast track courts to dispose of the case quickly is definitely the correct way forward but that is only treating the symptom. We also need to parallelly tackle the core issue of why these rapes happen. The rapists in the Nirbhaya case or any other case are a consequence of the system. Eliminating one will only let the system produce another one and so on. Thus the disease would still prevail. But the documentary did show the world a glimpse of the core issue namely the “Mahabharata of the Mindset”. This is not only about the case on the documentary but about all the thousands that get reported and the millions that go unreported.

                We have the 5 values namely – Equality, Respect, Love, Freedom and Acceptance fighting an eternal battle with over a hundred foes that try to suppress them. The Judiciary and Legislature are like Dhridharashtra and Bhishma, aware yet bound by the fetters of the society that they serve.  We are all awaiting a Krishna to rise and save the day for us. It’s about time we realized that we are the Krishna that needs to raise and save the day.

                The most shocking realization that I had was when I heard the commentary of the defense lawyers and the accused rapist. It was not what they said that shocked me but rather the fact that I expected it out of them. It came as no surprise to me that they said what they said. I keep re-iterating this point because it made me realize that we are already aware of the problem. I like any typical Indian chose not act on it since it does not directly affect me.

                The government will do whatever it needs to do get this sorted, so there is no point us brooding and complaining about it. We need to see what we can do to cure this cancer in the system that keeps on churning people with such antisocial tendencies. Here is what I think we could do (a small but a significant part).

Step 1 -  Get out of denial mode – We have long regarded this as “Not my problem”. Well the fact is if we don’t do anything about it now, very soon this will become our problem. So let’s first all of us recognize that this is “OUR PROBLEM” and we need to solve it.

Step 2 – Spread Awareness (Talk about it) – The more taboo the topic, the easier it is for the culprits to get away. Be it seminars or coffee table conversations. We need to talk about rape openly. The more openly we talk about it the more awareness we spread. This will help more people be comfortable around the topic and eventually lead to more people reporting such instances. The one thing that the whole Nirbhaya episode brought to the forefront is the fact that the people are no longer shying away from talking about rape. In a conservative country like India that is a very very big step. A country that is still shy to talk about “sex” in the open now needs to start talking about “rape” that is how big the challenge is. Hence I request all of you people reading this to please talk, blog and comment about it in as many places as you can so that this does not remain a taboo topic.

Step 3 – Raise your voice (Literally) – I have seen a couple of my very highly educated friends scream their lungs out when they get a glimpse of Salman or Shah Rukh Khan. Well we need to use the same scream as a deterrent. It needs to be used anytime and everywhere possible when you see something is not right. Either you are at the receiving end of something unpleasant or you see someone else at the receiving end.  Just “Yell out Loud”. Nothing deters a molester or a rapist more than a loud scream. This would take a lot of guts and practice but it’s always better to be safe than sorry. Sometimes in a crowded bus the push or touch might not be intentional but scream none the less. A gentleman would apologies and everyone else will get the message loud and clear.

It is important to learn the lesson from this episode but it is more important to learn the right lesson.

Let’s not make this into a Man Vs Women battle to decide who should do what but instead let’s make it a battle between (Man and Women) together Vs the Mindset.

You can either do your part or still be in denial mode and keep blaming the government and system for what is happening. The choice as always is – Yours..!!!

Once again Wishing all the Lovely ladies a very very Happy Women’s day for today and for every day for the rest of the Year…!!!