What are you proud of ? गर्व किस बात की ?

Nirbhaya - its not a mere hindi adjective which means fearless. It took a noun form by an incident which shook the entire world, which crossed all limits of cruelty and brutality. An incident which touched the hearts of millions and millions of people and left them appalled.

Are you wondering if its an after-effect of watching that BBC episode "India's Daughter" ? Yes. It is. It was some two days before. I had come home from work, rested a bit and went to a nearby friends' home. I saw a video being played and it had already crossed 25 minutes mark. I thought it was just one of those documentaries of BBC. But it was not some ordinary documentary.

After the rape incident, it was said that it was brutal. Little did I know that they (rapists) would give a new meaning to the word "brutal." I was shocked on getting to know the detailed incident. It felt as if I was sucked out of life for a minute before gaining control of myself. It was even more brutal than what I had thought.

If you watch the BBC episode, you would get to know. The rapist doesn't even regret committing such a heinous crime. I do not want to describe the same thing here again. I guess, if you are reading this, you would have seen the BBC episode.

It is said ours is a country of Vedas and Shastras. A country with rich culture and heritage. A culture where there is utmost respect for women. Or is it? Really, a point to think upon.

I've heard some interesting debates by misogynists (like the defense lawyer) who claim that its the mistake of a woman if she gets raped and that it's a mistake of the woman, because she failed to adhere to the culture. Who are they to define the word culture? Wearing short skirts or anything for that matter is a crime? Is a man ever forced to wear only the full sleeves?? if not, then why women?

How unfortunate are those people who share a relation with this guy!

How could one even justify a rape? Provocation is not an excuse, neither excitement nor being a juvenile is an excuse. And they bring culture to fit in nicely as an excuse for rape.

Does a good culture mean wearing only sarees and burkhas? Or does it mean not going out of one's house in the evening? Does the culture mean not mingling with people of other gender, caste or creed? What has culture got to do with these rape cases anyway? I mean, these disgusting people find it easy to somehow link culture to rape. It doesn't matter what clothes a woman wears, or how late at night she parties. That is none of everybody's business. The people who commit rape are demons. They can't win a woman's heart, so they somehow want to captivate on their body to show their prowess.

Real men don't rape. They win hearts!
My question to such people (misogynists and rapists) is that, if rapes are committed only on breaching the so called "culture barrier", does it have to adhere only to women in the country? Don't men have any culture that they should consider? Does your so called culture asks men to rape women who go out at night or who wears clothes of her choice.

Women are still not free in a country even after 68 years of independence. Where is the independence if a woman has to pray to be saved from men and even depend on a "pepper spray" for her safety. What are the law protectors doing? I clearly don't see independence here. This is blasphemy. I don't know how old I was when I first heard the word rape. Since then I've been hearing it over news, over social media and many other places. It has been a topic of debate and blogs like these.

I got my hands on the statistics of crime against women for the past few years till 2012 and I guess the figures would be on a rise for the next two years as well.

Statistics of Crime against women during 2008-2012

State wise stats. I guess Delhi is hidden intentionally!

Everybody has their right to live and to make their choices. Why is it so that women are suppressed to a man's thoughts or actions? Why are the rules set only for a woman? Don't you think there is a need for change in the thought process of people? Is it too bad to be born as a girl in this country? Even the most popular daily soaps on tv channels have the dialogues in them as "Tum ladki ho, ladki ki tarah raho." And the tag line of those channels is "Rishta wahi, Soch nayi." I mean, where is the naya soch?? (Daily soap lovers, pls dont hate me, I know there might be good message in those soaps. I am not blaming soaps for rapes.)

While there are people like the defense lawyer, we also have women like Kirron Kher.

The mentality of the people needs to change. The thinking of nation needs to change. Even the educated families lay out a set of restrictions on girls/women and behave differently towards women. A woman is not supposed to go out in the late evening, but where as a boy can roam around anywhere? The girl is asked to come home by sundown, where as a boy is free?

Don't ask your daughter to be back home early. Rather educate your son not to treat women as objects. Teach your son to respect women. If you need to spell it out, spell out and tell them not to rape!!!
Most of the times the girl is made weak from the moment she is born. A girl is given less precedence over the boy. The boy is blessed with things he needs, but not the girl. The boy is taught to drive vehicle first, then the girl. The boy gets better phone first. Then the girl. Thus the boy feels that he is superior to the girl. Even though that is never spelled out to the boy, the thought sets in that they are superior. No they are not. You (man) are not superior. Just being physically strong doesn't make you superior. Just because you were well taken care of, doesn't mean you can go ahead and rape anyone.

I feels its inherent in the minds of people that men are always superior. I was shocked when that woman from the BBC episode supported such a heinous act by her husband. I mean its not men or women who think men are superior. May be over the time, and the way women were treated, even a thought has set in their minds that they are inferior. No girl you are not.

In the era of 21st century, in a developing country like India, just making the country look neat and tidy by Swachcha Bharat Abhiyaan won't suffice. Even this is dirt, we need to clean this also. A country which has reached Mars is still struggling to empower women. Women empowerment still remains on paper and blogs like these. Are you really proud?

What are you proud of ? गर्व किस बात की ?

This post may seem like a feminist, but its not. If you feel so, you need to change your mindset first. Because, "When you change the way you see the world, you can change the world you see."