Are Women Safe in India?

I don’t think so. In fact, there is nothing to think about it. It’s the simple plain truth that all of us, as Indians seem to have accepted (how shameful!). No wonder, some Ram Sena goes wandering to a city pub in Mangalore and has the audacity to beat-up girls. What a heinous thing to do in a democratic (really?) country.

But who is responsible for this? - Those bigoted Sena guys or the government there, or the people (political parties) who support them, or we, the people of India. I think a collective mixture of all. The 40 hooligans from Ram Sena (what a sham have they made of God’s name!) would not have the audacity to go ahead with this kind of an act if they did not have any political support. To add to it, the police refused to register a FIR or make a diary entry of the incident. It was because of the refusal of state police of Karnataka that some news channels were not able to showcase this incident on television on the very day it took place. Even till yesterday, the police, only after constant nagging from the news channels, had arrested 17 goons? Which means that the other 23 are at large.

I heard eminent female politicians speak on television yesterday about how heinous the crime was and how inefficient the state government was. What those ladies forgot was that it was their government that was not able to keep under-arrest a single person for more than a week when two women were molested near Marine Drive in Mumbai on New Year’s Eve of 2008. The molesters were from another Sena very popular in Maharashtra. Could those ladies please explain what was lacking in their government? What was holding back the police in their governed state to take action against this shameless, atrocious, abominable group of anti-social elements?

This incident really makes me worry and feel ashamed for the people who do not know how to respect women, who might as well be related to me in some way or the other. I feel ashamed to be a part of this society, which on one hand puts up pretence of worshiping Goddesses and on the other does not know how to respect women. I feel ashamed of not being able to do anything for the women who have suffered great traumas like this incident or in the form of rape, kidnap, molestation and many such dreadful crimes. I feel ashamed of my country’s government and judicial system that cannot bring the culprits to the books and give them apt punishment.

But what makes me worry is are we really heading towards growth? Are we really progressing? Are we really heading to be a superpower? May be we are. But at the same time, as people we are becoming worse. We are becoming intolerant (especially, the MEN). We are forgetting our values, our culture, which has deep regard for women, which holds a woman as ‘Janani,’ the Birth Giver. How can these men forget that it’s a woman who has given birth to him, who has brought him up? I wonder how the womenfolk of that household live with such a monster of a person.

I really want these men to be punished. They should be humiliated and punished publicly (just the way they treated the girls in that pub). How about those same girls (and of course their friends, families and supporters) beating up these guys with shoes in public? How about stripping them off of all their clothes (don’t worry, we are not as shameless as they were) and making them march on their kneels on roads in a steaming hot summer afternoon. I don’t think even this would be enough. They should be punished in way that no one dares to misbehave with a woman ever again, let alone molest or rape them. I hope every Indian female agrees with me.

The Pakistani Connection

A lot is being said about the Pakistan connection with the recent Mumbai blasts and mass murder that took place on 26 November. While the Indian media and Indian government is vehemently pressing upon the fact that the terrorists came from Pakistan and have constant support from various elements in ISI and Pakistani government, Pakistani media and Pakistan’s government are bent upon proving the fact that it is not so and that there is nothing much that Pakistan can do about the presence of terrorists in their country as they themselves are victims of terrorism.

It is strange that the Pakistani government keeps asking for proof of the fact that the terrorists belonged to Pakistan. How do they expect India to provide them the proofs, when earlier they have tampered all the proof that we had provided them? Wo hindi mein kente hain na “ Doodh ka jala chaanch bhi phoonk phoonk kar peeta hai” (a person who has burnt his tongue while drinking milk will drink even buttermilk with great precaution). However, Indian media has been talking a lot about the proofs on their regular shows. Presence of Pakistani products (toothpaste, washing powder, etc.) in Kuber, the boat used by the terrorist to reach India; satellite phones found on Kuber and having Pakistan’s numbers; cell phones captured from the terrorists once again having dialed numbers that are of Pakistan, and above all the statements of Abdul Kasab, the Fidayeen terrorists who was captured alive, are just a few of them. Not only India, but even US, UK and UN are of the opinion that the terrorists came from Pakistan. In fact, the FBI had carried out their own investigations and US would not have spoken if they wouldn’t have received a positive nod from their investigative agency. 

Actually, we need not really go that far. Abdul Kasab’s father from Pakistan has recognized his son and says that the terrorist that has been caught in India is his son, a Pakistan resident. What more proof does Pakistan’s government need? When Pakistan’s government released the terrorists (when did they arrest them, for that matter?), who were taken under the so-called house arrest, the Pakistani government proved that it is in full support of the terrorist organizations that are present in their territory. So, what did they want to project by putting them on house arrest? Even a child would have understood that it is only a way of providing them with more security or that it is a mere show-off. However, if for once we consider that their notions were good, then why were these people released? All the four of these people are top order terrorists in the UN list. So, is it that Pakistan wants to take ‘panga’ with UN, which in a way means half of the world? Well, it’s their call and we can’t change it. But, it would have been great if they would have taken the responsibility on their shoulders and tried to do something fruitful against the presence of terrorists in their land. After all, even they are victims of terrorism (as they claim to be). 

It really seemed audacious when Pakistan’s Prime Minister went to the extent of saying that they are ready for a war, though they do not want it. People, who are not in favor of war, do not speak such language. Look at India, this is one nation which has suffered from the hands of terrorist present in Pakistan’s territory for a long time, and yet has not spoken so vehemently of war. Pakistan’s government, by committing so many blunders (releasing terrorists, not sealing their bank accounts, making foolhardy statements and so on) has only proved that how much they are in support of the terrorist outfits present on their land. One can only pity their foolishness. They speak of being responsible and answerable to their own people, and yet all their actions are so very irresponsible. How can they forget that there is a larger world community that they are answerable to as well? Every step they take is being watched; every word they speak is being heard by the world. It would be better if they gave a hard thought to that. Par wo kenhte hain na “Vinaash kale vipreet buddhi” (intelligence is overturned when a person is doomed). That’s the case with Pakistan. Now, only God (or may be not even God himself) can save them from their doom. What an irony given the fact that the terrorist present in their territory did all the carnage in the name of God!

Reply

This is what somebody had to say about my blog.....but went about writing it in somebody else's blog!!

"Gayatri has bashed Raj and the MNS but will she tolerate that the lingua franca of Calcutta become bhojpuri instead of Bengali...........Maharashtra has a tradition of being home to several warrior communities; in fact almost every caste has a regiment in the Indian army (case in point The Maratha Light Infantry, The Mahar Regiment and many more) but seriously never heard of Sindhi regiment. The leader of the opposition who by the way traces his roots back to Sindh had recently gone to Pakistan and declared that Jinnah was a true statesman and his parent organization the RSS and its many offshoots like the Hindu Mahasabha ( killers of Mahatma Gandhi) have systematically tried to rid India of its diverse image overseas."

My reply
"hi Kad,

this comment is meant for Shahshank.

Do a reality check dude....more than half of Calcutta speaks MARWARI n HINDI rahher than bengali (n nobody has a problem with that), SO IT WUD B BETTER IF U FIRST UPDATED URSELF N DEN BLABBERED OL DIS STUFF.

Secondly, if there is no Sindhi regiment then u should first check d history of Sindhis in India. U should b knowing that Sindhis were driven out of Pakistan with NO MONEY. my Family has lost many family members when they were driven out of Pakistan n dere was no single place for the sindhis to settle. They were JUST GIVEN 3RD CLASS TICKETS and hoarded like cattle to be scattered ol over India n wen they had demanded for a state they were told to settle in the Runn of Kuttch, a BARREN land. It is very easy for u 2 say ol dis as you people have always had a state to claim as urs. Have u thought that how difficult it wud have been for the ppl who came with no money and many times with no family, and obviously NO State, to settle in India after partition. I KNOW. My grandpa was a feriwala who used to sell salt and I am proud that from that kind of an economic-state my family and many other such Sindhi families have come up to a respectable economic standard where they not only feed themselves but also provide work to HUNDREDS of other people. And as for the political person u are talking about, u wont hear many Sindhis speaking in his favor, though u can alwez hear many Maharashtrian speak in Raj Thackray's favor and the Sindhi political leader never gave 'tili' to his followers to beat people, smear their faces with soot and kill those who do not belong to his caste; to destroy offices of educational institutions because they were giving admissions to people who were not of his caste, but Raj Thackray DID.
Thus, I wud again say...DO A REALITY CHECK MAN N DEN SPEAK OL DIS RUBBISH.


Dear Kad,
I wish some people were sensible and sensitive enough to understand what we wrote,( 2 understand d crux of d matter)."

Who are the real terrorists?

I always thought that I would write a blog one day, but never knew that it would come after and for the terror attacks in Mumbai (I prefer calling it Bombay). These attacks shook the entire state of my ‘being’. I stay in Pune n yet I feel so scared. It makes me feel that anybody can come around from anywhere and kill me, in my home, in a mall, in a restaurant…..absolutely anywhere. 

But my question is WHY? How did these people have the audacity to come inside our country and kill us? How were they able to step a foot on our land, in the first place? What was our intelligence doing? And if they had passed some information, than what was our government doing? Even a day after attacks, we see on television, how people on coast guard duty are sleeping and taking a day off on Sunday! Daily wagers are being appointed for patrolling!..…God-damn you all……terrorists are better than you people who are dedicated towards killing us and they are very much successful in what they do because of callous people in the administration - be it the ministers, the officers in RAW, IB, Police, Coast Guard, Navy, practically almost every person in the administration. The entire system is CORRUPT. What is the use of sacking ministers like RR Patil and Shivraj Patil? They are being replaced by other good-for-nothing people. What good can PC Chidambaram do as a Home Minister when he has been able to do nothing as a Finance Minister, except for increasing prices of every commodity that a common-man uses? 

Ministers are being sacked. Fine, but next WHAT? We want some concrete action. Not the sacking of ministers in the wake of elections. Public announcements have been made that four zones will have their own NSG. Our question is, WHEN? We want a deadline. We want a confirmed date, and don’t give us that crap that it is a long drawn process and takes time. We know that. But that time should not stretch over years instead of months. And a suggestion for Raj Thackeray and his Sena - if you really want to do something for Maharashtra and Maharashtrians then be a part of Maharashtra NSG. As it is, you and your people are very fond of fighting and killing people. Come out of your hiding and be a true ‘Marathi Manoos’ and do something for your motherland, your Janmabhoomi, your karmabhoomi, your Bombay, your Maharashtra – as you claim it to be.

However, is it enough to create NSG bases in four zones of India?......NO. We also have to secure our international boundaries, be it the coast or land. This time the terrorists have used sea-route and Mumbai’s coast. What is the guarantee that they will not cross boundaries on land? My husband had once met a person who was on-duty at the West Bengal-Bangladesh border. The things that he told were shocking. He said that for miles and miles there is NO wired fencing on our international boundary lines. (Though it is present on Bangladesh’s front!) Secondly, there are hundreds of people who are crossing that border illegally EVERYDAY. And when this BSF guy tried to take some action, he was asked NOT to, by his senior. Can you beat that? And if that was not enough, when our people try to cross the border and go to Bangladesh they are Killed, women are Raped and throw in the no man’s land. When a country like Bangladesh can be so strict (or rather, inhuman) while protecting their border, why can’t we be the same? Why there is always some corrupt senior, who for some money lets these people come inside our land and kill us? 

On an afterthought, I am compelled to say that it is not only the people in the lower rungs of the system who sell themselves for some money and are irresponsible. With such meager wages, I guess there are very few people who would not do the same. The people who decide such paltry wages for them are equally irresponsible (oh! I forgot. If they do not decide such scanty wages, how will they fill up their own pockets?). We watch on television almost every day, the rising earnings of ‘superstar’ actors and ‘cricket-stars’ who earn in lakhs and crores. But do they really deserve to get so much money, when we compare them to our soldiers? Doesn’t, their conscience prick them when they audaciously demand so much money from movie makers, who in-turn extract it from the ordinary movie-goers or from cricket-fans. Isn’t it our soldiers who should be earning in lakhs instead of the actors, cricketers and corrupt politicians? The various cricket boards in the country are so quick to reward money, cars and bikes to someone who hits six sixes or becomes a man-of-the-match. Why can’t we see such promptness when the soldiers put their lives at risks for saving us, as they did recently in Mumbai? Why is there so much disparity in the earnings? 

It is very easy for them to say that we are paying our taxes and now the government should do something fruitful with it. What they are forgetting is that they are public figures and are inspiration for a lot of people. They can always take the first step towards not only bashing the government but also for doing something on their own. In fact, we all can do it. It is we who have to be patient if we have to stand in long queues at the airport, in the malls and multiplexes and go though security checking. We all should take military training for a year so that we are prepared to face challenges. We should let our sons join military forces and serve the nation. (It is applicable for the netas, actors and cricketers too.) We, being common citizens, are wrong at the lower levels. They, being public figures and netas, are wrong on a much higher level, especially the people who are a part of the government and the organizations working for our security. They are not only wrong but responsible for these deaths. It’s high time that they accepted their mistakes, callousness and irresponsibility, learned from it and took severe measures not only to rectify these mistakes but also to see to it that these mistakes do not happen in the future ever again. It is a question of our LIVES for heavens-sake.