Long time since my last post and hopefully I can be regular now (as I regularly keep hoping).
The title sounds ominously 6th std essay-ish but I couldn't help it. A gazillion, trillion tonnes has been said and discussed on the subject but, at the risk of sounding like a feminist (which I am not, at least not entirely), I can't resist adding my penny's worth and giving it a whisk.
The thing I am going on about is the Shiv Sene incident of the recent past. The incident has been analysed enough but what I am surprised (n more than a little worried) is about the attitude of the women/girls themselves... half apparently don't think it's shameful to be treated like cattle in this day and age and the other half think the girls deserved what they got.
I asked my mother what she thought and she, without mincing words, said that though the group or it's hooligans had absolutely NO right or excuse going around hitting women of respectable(?) families in public (for which they should be flogged in the same public), the girls also should have thought twice before going to a pub, wearing haute couture which are designed expressly for the ramps and guzzling beer like truckers....and THEN crying 'Wolf!'; that is just not done and I think she has a valid point.
I happened to be discussing the incident with a guy friend and I thought, he is educated, he'll see what the deal is. I was sadly and badly mistaken. Education doesn't apparently have logic in it's curriculum. He was of the opinion that what the group was doing was very correct and that's how the 'errant' girls should be dealt with. I asked him irately if he would have the same opinion if it had been his sister or his girl. He backed off. It is easy to blame faceless people but that is not the solution in a million years.
Before I actually start rambling, I ll say that India is just not ready to be westernised just yet and girls should think twice before trying to ape other countries (more for their safety than anything else) or just go ahead and do what you want to if you can, and only if you can, take full responsiblity for the consequences. There are a lot of weirdos out there who will take pleasure in hurting us. Lets not give them any more ammunition than they already have. As to the fools who did this and those who think they are right.... You are pathetic, nikle Bharat ki shaan ko bachaane, aur kiya uska apmaan. Pathetically pathetic.
The title sounds ominously 6th std essay-ish but I couldn't help it. A gazillion, trillion tonnes has been said and discussed on the subject but, at the risk of sounding like a feminist (which I am not, at least not entirely), I can't resist adding my penny's worth and giving it a whisk.
The thing I am going on about is the Shiv Sene incident of the recent past. The incident has been analysed enough but what I am surprised (n more than a little worried) is about the attitude of the women/girls themselves... half apparently don't think it's shameful to be treated like cattle in this day and age and the other half think the girls deserved what they got.
I asked my mother what she thought and she, without mincing words, said that though the group or it's hooligans had absolutely NO right or excuse going around hitting women of respectable(?) families in public (for which they should be flogged in the same public), the girls also should have thought twice before going to a pub, wearing haute couture which are designed expressly for the ramps and guzzling beer like truckers....and THEN crying 'Wolf!'; that is just not done and I think she has a valid point.
I happened to be discussing the incident with a guy friend and I thought, he is educated, he'll see what the deal is. I was sadly and badly mistaken. Education doesn't apparently have logic in it's curriculum. He was of the opinion that what the group was doing was very correct and that's how the 'errant' girls should be dealt with. I asked him irately if he would have the same opinion if it had been his sister or his girl. He backed off. It is easy to blame faceless people but that is not the solution in a million years.
Before I actually start rambling, I ll say that India is just not ready to be westernised just yet and girls should think twice before trying to ape other countries (more for their safety than anything else) or just go ahead and do what you want to if you can, and only if you can, take full responsiblity for the consequences. There are a lot of weirdos out there who will take pleasure in hurting us. Lets not give them any more ammunition than they already have. As to the fools who did this and those who think they are right.... You are pathetic, nikle Bharat ki shaan ko bachaane, aur kiya uska apmaan. Pathetically pathetic.
