Its been a tumultuous
year with an even more tumultuous end. We saw the unimaginable happening, an
evil boisterous dance of inhumanity, cruelty pushed to the farthest boundaries
and a sad climax to the sorrowful real story, with the brave protagonist
succumbing to the sordid reality of death in the claws of injuries, both
physical and psychological. However, what the year ended with was also an
unprecedented uprising of the masses, uprising against the heinous act of
abuse, uprising against the listless system, mendacious politics, confused
laws, mean narrow-mindedness, the habitual process of relegating any moral
responsibility on the part of the government, bureaucracy, judiciary etc and
against every social attribute that is slowly eroding the sense of security and
dignity of individuals in our country.As citizens, these protests, marches to
avenge the loss and ensure that the most dreaded punishment is meted out to the
perpetrators partially gave the hope that maybe now, before a criminal tries to
outrage the modesty or dignity of a woman or any fellow citizen, before he
believes he can jump through the realm of justice, he is reminded of the dire
consequences.
But in the clamour to
make the silent system speak up and the deaf-mute representatives of power
rise, what indeed has been pushed into the background , is our own individual
responsibilities as citizens. For long we've cribbed about the inefficiency of the
administration in punishing the beastly offenders , but have we ever
contemplated on the inefficiency of our own selves as a society in stopping the
very making of these criminals, ceasing the point of inception of crime? The
answer we all know is a vehement NO.
The vent of anger of
the mob was largely the political class, the utter failure of the kings in
power at communicating any change in the law and order system , but frankly,
lets swear to our hearts and ask ourselves, do we really posses the stakes to
blame anybody else for the social or political mess? Once in five years, we are
required as citizens of this country to go out and exercise our power to vote
to select our own leaders as it happens in any quintessential democracy.
However, the best we do of the day is sleep till late because it's a
'holiday'.Even if there are some who do go out, they let their votes be
influenced by religion, caste, family loyalties and what not. The very first
step towards the paralysis of democracy starts here.It is indeed a paradox that
a nation of over a billion plus with a whooping educated and efficient
middle-class still decides its ruling party only on the basis of the illiterate
class, who are often manipulated and fooled to the hilt by specious political
promises.
We've let go our right
to choose for a long time now and in return have only been plundered of our
right to freedom.It is most unfortunate that it takes crimes as disturbing as
these to remind us of the anarchy that we've got ourselves into.
The above reference is
not an exception.In the social sphere too, right from the slang that we use to
the item numbers in films that make crowds go delirious, all are a silent
pointer to the stark reality.It is absolutely natural to be very fond of a
munni or an anarkali dancing in the most pompous way and with the most stupid
backgrounds, it is cool to abuse a friend with a mother/sister slang projecting
women as mere objects, but it suddenly becomes alarming when the same item
number scene or the slang is enacted on the roads in cities.
We've for long lived
in a state of denial and devolvement. The most obviously sane way to protest is
to blame the government, police, officers etc etc for the wrongdoings, but to
this long list of parties responsible, needs to be added a small word of two
letters "we" before many more daminis and nirbhayas fall prey to the
cruelism, lust and ignorance that is very much endemic to our own social
upbringing.
The moment couldn't
have been more apt. Intellectuals, media houses have been incessantly
suggesting measures to curb the evil.But the flame that the girl lit should
also light up our own conscience before this blame-game turns into a vicious
cycle with no ends, and only more and more victims.Let her sleep awaken us from
the age old lull of ignorance towards our duties, ethics and everything in
general.It is only then that we would have the standards to proclaim, "She lit a FLAME".
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