March 10, 2015

Love Each Other. Consensually.


Strength has always been so much important in society.

A man is not a man unless he has a taut physique, at least six feet tall, with macho demeanor and chest hair poking out near the top buttons of his shirt. He does dare devil and challenge others without a thought of any harm happening to him. And let’s face it; he is a man, what can ever harm him?!

Don't think we are being partial either. A woman is also very strong. A woman's prowess comes from her strength of compassion, humility, values and affection. We have traditionally been a culture that holds women to such high regards. Almost all of the famous Gods in the epic stories have a strong female counterpart. We worship women and her kind.

A woman is not a woman, unless she is the humble thimble of the family, compassionate enough to do everything at home to keep her family comfortable, keep her values intact such that when the male in the family decides something she never challenges him, and affectionate enough so that she keeps his bed warm even if she is not the mood for any loving.

You see we are a country of strong people. Strong traditions. Strong values. Strong emotions. Strong prejudices.

We are proud of our history and revere our herd mentality. Some may say we are scared that if we don't shove our values down the throats of young people our next generation might forget our rituals and will lead our beautiful land becoming one of lechery and half-nakedness. Some might point out that the biggest champions of our traditions - the politicians and the heads of religions - are now more prone to watching porn in the parliament buildings and to molesting disciples. For them we'd like to point out that they only do so to show the world that they are normal people, one among the masses.

Ah the masses of our country. What can we tell about such wonderful people? No words will suffice to praise their hard work and awareness about what actually is going on in our country. Remember the big uproar of political unrest over widespread corruption in government? Tens of thousands of people on the roads protesting and demonstrating their demand for change. And look now, we now never see a single bureaucrat anywhere in the country be caught in a bribery racket. Right?

That's where we think this Nirbhaya protest went all wrong. You see this is one change where half measures won’t work. Mass revolt against corruption was one thing. But for the Nirbhaya uproar, though there was a big fight. And the politicians did bring in their valuable words of wisdom. But most of the traditional minded people, which still hold very high positions, were still not too entertained about it. After according to them all the women were clearly asking for it. Rape happened only in India and not in their Bharat.

dnaindia.com

You see... I agree with all of you... The protesters and the traditionals...

The protesters weep for the women who got violated so bad that by the end of the turmoil her entrails were dropping out of her privates...

The traditional weep for their idea of cultural living going to ruins... The culture that our country has been living in for centuries... That which is most familiar to them… They do not know any better…

For both people I will just like to point out one thing... Time is different...

The protesters need to remind themselves that while getting on the road, or on social media comment sections reminding everyone else that something needs to be done; does sound like you are doing something about it. In reality you are not.

So… Stop, please stop. Nothing ever gets done that way, who are you kidding? Mass protest worked in an era when countrymen actually believed in belonging to something. Now, patriotism only shows up when Indian cricket team is playing the World Cup. Don’t believe in the popular solution melodrama. Protect your own people. Take care of the women around you. That is the most practical solution I can think of. If every person in this country started looking out for each other, even if only their close ones, don’t you think we’d be covering more ground than spending another decade in making laws that probably won’t ever get enforced in our lifetime? Take care of the women in your life, be there for them. If they are out with someone, don’t be a stalker, but you can at least be aware of the people around her. And you, the people around her, please take care of her. Be a man.

The traditionals need to remind themselves that while yes it might be true that the old traditions are at a risk now. But then we are not the people of the old times... While it is true that women might wear tighter clothes or show more skin than the ladies in your epic stories. That does not in any way mean she is doing that to get some. Women working night shifts to earn her food for her family is not doing so because she has loose morals and is hungry for late night action. A child is a child. You don’t have any right to snatch away her right to a happy childhood just because you have a penis.

We once preached respecting women and elders and children. That was probably my favorite part of our culture. The level of affection we were taught right from a young age by and towards the people around us. Many of my friends from abroad are amazed at how close knit our families are while theirs are torn apart with divorces. I don't know where all that love and respect got lost...

I really do like what we have here. I adore what we had in the past. But I dislike the things for which we stand for now around the globe. Our country is not really that bad. We just have a bad case of inaction, and indecisiveness. More importantly, a sense of empathy at an individual level.

We have survived so many things together. It would be such a waste to be defeated now by our own failing sensibilities. Be kind to each other. Be sensitive of each other’s pain.

Today, and forever, love each other. Consensually.


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