For Her

Everytime I hear about a rape case, I am infuriated, I get real angry, swear a lot, hurl my choicest gallis to the politicians, and shudder. This has happened time and again, in different parts of India and my own state, So I resolve that I will avoid going to these places,well atleast make sure I don't deliberately go there. So there was the Mathura rape case, the Bhanwari Devi case, the 3 year olds in Hydrebad and Bidar ,closer home the Scarlett Keeling case and an entire geography mapped out where horrendous damage was inflicted on women. And these are just a few, I'd make a mental note of my not-to-visit places and eventually get on with my life. Then the Delhi gang rape case came along, now Delhi has always on top of my list but this time its hard to move on,it was brutal, it was sickening and just inhuman, but what latched me on was her. Something about this girl drew me from a forlorn purposefully forgotten reality.

Today, I woke up to hear she is no more.

I for one ask for justice fitting of the crime, a week back I would have asked for barbaric ways of killing these bastards, but today I ask for much more.
I ask that every girl/woman treat each other with the utmost respect.
I ask every man to honor women, her body, her emotions,her soul and also to keep it in their pants.
I ask the society to antagonize and cause anguish to the rapists and not its survivors.
I ask the police to be sensitive to a girl's complaint,she may be 'modern' or 'forward', but she is never asking for it. Not to be leered at, not to be assaulted and definitely not to be raped.
I ask the judiciary to amend and fix the loop holes in the laws that let so many get away with such a heinous crime. And the 6 guys, be killed. Yes.Barbarically.
I finally ask the government, enough with the cheap political antics, get working, get working now. 

She didn't ask to be a symbol of courage nor did she want to be a singular rallying point of hope and a sign of things to turn around for the better. Yet she was and continues to be all of this and much more. In the past 2 weeks, she went through an ordeal that made us question our own belief system whether humans are still... well humans.
The brutality of the pain inflicted on her is unimaginable and yet she waned to live, she wasn't a victim, she was a survivor.

I don't know her name, in the past few days she has been addressed as nirbhaya/amanat/damini. Now what remains of her is her spirit. Her family asks for privacy, I hope they can grieve in peace. For me, I don't need to know her name to cry for her, to pray for her, to hope that she is at peace.

The Magic of Sundays

SUNDAY!!!

sounds fun already right??? thought as much.

The day we all look forward too, well not as much as a friday but well sunday is in a league of its own. Back when we were kids, it used to be the only day off from school, so unlimited access to television, and those who grew up watching Doordarshan will know this.. SHAKTIMAAN!!! afternoon siestas, playing endlessly the same old hide and seek , catching cook and all its variations. And yes an evening trip to the beach was a must.

Sundays during holidays were also highly awaited. Parents,reluctantly tagging along kids to fairs, parks,movies. A Sunday morning show was a huge affair: get up early, get dressed and keep asking the grown-ups "lets go??? ", incessantly. Less crowd, less traffic, Empty parking lots, It used to make you smile.

 Sundays, with everybody sleeping in, you would wake up to the chirpy birds, some stray dog hobbling away, and the smell of the amazing holiday special breakfast your mom made.

OK that's enough nostalgia.

Sundays now are totally different, caching up with friends, recovering from hangovers, checking status updates on fb,twitter,bbm,whatsapp and what-not,crazed queues everywhere and anywhere, and don't get me started on the beaches : wannabes, extra cheeky teenagers (actually put them in the same bracket), weirdly dressed tourists and some really gawky locals.

Everybody has their  days, Mine is Sunday. Some would argue and say that it is followed by 'dreadful-pathetic- sad as hell', Monday. But for me, Its about the long talks with my family about anything under the sun, getting my hands messy; painting or cooking. I never could really make my family or friends understand the importance of a Sunday in my life, they don't question it either.

The point of my Sunday discourse is simple. In this mad rush to have more and do more , we forget the little things that made us happy. The very things that you probably intended to do on a lazy Sunday morning but didn't. Everybody has a calling, and there isn't really a perfect time to hear it, but the stillness on a Sunday morning , just makes it  heard a little clearly. May your Sundays be as meaningful as mine.