This is no time to be a cynic

Like most Indians - I too feel the anguish of Nirbhaya's death. 

Her death is one in many that get reported. There are those numerous nameless others who suffer this crime and it never goes beyond the victim's knowledge and the perpetrators smug knowing and harrassment.  Many a time the reaction to such incidents is a tired cynical outlook and a "Things never change" attitude. This is no excuse. To be blunt this is not the time to be cynical. Being cynical is to be safe and removed from the feelings of anger.

This case pierced the sense of apathy towards such crimes; and I am thankful that it has. As I go through life I have realized one never knows when the tipping point will occur and what will trigger it. The only thing one can do is contribute even in the face of impossible odds.  You see we need a trickle before it can become a flood. We need the fury against each and every crime. We need the sense of injustice when people misuse their power. We need a sense of outrage against every person who thinks to violate women with impunity.

Yes there is a part of one's mind that knows - the momentum may be lost eventually.  The media will move on to other issues. That does not mean we stop. We never would have won freedom if our freedom fighters had given up after the first war of independence. 

And sometimes ... sometimes it takes one incident to turn the simmering wrath into flash ; history is full of such cases.

• Roop Kanwar's death which lead to the enactment of Sati related law
• Montgomery Bus Boycott - that lead to the civil rights movement
• Rodney King's beating 

Change is never easy.  Change for the better - even more so. 

So ......... Contribute. Make demands. Ask for better implementation of laws and quicker justice.

More importantly look around you and inside yourself - change the underpinning inside that devalues women routinely. Change that sense of entitlement that tells you - it is okay to abuse and then abscond from responsibility of heinous actions by saying "She asked for it". This change goes for both genders. Teach your children respect and empathy.

Make that change - In every house; by each person. There can be no better eulogy than this. An eulogy of action.

Let her death not be in vain. And no - this is no time to be cynical.

RIP Nirbhaya, Amaanat, Damini

Just a 'little' wisdom

Sometimes I think that I wish I had the wisdom ( slight though it may be ) that I now have , when I was younger.  May be my choices would have been different and perhaps I would not have taken some paths that did not work out for me. Life certainly would not have been the same. I would have made fewer mistakes may be ??

But then it I think again .... if I had this knowledge then .. I never would have been foolish .. never would have taken risks ; risks that , only being young and the-world-is-mine-attitude would have made me take. Risks that are incomprehensible to my current self.  I never would have experienced the dizzy emotional highs and lows that were so much part of me then.

So I think .. that while age brings wisdom .. it also tells me ...it does reduce one's risk appetite ... and this is doubly so when you have a baby .. and that baby's future to think of ! :)

And so - when I view a youth ( guy or gal - does it matter ) zooming past on a bike texting / talking on their mobile I just hope their fairy god-mother keeps them safe ( and the others around them too ! ). No I never did that [ hey we had no mobiles then ! ;) ]  but it makes me wonder how life allowed me to sashay through with nary a scratch.