I call out to Waris Shah today
to rise from his grave and
open a new page of the book of love.
Once a single daughter of the Punjab cried out,
and you wrote many dirges.
Today a million daughters weep
and look to you for solace...
Amrita Pritam wrote this poem sixty years ago during the Partition of India. But it is so apt for today’s times when Delhi has become so insecure place for women. Either a 5 year old or 50 year old women, everyone gets molested in one way or the other in Delhi. The moment a woman gets out of her secure home, she is in constant peril. Every other day, you will find a rape case or a molestation case in newspapers. Why is this happening? Has anybody ever considered this? The recent Noida rape case filled me with outrage. The sarpanch of Garhi Choukhandi village of Noida made those infuriating and exasperating remarks that ‘Rape is not a big deal’. Can somebody ask that damnable man, then what a ‘big deal’ is? Someone said that the punishment for a rape should neither be life imprisonment nor death sentence but castration that will be a ‘big deal’. It was as much a shame for a nation where we call a woman a devi, a goddess. What a paradox, isn’t it? These rape cases and such awful remarks by the men of our society reveal the decaying of the values and morals of our society. Neither boys nor girls are taught by their elders to respect a female body. A girl feels ashamed of her physical self while boys consider it as an object. Such a mindset has deepened the evil roots of crims against women. The need of the hour is to socialise our children in a gender neutral environment where girls and boys are not contrary of each other rather comrades. Then only we will be able to make this society a better place for both men and women.
No comments:
Post a Comment