Corruptio optima pessima – are you the best? : The challenge of modernity

After much procrastination, I started blogging this post. The last month, I was busy as a bee and this month Iam keeping my fingers crossed and so came up with this post on something I wanted to share long back.

Barbaric attack on a human:

Lot has been discussed, propagated and debated on Delhi rape tragedy on Nirbhaya(pseudonym of the victim).She is depicted as a hero ,who endured violence and stood  as a clarion call to the Indian nation for protecting women against violence. I would like to share my musings on that, instead of shying away from such a delicate and profound issue.

I have a habit of kick starting a post with a small story, which is germane and which drives something home. Here it goes:

“The other day, I was driving in my car travelling to secunderabad to meet an old friend. Suddenly, at the paradise junction, a traffic police ordered me to pullover and grabbed my license –saying that my glass windows are tinted and ought to be removed after paying the fine. He changed his tune the minute I looked desperate: asked me to pay a fine of 1000 rs +peeling of the tint  OR  fill his pocket with just 100 rs  to get away with. You know what I would have done! So, when breaking the existing law in the broad day light is the rule of the day, making a new law is not going to end the dark of the night, figuratively speaking.”

Coming back to the ghastly incident that sparked off a movement can be compared to Arab spring, though the context was different. The violent incident, occurred on Dec 16, reverberated throughout the length and breadth of the nation, bringing forth the debate on dormant issues such as women empowerment, gender bias, women safety and whole lot of things that are ought to be discussed.

One question that pops-up in my head is why just now? Is this because of  : the brutality and atrocious nature of the incident? The horrific homicide on a helpless human ? Whatever is the reason, one should never forget that every minute someone is being molested, maimed, abused, raped and murdered for being the fairer sex – a silent victim of perennial patriarchal perverted psychopathic Indian society.

Multitude of Sins

How many of us have heard stories of:  housewives being raped by father-in-laws and sons compromised because of economic reasons;Daughters (kept in captivity) abused by their own perverted father and brothers; abuse on child labour;cruel abuse on small kids & older women. None of these instances catch the media attention- simply because they are not as brutal as the delhi incident. So, the degree of savagery dictates the coverage? Sad, but true.

Youth uncouth or confident in routh ?   

It is great to see youth coming out in support and rallying for a cause. However, the question remains against what and who? To have stringent laws like death penalty for perpetrators of violent crime against women.

Iam for a second not against such rule nor supporting that rule .Just dusting one hands off by envisaging death penalty is NOT enough:

Do you think laws are going to stop the crime – Naïve thinking! They may deter but cannot prevent.

Inverse rule:

The inverse proportionality that prevails in the current society is “the lesser the morality in the society the greater the need for stringent laws”. It is glaringly disturbing that we are fighting for death penalty .It should be the other way round increase in the morality should obviate the necessity of strict laws, especially death penalty.

Enforcing the death penalty should be part of the solution but cannot be the solution itself! Because let me tell you :  there was one savage incident in AP  on a tribal woman . She was raped and murdered brutally in her hostel by a high profile perpetrator (may be son of some minister). Believe or not ! not even the lastname/surname of the perpetrator had been spilled out in public by police. The case had been buried under the carpet by convicting an innocent man instead. So what’s the point in having a law, when it cannot be enforced on the everyone alike?

Quick facts - Excerpt from the news  papers :

“Capital punishment is legal in India, though it is seldom exercised.  the death penalty can only be applied for the “rarest of rare” cases. On Nov. 21, the Supreme Court called for a “fresh look” at the application of the “rarest of rare” criterion, saying that there had been “little or no uniformity in the application of this approach.” That same day, the death penalty was applied in India for the first time in eight years when Ajmal Kasab, the lone surviving gunman in the 2008 Mumbai attacks, was executed. Two days earlier, India had voted against a resolution in the United Nations General Assembly that urged members to abolish the death penalty.

In the case of the gang rape in Delhi, it is unlikely that anyone convicted of the crime will receive the death sentence, legal experts say. Currently, the minimum punishment for gang rape is 10 years in prison, with life imprisonment as the maximum. Under the Indian Constitution, one cannot receive a punishment greater than that prescribed by the law at the time of the crime.”

Gen Y:  

We boast ourselves as Gen Y: flexible, creative, no boundaries and multi-taskers. The other side of the coin is we constantly crave for pleasure.Yes , pleasure is made a movement.We promote and celebrate Voyeurism and Exhibitionism. Love to encourage foul songs from honeySingh ; item numbers such as chikni chameli and at the same time holler about women rights and completely ignore our responsibilities.

Yes,we spread the malignant cancer in the society and yet reluctant to cure it , instead we blame it on Government and simply do nothing . Disgusting ! Due to dearth of time and space I am not touching the cancerous aspects such as porn culture, cosmetic industry and other traps.

 

The Challenge of modernity:

“To whom much is given much is Expected!”

Stop blaming someone, look at your daily life, and face the challenge of modernity. The current century has gone through unprecedented changes that it has none in common with the previous century except the shared traditions by our ancestors. The challenge is to control the side effects of these changes on the human mind and the subsequent vogue culture. The seamless integration of science and technology with humans and rapid globalisation, raising inequalities and other pertinent changes are responsible for the status quo.

Some ugly facts are: 11-year-old kid has high risk of exposure to adult content on internet; youth face too much stress at work place; unprecedented levels of pressure at every phase of life –home, work and community. Nobody has the time and resources to Ponder about; let alone think of any solution in Yonder!  No wonder Einstein said :

“Perfection of means and confusion of ends seems to characterize our age”

So are we just going to be a pawn in this culture? or try to make some difference? Wish it could be untrue; but the truth appears to be false and yet I feel – “All that avails is FIGHT!”   Yes, “We are What we are “! but we can choose to be responsible and make some difference .

Man Vs Wo-man

“Treat others only as you consent to being treated in the same situation”

Treat women with dignity, not to abuse them verbally or physically and consider them as human beings –not as dolls (as depicted in movies): Empathy is such a rare commodity. At the same time, women MUST understand and realise that Men are also sensitive at heart and not to take undue advantage of being the fairer sex and make a monster out of men .Invariably, men and women are the players in the same game. Learn to respect each other but not at the cost of being exploited!

Let us not violate others rights and make someone a victim based on the notions of intellect, economic, social and physical inferiority.

My contribution:

Hope I have not rambled in my writings and made some sense. As saying goes: “what goes around is what comes around!” so, spread the happiness in your capacity and it comes around a thousand times unfolded.

Why I say so because : I feel more responsible to the society by volunteering for one of the NGO’s and that experience made me more humble and sensitive as a human being and more receptive than ever to human suffering . Instead of shouting /rallying and posting on FB walls, I am lucky to have done something to the society in real ,which made me more humane.

As the saying in Latin goes: “Corruptio optima pessima!”  - the corruption of the best is the worst of all. Let us end this moral corruption.  I hope everyone of you aspire to be the best human being on earth and make this world a better place to live !   JAI HIND!