Time to Act!

Yet Again We Failed As a Society !! What a Shame! What a Shame!

A conversation from the rear seat of a public transport vehicle among a group of young high school goers caught my attention during my travel.

It began with, “Oh I was very disturbed to watch the news about the recent Kolkata incident.”

Before I could appreciate the quick reach of social media to what is happening around, the youngster’s empathy was butchered by a powerful voice. Pat came a voice, “Nothing will change, for a few days some people will march in their cities with candles, a few more will take out a morcha and raise slogans and it will be the end of it till another shocking incident shakes up the nation. Nothing is going to change”.

Quickly, another voice said, “They have nabbed the man but will take 10 years to punish him. Wasn’t Nirbhaya’s case an open and shut one? When that could take 12 years, why not this?”

How very right these teens are. We may argue that the law will surely punish but then…. Right now, the country is looking for safety. What measures can be taken to ensure safety of the women or should I say a girl?

No feminine gender is safe be it at the age of 2 or at 80. We see countless incidents being reported – someone dumped in a nala, cut into pieces, stabbed till they bled to death, set on fire and the atrocities are countless.

We see angry mobs demanding death sentences. Would that solve the issue?

Are we looking at public appeasement? Should we ideally not look at the measures to put an end to such incidents?

Faster resolutions with stringent punishments which can instil fear in the minds even to think of committing such a crime is a solution we need to look at.

All eyes on the CJI who has been vocal about quick stringent measures.

While the intelligentsia of the nation address this issue, and crack the whip on such behaviours, we as a society also need to think of resolving this at the grass root level. It is the need of the hour. With the girl population ratio tipping slowly, will there not be more women under attack stemming from paucity?

Understanding the WHY factor:

What prompts the humans to commit these atrocities, to be so revengeful and brutal? If no one is a born criminal then where is this brutality and inhuman behaviour stemming from?

We see that these culprits are remorseless and are not guilty of their actions.

Should their families, socio economic backgrounds and upbringing environs be studied?

Will this research lead us to the causes of this devilish behaviour?

Is it just lust? Is it drugs? Is it inebriety?

Should there be a study of these culprits psychology? Will that give us a lead?

Will more open discussions on mental health bring in a difference?

As a society which churns out lakhs of doctors every year, should we mobilise resources to research on these psychos?

Questions! Questions! And Questions!

Every time a ghastly incident takes place there is an uproar and then it is left to die a slow death.

We have seen this happen with honor killings, brutal killing of random women, avenging their lovers and the list goes on.

We talk of women empowerment, respect for women, equal opportunity just around the dates of Women’s Day and pat ourselves for the wonderful quotes we churned out praising the womanhood. We also recite slokas from our Vedas where women are worshipped but where is it in action? Domestic abuse when put forth to the elders is pushed under the carpet giving more scope to the nasty culprit to continue the exploitation. We propagate POSH Act in offices but we shame the victim instead of the culprit. What a SHAM!

Isn’t an attitudinal change essential and desirable?

Is the safety of other humans not a social responsibility?

Yes it is! But unfortunately, all of us want to pass the buck to others.

Ironically, we have never made an earnest social effort to curb the problem. We try to point fingers at others and shun our responsibility. We conveniently blame the victim and offer a supposedly valuable pointless opinion stemming from our limited knowledge .

I may not be totally right, but our first baby step towards a better society should start from our own homes. We need to teach about shame to the boys as much as we do to the girls. We see men of all ages in India use the roadsides to relieve themselves without any shame. Boys/ male adults change dresses publicly in a beach but even a 4-year-old girl is told it is shameful to do so. If we can teach shame may be for all ages, we will be taking the first step forward.

If a girl is not safe on the roads at nights it is because of the boys. Are they not the actual cause? We restrict the girls their freedom instead, teach the boy his limits. Probably if we restrict men, we may avoid many an incident. We are adept at wiring the girls right and let the wrong connections in the men are ignored.

We want to adopt western culture and call ourselves modern. But have we ever pondered whether we have the broader mindset or share the same culture to accept it? Western life styles are suitable for their culture as they are brought up with that mindset.

Many a men drool at women at any slight given chance forgetting their status, place and age because our society as such is still not matured enough to respect woman for what they are. Thanks to the entertainment industry we still see women as an object of sex and our primary interests stem from there.

To initiate a change the concept of male domination and the patriarchal mindset is to be uprooted from our minds and that of the Gen Z. Catch them young and watch them grow. This will need and take a whole generation to adopt and change.

Not all is lost. Small yet a powerful beginning to build a safer society would be to :

STOP – Pull the plug off to - Girls cannot do this but boys can attitude.

- Glorifying Alpha male attitude and sexualising women.

TEACH - To treat each other with respect.

- The value and importance of equality and mutual respect.

REACH : The social media influencers who reach out to every corner and age group of the society should churn out content to spread the message to uplift these values, help resolve conflicts and treat other gender with equal respect.

The gaming industry which shows mindless violence and radical behaviour should be more responsible and add rewards for kindness and mindfulness as a part of gaming.

ACT -The corporate sectors with their CSR initiatives should extensively fund mental health research and contribute towards building a truly safe society.

WATCH - The educational institutions should watch the youngsters and award and reward humane traits and not just marks.

Yes it is a collective social responsibility! Every woman and every gentleman should shoulder this responsibility of rebuilding a safer society. Join hands and use the STRAW to suck off these poisonous elements from the minds of the growing up generation

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