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| Image courtesy : The Indian Express |
‘She was
gangraped by 16 boys, nine of them juveniles. She was beaten, cut up and her
genitals mutilated. She made it to hospital, but was sent home with first-aid.
When she survived to fight, she ran into an indifferent administration and
influential accused. Schools denied her admission, and others mocked and
threatened her. Chances are you haven't heard this 16-year-old's story. Three days
after the brutal attack on her, the Delhi bus gangrape would happen, and a
grieving nation's conscience would not find time or space for this distant town
in remote Meghalaya.’
-The Sunday Express
-The Sunday Express
We are not a nation at
all. We have failed completely as a nation and we have always preferred to be
at the receiving end. Had we ever been at serving end, the situation would have
been different; whole lot different.
I have always
considered myself a true national, a true and honest countryman. For me,
India was north states. I never wondered about east, south or west. That’s what
we all do with full grace. For our own comfort, we have transformed the
definition of a nation into something so vicious and corrupt. Actually, we are
really a no nation. We are separate states, casts, creeds and ism’s calling
ourselves a nation. And, So was I completely wrong and had misunderstood the
meanings of such tiny-big words. After reading a story published in The Sunday
Express, I have realized what a nation and a national really means. And, I am
not the one for sure.
This story of a rape
victim, has ignited (and disturbed) my soul but with deep disgrace I confess
that I can't do anything for her. Mourning is all I am left with. She has to
live her whole life covering her face with a ''Dupatta'' or something else. Hiding
from society, she has to live her life repenting on that horrific and brutal
night. How brutal we are, this story tells me. How ignorant we are, this story
shouts at me. But, we protest on an India Gate situated in New Delhi, the great
capital of our country India. Why do we protest here, because it’s Delhi and
mainstream media can't ignore this place! Even if a pigeon dies, it becomes
news here. We care for our own safety, our own interests and our own home.
We have hijacked the
position of policy makers and make policies for everyone but for seven sisters.
Yet, we call seven sisters a part of this country and often blame them for not
being cordial and responsive. Many of us blame them of supporting
our neighboring countries like Bangladesh and Myanmar. I ask, why
shouldn't they? What have we done for them? Not a bit. We even ignore their
stories. I say this because I observe social media and pity on people, friends
for not sharing these stories. They don’t even drop by to read these stories.
Rather, everybody is busy liking some photographers, one-liner’s and
bullshit-crap ideologies. Honey Singh doesn’t make them rapist but these
stories do make them uncomfortable. They don’t read such stories because it
probably feels sadist.
Our conscience
neglects their pain, sorrows and brutality they face. We don't try to
understand them. We are hardly interested in reading their stories unless and
until someone like Mary Kom pops up from that region and makes all of us proud.
So selfish we are that we only celebrate her success, the medal which she
brings to our country, the feeling of self esteem she brings to us with all her
hard work. We respect Manna Dey because he sings for Bollywood, our
entertainment feeder bus, our lifeline for fun and fantasy.
I wish, our Seven
Sisters too had an India Gate. Probably our so called national media would have
focus their lenses on them as well. They would have shouted for days to bring
that poor rape victim the justice. But they won't, because Seven Sisters lack
an India Gate.
What an irony, I can
only mourn.
I’m sorry sister!
