RAPE –A HEINOUS SIN

            RAPE –A HEINOUS SIN

Rape is not something most people like to talk about, it is the most heinous of crimes and the only one where the victim is ostracized by the society. This has been the norm since centuries, only in recent times have the hapless sufferers,  been accorded a semblance of justice. Today a new kind of torture has been churned out for the victim, her condition is paraded on endless news channels, politicians jump in and crude, uncouth words are used to extract as much mileage as possible by them to their political benefit.

Recently our country has been labeled as ‘The Rape Country’ by the leader of Congress Mr.Rahul Gandhi. My reason for writing this piece stems from there. Was and is our country of ‘Rapes’? Has it always been cruel towards women?

I have watched a couple of series, namely ‘THE TUDORS’ and ‘ROME’ and was appalled to see that these societies of the so called greats were licentious and perversions was openly accepted. In the name of religion, right of Kings or noblemen and depravity of the religious heads, women were nothing more than play things for the whims and fancies of all males. I have also read a series on ‘THE MUGHALS’, written by Alex Rutherford. Their lives have been unnecessarily glorified in the history books found in India. They were debauches of the highest order and had no respect for most women. Women were for them only for their pleasure.

Compared to that I, at least did not read about rape in either ancient Indian books or otherwise. So now why do we hear about rapes every day?   How and from where did this depravity enter our country? The answer is very obvious; it entered our country with the invaders during the medieval period and devastated the social structure of the country. Indian society before the advent of invaders was an open one and women were highly respected and held an exalted position. We read about ‘SWAYAMBARS’, we read about learned women, we read about the annihilation of a complete family and its supporters to avenge the humiliation of their beloved queen-‘Draupadi’.

So today it saddens me no end to see a lot of blame game going on in the name of ‘RAPE’. This disgusting depravity grew under invaders to such an extent that it brought in a lot of other social evils. To safeguard the modesty of their women folk, restrictions were put on the women by their family members. Purdah system, their confinement within the four walls of their houses, their liberties taken away to a great extent, discontinuance of their education,  are a few woes meted out to women during the medieval times. Caste system, superstitions and rigidity in religious matters also came into vogue. All this was to safe guard the rich cultural heritage of the original inhabitants of this great country. Conversions and perversions, in spite of all precautions grew at an alarming rate. With the advent of the British and their education system the moral downfall of a once righteous society was complete.

New fanged ideas of Modernity, Feminism and Liberalism to name a few have added fuel to the fire, decimation of all things ‘Bharatiya’ is not something to be wondered at!!

Time now, to redeem ourselves, go back to our roots and be a true ‘SANATANI’ once again. Here comes the role of parents, who need to be extra careful in the upbringing of their wards.They need to inculcate good moral values in the sons and daughter, teach them to be strong, dedicated and principled. Wanton behaviors should be discouraged right from the childhood.

BE UPRIGHT, BE BHARATIYA, BE A GOOD HUMAN BEING IN ALL YOUR UNDERTAKINGS.

RISING CRIMES AGAINST WOMEN –WHO IS RESPONSIBLE?

RISING CRIMES AGAINST WOMEN –WHO IS RESPONSIBLE?

Open a newspaper, news channel, twitter, magazine, Google or any other medium of news, what do we find common in all the mediums? It is the alarming rise in the amount of crimes against women. Every day we are stunned into horrific silence, impotent rage of helplessness and are mute spectators to inane statements on the matter spouted by authorities, celebrities or so called intellectuals. We as a society are going round in circles, trying to find a solution and an abetment or complete end to the woes of women. There may be a difference of opinion among the multitude, as to the path to be taken, to address this malady, but there is no dissension as far as ending it is concerned.

As a woman and a mother, I am very apprehensive about the safety of women, girls and worse still small kids. I sit and ponder a lot on the growing rate of crime against women, and try to pin point the reason for it. Many reasons come to my mind, I weigh the pros and cons but I am never hundred percent sure about the cause. I would like to put my thoughts before more sagacious people and seek their opinion in the matter. I would also like to hear the views of concerned people in this matter.

The first problem, I think is of the easy availability of pornographic material on the internet. There is a growing tendency of undue interest among a large number of people, in these sites. I am unable to understand what kind of perversion leads people to such activities. This is diverting their minds, and many a perverted minds are instigated into trying out what they see. Is it really FOE to air such things? Can people running such trash simply, shrug away their responsibility by saying that it is not binding upon people to watch. I have heard and read arguments for and against this line of thought. Why can’t laws be formulated and such muck not be allowed anywhere? 

Secondly, I believe, movies also have a fair share in polluting minds. In movies, how common is it to see a hero stalking the heroine, who later accepts these advances and everything is hunky dory. So young impressionable minds think it normal to stalk any girl, and as in the movies they want their feelings to be reciprocated. When, it is not, then a few take extreme steps like, throwing acid, molesting and nowadays raping too. Here comes the role of parents, if they take the pains to instill good values in their wards, the boys young or old will never do such heinous deeds. In movies, simple plain romance is a thing of the past, now we see provocative scenes complete with a heavy undertone of sex in it. Rape scenes are nothing but gory and we cannot deny that for a perverted person this acts like a catalyst. Advertisements too have their fair share in this matter. They are many times stupid and lack moral values. These have brought forth a new kind of ideology which in India is commonly referred to as “Chalta Hai”.

Liberals are also adding fuel to the fire with their new fangled ideas of modernization. There is a battle underway, in society about this line of thought. I personally believe, moderation is required here, in the name of modernization, is it wise to do away with ethics. What exactly is modernization? Who will decide what is acceptable or not? The main problem lies in aping the West mindlessly. In many cases, following traditions is looked down upon, and a general tendency of making fun of such people and thinking them backward has become a trend now.

It is very necessary to bring back family bonding, teaching boys to respect women, telling them stalking or bullying girls into accepting unwanted advances is not right. It is natural for people to fall in love, agreed, but is it natural to equate it to lust. A healthy atmosphere needs to be developed, all around us, wherein the individual should be taught not to focus completely on lust and physical side of relationship; rather the focus should be on mutual respect and happiness. Deteriorating human ideologies needs to be dealt with, qualified counselors could be appointed to talk to working parents, who hardly have the energy or time to give quality education to their wards.

Unemployment and lack of higher education is also responsible in its own way.  “Empty mind is the devils workshop” so every individual should be urged to keep themselves busy and positivity should be spread overtly or covertly. Every sane thinking person needs to step forward and do his/her bit to pull the society out from the doldrums it has fallen into.

Too many thoughts are randomly flying through my mind, and I am not sure I have really been able to make much sense, but I am certain about one thing, which is the urgent need to do something in this matter by every individual, no one can afford to sit back and wait for others to try changing the world around us.

Will be waiting eagerly for positive feedback.

I SMELL A FISH

I SMELL A FISH

Funny title? Well lots of funny things are going on in the country. I have been trying to understand the situations prevalent in the country. Just a few weeks after the 2019 general elections, the newly elected Prime minister of India, made an announcement.

Central Schemes
UGC Schemes
State Schemes
Ministry of Minority Affairs                                                      Scheme Closing Date       Defective Verification         Institute Verification
Pre Matric Scholarships Scheme for Minorities                      Open till 15-10-2019        Open till 31-10-2019            Open till 31-10-2019
Post Matric Scholarships Scheme for Minorities                     Open till 31-10-2019        Open till 15-11-2019            Open till 15-11-2019
Merit Cum Means Scholarship For Professional and Technical Courses CS
                                                                                                        Open till 31-10-2019        Open till 15-11-2019           Open till 15-11-2019

This is the gist of that scheme and can be looked up in the GOI portal. Well all hell broke up after this on twitter, so many Right Wingers, such a lot of outrage, abuse galore for the PM. The Right Wingers felt betrayed by their leader. They accused him, they berated him, and the level of abuses hurled at him had many a head spinning. For a few days this relentless one sided tirade went on, unable to take it any longer many Right Wringers jumped in support of the PM. It was then that all hell broke out on Twitter. Good friends fought against each other and the spat turned ugly. It left a bad taste in the mouth and saddened many a heart. It was also a time to be suspicious of everyone, one was talking to. In short it brought the ugly truth about the fragile nature of right wing unity.

I had my share of spats and right left center I blocked or muted many accounts. I could not understand what was going on, why were the very people, who had worked day in and day out to support Modiji, were now up in arms against him! It could not be just a stupid scholarship issue. Not saying that many in reality did not feel betrayed, but there was more to this whole scheme than eyes could meet. To add fuel to the fire there were news, daily about a series of rape cases committed by minorities on minor girls belonging to the majority community, temples attacked and idols broken. Then, came lynching cases, which could be ascribed to both sides.

It seemed, as if vested interests were going all out to instigate people, pitch brother against brother, bring ill will among communities. A fear set within me, what did these people actually want and who were they? Who the target was, was not difficult to understand; it was the present government. So it was easy to guess that the enemies could be the ones who lost out. Nothing new, political parties have been suspected of taking recourse to such underhand techniques for a long time. Many cases have been proved too, but the question before me again was why and what limits were unknown power- hungry people ready to go to achieve their goals? It could also be Vibhishans from within too, but could they be so bad that they could plan a civil war? Or would they be happy by disrupting the law and order of the country, it seemed they thought nothing about the lives of common men as the recent incidents proved.

Next I wondered about Right Wingers who could not stop their tirade, what was in it for them? It certainly was some well known people who knew their hold on their followers and could easily sway their judgement. We “right wingers” conceive quickly without a thought and our loyalty is enormous. What would they achieve by turning against their chosen leaders? One by one their true colours were coming to the fore and it led me to think about their motive. Most probably they had expectations of some reward for their “Undying and Selfless” service during the elections, which had not been fulfilled or the “Selfless” ones had been offered better remuneration by someone else. After all this is an era of give and take. Everything has a price; it requires the correct bidder to the buy service.

So a lot of unscrupulous people had joined hands for their personal gains, to hell with the country and to hell with the people. Gullible ones had been taken for a ride and they, I am sure, will feel let down when the truth comes out. For now I can only pity them. The ecosystem built up by the previous governments also has a lot at stake; it had the government breathing down its neck, their corrupt practices no longer very safe. Top officials were asked to retire, cases were reopened, and this time round the Modi government was out to clean up the mess left by all the previous regimes. All these must have sent shivers down the most hardened of the corrupts, so are we in for very trying times?

The less said about Right Wing unity is the best. A simple call to boycott Twitter for two days by all Right Wing handles could not be followed by all. People were more bothered about the reaction of people known to them, than putting up a united front. So from now at least for me, its “Akela Cholo Re.” Sad reality and then, we never spare a moment to lecture others on the importance of unity. We lament about the lack of unity being the worst curse among us Right Wingers.

My faith in this government is unshakable and I fully believe that they know how to deal with this new menace the country is facing. However, I would like to appeal to the better judgement of my countrymen and ask them to keep calm, never be a part of “TUKDE TUKDE GANG” and keep working for the motherland.

Do We Deserve Modi

                                                                                                                              Do We Deserve Modi

There is a huge amount of anger all around based on Sadhvi Pragya’s statement on Godse. The Right wing immediately jumped to her support, I did too. It was fine, till this but the opposition hungry for any topic, quickly pounced on this golden opportunity presented to them on a platter. With glee they hit Modi and wanted to know his reaction. He is the Prime Minister of a country with a diverse multitude. He rightfully denounced her and said he would not be able to ever forgive her. As expected all hell broke loose, her supporters were up in arms and soon the narrative during an intensely fought election was all about Godse and Gandhi.

What about the Right Wing? Oh they lived up to the expectation attacking all those, who were trying to keep the agenda centered on the elections and the relevant topics. That is, they easily fell prey to liberals. Let me clear it here, I am no fan of Gandhi, never was. But to line guns on Modi, and start berating him for not standing up for Sadhvi is absolutely insane. Let me ask my friends a few questions:

1)  Who helped Sadhvi to get unbiased and fair hearing in the courts?

2)   Who gave her a ticket to fight from Bhopal in these elections?

3)   Who gave her the respect she deserved?

4)    Who stood by her through thick and thin?

5)    Who believed in her enough and was trying to bring her back into the mainstream?

Please do answer the next set of questions too:

1)     How did Sadhvi repay all the kindness showered on her?

2)    Why did she not think twice before coming out with statements detrimental to her party, more so,         in the time of elections?

3)    Did she bite the hand that fed her with her thoughtless words?

4)    Should she have apologized?

5)   Was she too enthusiastic and in her eager jumped the gun, and was extremely thoughtless?

6)    Did she create problems for the people who helped her?

Now, what about the Right wing:

1)    Yes we have had a rough deal right from the advent of liberal thoughts.

2)    Yes we have been taken for a ride for nearly 60+ years.

3)     Yes all of us are fed up with the dirty appeasement politics of our so called leaders.

4)     They have caused a lot of heartburn and hardships to us.

5)    We are an angry lot and we want a messiah to deliver us from all our woes.

6)     However in our eagerness and haste, we want instant result.

Questions to my Brothers based on these observations:

1)    Does Modi have a magic wand, which he should wave to do away with all the muck gathered              over a staggering long period of liberal brain washing?

2)    Don’t we have a huge group among us who have wielded power for a long long time, and are in          no mood to give it up?

3)   They have systematically created a huge ecosystem of likeminded people, how can they be                 changed overnight?

4)    Do they want to change?

5)    So, isn’t it an uphill task for Modi?

6)    If we were mute spectators to such massive wrong doings for such a long time, can’t we be                  patient and allow Modi to work?

7)    Isn’t it a fact that he has been successful to some extent in stopping NGO’s in their nefarious activities?

8)    Saw a video of tribals, in which they are clearly agreeing that the Modi govt. has provided them          with houses, toilets and other basic facilities, but because of the dictates of the church, they                 would vote against him. What has been our contribution to change such mindset?

9)    Nothing, but we won’t stop criticizing Modi for not doing enough, are we fair?

10)  People, for vested interest, are trying to undercut Modi, they are known as NOTA VEERS. What         are we doing to contain such moles in our midst?

I was very sad to observe very sane people calling Modi out for not supporting Sadhvi. Sorry but I completely agree, I would be very angry too. If a person I had gone to a great length to support, lets me down. I too won’t forgive the person. Sad but we have forgotten to empathize. We never ever put ourselves in the other man’s shoe, we are judgmental and our policy is_ IT IS EITHER MY WAY OR THE HIGHWAY. We love to sermonize. There are a lot of things wrong with our country, the worst is our attitude. Don’t you think so friends? If Modi somehow does not come back to power, maybe we will start introspecting and lamenting our loss but till then we will never stop extracting our pound of flesh. He comes back, and then we will be fiercer in our criticism. And, how proud we will be, that we don’t spare our own, if we think, mind you, think that he is wrong! I plead to all to stop and think!

Dedicated to my friends:

Chintan, Chira Nayal, Chitra Sundaram,Sarvesh Dubey,Vel Jaya, Dushyant, JP, Sapna, Dr. Dinesh Karia, Sivaswami, Rani Rocky, Smita Mukerjee, Nimit Aggarwal, Vandana Jayaram.

                      

Army Training Inevitable in India

This is my first attempt at blog writing hope I will  be able to live up to  the expectations of readers.I want to dedicate this to my good friend and brother Dr. Dinesh Karia  who assisted my journey into this world.Thank you Doc. 

    John F Kennedy had famously stated "A young man who does not have what it takes to perform military service is not likely to have what it takes to make a living.Today's military rejects include tomorrow's hard-core unemployed." Looking at it from an Indian perspective I strongly believe that it is the need of the hour.Being from the teaching fraternity,with a long experience I have seen the young minds of the country from very close quarters.over the years there has been a shift from basic discipline among the young ones of this country.Many times this converts into unruly behaviour as they grow old.It is this observation which is prompting me to think deeply that military training from a small age will brush up their personality and they will certainly grow up to be upstanding citizens.    Rajya Sabha recently defeated the compulsory army service bill and patted their backs for a job well done,as per their thinking is considered. I completely disagree with their point of view.The youth is seen as the future of any country,if their energy is not channelized,then they might convert into a force which will take them downhill and also prove to be detrimental for the growth of the country.     Army training is rigorous and instills innumerable qualities which turns the individual into a dynamic person.The army training focuses on single minded devotion to the job in hand,thus the trainee learns to focus.Today we see the youth is not able to focus on any thing for a long duration.It is not true in every case,but to a great extent,it has been observed that they stress out even on the topic of choosing their streams for higher education.They are led by their parents or follow others blindly.They are easily diverted.So learning to focus will certainly enhance their performance in all their endeavours.    The army works as a unit,thus strong bonding among the cadets is drilled into them.Look at us we are a divided lot today,on one hand we are Marathis, Gujaratis, Bengalis,etc.,and on the other hand Hindus,Muslims, Sikhs,etc,.Even when it is the question of the countries integrity and honour we do not think as a unit.Military training I am certain will do away with this disunity.                                      I believe there is a buddy system in the army which focuses on looking out for your partner under all circumstances,cut throat competition in admissions in colleges,jobs,etc., has brought in a lot of selfishness among individuals.Learning to look out for others will also raise the unity level in the country.It will certainly foster goodwill and brotherhood.                                                                        This kind of training will ensure other qualities like responsibility,loyalty,self confidence among others.So the individual will be honourable and lead an exemplary life.So am I very wrong in mooting army training from school life itself ?