Breaking deafening silence with outrage : Part I
Saturday, 22 December 2012
0
comments
The
Mayan’s prophesy of the destruction of the world and the much awaited
apocalypse on December 21, 2012 did sweep the world. The world survived the
‘doomsday’ but humanity didn’t.
This is an account of various
incidents in which attempts were made to outrage the modesty of women at the
hands of some inhuman, perverted minds who aim to satiate their evil desires
and leave their victim scarred for life.
A few fictional characters have
been referred to in the text to make it more vivid and appealing to the reader.
The text aims to sensitise the readers towards the plight of females in the
patriarchal society and what we as an aam aadmi
can do to curb the menace of crime against women.
11
December 2011: It was a bright
Sunday afternoon. The warm sunlight was engaged in a combat with the chill that
has prevailed in the environment. The abominable lull broke repeatedly as birds
chirped and paced across the canvass of crisp blue sky. Swarms of people had
gathered in the Central Park, Connaught Place during the lunch time to share
their tiffin as well as their views and feelings on mundane issues of daily
life. As the ladies complained about the burden of daily chores on their
shoulders, their male counterparts engaged in discussion of ways to make quick
and big money in order to purchase a new house or a new vehicle and improve
their family’s standard of living. Some were busy sharing their wisdom on the
recent fashion trends, the bullish-bearish ride of the stock market, while many
others showered their critical views on their autocratic employers, nagging
wife or mother-in-law.
As the
people continued to blather, Mr. Aditya Srivastava, an eminent journalist
associated with an English news channel, got up to leave for his work viz. the
task of enlightening the masses with the latest breaking news. This time he was
supposed to cover the inauguration ceremony of a fleet of DTC buses to be
flagged off by the Chief Minister of Delhi. His team had already reached the
venue to set their paraphernalia in order.
The busy roads of CP were choked
with traffic. Cops could be seen everywhere making a great show of regulating
traffic, gesticulating wildly and barking orders into their hand-held
microphone. In such a scenario, Mr.Srivastava decided to commute by the Delhi
Metro. As he paced towards the Rajiv Chowk Metro station, he was constantly
being summoned on phone by his colleagues to reach the desired destination on
time. Everywhere people could be seen rushing, some towards the train while
others towards the escalators lift and ticket counters.
Sometimes it is curious to see
some ignorant people waving their hand to the driver or chasing the train wildly
as if it won’t stop! The train did stop as Mr. Srivastava boarded the second
coach.
In spite of all the warning
being displayed in the Metro premises and the announcements being made in
succession by the security personnel, some people have an inherent tendency of
flouting the rules by playing music, by consuming eatables or by displaying
their photography skills inside the moving train. Nevertheless, the journey is
still far comfortable and ‘paisa-wasool’
than the treacherous and tiring journey of a bus creeping at a snail’s pace on
the roads.
The train had gathered velocity
as the first announcement was sounded:
“Your attention please: First cart in the moving direction is reserved
for ladies. Male passengers are requested not to board the coach reserved for ladies. Doing this
is a punishable offense. Thank you.”
Suddenly, Mr. Srivastava noticed
a young man straddle the coach reserved for ladies and the one meant for
general public. Even more shocking was the fact that this man was trying to
capture the snapshots of the innocent and ignorant female passengers on his
cell phone by pretending to text a message.
“Bhaisahab, please be seated here”, Mr. Srivastava requested the man
in a soft and polite tone as he got up from his seat, lest he would continue
with his visual assault of the female passengers.
Instead of expressing gratitude
towards the journalist for his kindness, this man rebuked him by saying,
“…(invectives used) Tumhari kuch lagti hai kya?
Dimaag kharab na karo mera…chup chaap taadne do fir. (Are you in a relationship
with any of these ladies? Then don’t enrage me and let me ogle at the ladies).”
“What a pest you are brother!” Mr. Srivastava reprimanded as he caught
hold of the miscreant creature. Within a few moments the alarm was sounded and
he was handed over to the security personnel at the following Metro station.
This is one of those incidents
that are encountered often in daily life but go unreported in most of the
cases. Either the fellow passengers are not manly enough like Mr. Srivastava to
get the offenders punished or they are too preoccupied with their own
engagements that they turn a blind eye to such incidents unless they fall prey
themselves.
Categories:
anguish,
common man,
crime,
rape,
sorrow
Posts
0 comments:
Post a Comment