Esther’s recklessness

Of course, her assaulter deserves to get the harshest punishment, that is a fricking no-brainer. The fact that it will take some more years to get Esther Anuyha justice is what rankles the most. But that’s the way justice is doled out in this country, so we have to live with it. (For those not familiar with the crime story, here’s a link: Click here.

And today I am going to say something similar to what I had said in a column way back in the year 2007, a column for which I was roundly dissed by feminists. (This was in reference to the rape and murder of a Pune techie.) Although the headline I had used at the time was provocative (and I later apologized for it), the essence of my piece I still stand by: Indian men, in general, cannot be trusted, and therefore women travelling alone have to be always on their guard, whether they like it or not. Sure, we need to reform our men, but that could take centuries, even more. In the meantime, women have to take some amount of responsibility for their own safety.

In Esther’s case, it wasn’t wrong to accept a ride if a cool bargain was on offer. Most of us would take it, in any case cabbies and autorick drivers at Kurla station are notorious for thuggery. But when she discovered, outside the station, that the chap had no cab, only a bike ride on offer, under no circumstances should she have accepted the offer. Instead, the young woman  should have screamed out aloud to attract attention, given that the creep was refusing to return her luggage. By choosing to go ahead with the ride, Esther behaved in a reckless manner. As an educated, independent working woman, she ought to have exercised better judgment. Surely she would have read about the Pune techie murder (and the one in Bangalore before that).

 

Once again, yes, the criminal needs to pay, and no, I am NOT blaming the poor victim. But it is equally true that a life could have been saved if the victim had played safe. We don’t live in Utopia, dear feminists. We live in India, a nation packed with frustrated perverts.

Chhota Don

Okay, so the dreaded chhota bhai has been arrested, but I find it funny that certain people believe this will lead to the capture of bada bhai. If chhota had the skills, ideas and the network required to nail bada, he would have done so a long time ago, their enmity is the stuff of legends.    

Rather, it is to save himself from bada bhai that the ageing mafia leader seems to have decided to check into a prison. There’s also the issue of his failing health. In short, the man, when he is deported to India, would serve the nation little purpose. And will become yet another burden on the taxpayer. Best to let him chill in Bali.

Diwali nuisance

Sadly, the SC has allowed the junta to continue to blast bombs on Diwali. Here was an opportunity to kill the noise once and for all, but the esteemed court blew it. I really think the court should have put a stop to sound, while allowing the lights to go on. In this manner people still get to follow ‘tradition’, but without giving heart attacks to fellow citizens. There are various ways to measure the level at which a nation finds itself on the evolutionary scale. Festival celebrations is one such in the Indian context. The fact that we want to continue to blast the peace of the elderly, the ailing, the babies and the pets, tells us we haven’t evolved one bit in all these years.    

Award wapsi

So many creative people are busy returning their awards. I wish to do it too, but there’s a tiny hitch. I had won the columnist of the year award in 2002, the only significant award I have won in my life (not counting the few I won in inter-school sack race competitions). I have lost the plaque. Guess the domestic help chucked it, believing it to be kachrapatti.