A Pledge

Someone at work today asked me where “GoooWaahaati” was? The guy who asked this innocent question was an American citizen who had little inkling about the Indian geography. I told him where the city was and that it was called ‘Guwahati’ and asked him why did he wish to know.

He mentioned reading about the recent case where a mob molested a 16-17 year old in full public view in Guwahati. I could not believe the details until I looked up the news item myself and was shocked at the description and the details available.

Though there are several loopholes and questions in the initial reports that are coming in, the fact that a mob just decided to gather around in a public place and beat a woman up speaks volumes about how ineffective the law and order situation in the city is.

But this is not only a question about an incompetent administration. There are more serious implicit issues that demand immediate attention and questions that need some serious investigation.

- A couple of hoodlums gather around a girl and fearlessly unleash a flurry of slaps and kicks on her and if this was not enough one pervert in that mob decides to use the opportunity to tug at the girl’s shirt and immediately other predators smell blood and within seconds the shirt and the modesty of the girl is left in tatters. The question is has the moral fabric of the society that we are living in become so thin that people have no conscience left and resort to such beastly behavior openly?

- What was the intent of the cameraman who was out on the road and filming the entire sequence as it happened? The video clip that went viral on YouTube and news channels indicates that the mob was actually trying to film the girl on purpose as if they were some sort of moral police bent on bringing about a corrective action on the girl for some wrongdoing. If that is true, what are we coming to – another Taliban? Is it?

- What is or should have been the responsibility of the media on the issue? It seems one person’s tragedy is other person’s bread and butter. A friend has aptly mentioned how we are news generators and news consumers in one of her write-ups (Read HERE) and it is about time we question ourselves do we actually read about these issues for the gravity of the issues or for just the spice of it.

- Another question that I want to ask is to all the people who stood as neutered bystanders. ‘Dhritrashtra’ did not step up to protect a woman’s honor in his court and it led to his entire clan being killed. Are we not putting our future generations at a greater risk by remaining silent and turning a blind eye to all such incidents. To every person who was present on the spot and watching everything that happened on that fateful night, I just want to ask, how will you go home and call yourself a man before you mother, wife or daughter?

- And yes, I would also want to know why the girl, if she is actually a minor as the reports claim to be, was allowed entry into a bar? My views on this are not gender biased and I would have raised the same question for a boy as well. I really want to know if she was drunk and if her parents exactly knew where their daughter was? For all one can say, what if in her inebriated state (that is IF she was drunk) she met with an accident or something. People on social forums and everywhere are talking about the mental torture that she underwent and the scars of the trauma that she would perhaps carry all her life, I agree that she will have a tough time moving on in her life but I also want to question the rising trend of casual drinking in the youngsters and social issues around it.

I can go on asking many more questions, but I guess there are enough people already doing it.

I don’t want to be another voice raising a question, and to whom – the government and the administration, a couple of people on social networking sites or the work group. No, I guess, I shall do better and be the answer.

I am no catalyst for a change, no super man with herculean power or some magician with tricks up my sleeve. I am a common man with average dreams, moderate aspirations and conventional middle class values. I don’t want to be a leader, don’t want to run a public campaign or make people sign some letter to seek support or ask anyone to come join me in lighting candles at India Gate.

But I refuse to be a part of either the unruly mob or a herd of inactive bystanders and in order to see a change and seek a better world, I know a place I can begin. It begins right here with ME and I speak for myself. The only thing that I have is my conscience and I pledge to stand by it.

I pledge, that I shall stand up to any such atrocity, any such injustice and any such misconduct if it happens before my eyes. I pledge that I shall never be a passive by-stander and will raise my voice and fight however I can, even if that means I sustain any physical injury. I pledge to be true to my conscience and die with my head held high.

It’s a simple pledge and I hope to follow it diligently till I breathe my last. Maybe, it’s just a flash of match light in a storm and it won’t necessarily make the world a better place, but I know, in my heart that from this day to the last day of my life – I shall always be able to stand tall and look myself in the eye with a confidence in my heart that I did not live like a parasite on the planet and justified my existence as a human being and a man.