But a friend derailed my thought process.
He stated he respected women and the world might have been a better place had women been ruling it.
All was good, until he sought my agreement.
For all my feminist rants, I surprised myself when I replied in the negative.
While he kept prodding me to think of a utopian world and re-imagine a future where women, instead of men, ruled the roost, all my head kept hammering was Error Not Found.
I am surprised at my mental block. Wasn't day dreaming supposed to be easy?
I may have played along had I been living in a country which treated women better. However, given the ground realities in India, scraping through the day and trying to protect one's dignity sound more real than women ruling the world.
And, even if women came to rule, I am not sure we will be better than men. Having had a woman Prime Minister, we will have to agree she wasn't a messiah of non-violence.
I also doubt if our innate desire to nurture will have any impact on world peace. Weren't German women partners in crime during the Holocaust?
What I do know for sure is I suck at beauty queen questions and India is God damn lucky not to have me as a Miss World finalist.
Gang rape is a difficult experience to survive physically and emotionally. There is the exposure to unwanted pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases, vaginal and anal tearing, fistula and vaginal scar tissue. The reproductive system is often irreparably damaged. Victims of gang rape, in particular, have a higher chance of miscarrying a pregnancy. Psychologically, there are any number of effects including PTSD, anxiety, fear, coping with the social stigma, and coping with shame, and on and on. The actual rape ends but the aftermath can be very far reaching and even more devastating than the rape itself. We rarely discuss these things, though. Instead, we are careless. We allow ourselves that rape can be washed away as neatly as it is on TV and in the movies where the trajectory of victimhood is neatly defined.
Let’s talk about rape for a moment. Rape is not what George Lucas did to your childhood. Rape is not what happens when a sports team beats another sports team by a wide margin. Rape is not what happens when your electric bill is higher this month than it was last month. Rape is when a person violates another person in the most despicable, degrading way imaginable and among the myriad of terrible things humans can do to one another, rape is among the worst. I think the casual misappropriation of the concept of rape extending all the way to its widespread comical usage is disgusting even by Internet standards. Off my chest. - Jeffrey Rowland
I think they believe that the more a girl is covered, the world tries to get more inquisitive to know them; however there's no sense to this logic.
When a celebrity who also happens to be a violent misogynist falls from grace, it is rarely the misogyny that draws comment. Last summer, when Mel Gibson finally tossed off one foaming racist diatribe too many, the entire press chose to ignore the context in which that rant was delivered - namely a terrifying outburst directed at his former partner, the mother of his child. Mike Tyson and other known rapists are treated as good ol' boys. They are portrayed as dangerous, exciting junkies who are not only cool enough to take drugs and smack women about but are wealthy enough to pay for it.Time to feel outraged at the right cause ?
I didn't believe much in it. Though somewhere, all along, I knew that there is no smoke without fire, yet, I thought...yaar yeh toh family man hai !
What an actor... always come across as a shy guy...and so on and on went my mind...
Now I am mad at him. Maybe a little more than mad.
Anyway, here is a very hard hitting post by Mrs. Anju Gandhi.
No beating around the bush. Plain Hard Questions.Thoughts all women have, but only a few ask.
Do men like their women to be less intelligent than them?
Just the other day, a friend said, he wouldn't want his lady to know more than he did.
"You see, she should be as sweet and as dumb as Phoebe Buffay!"
Before I could open my mouth, to cover his track, he also said...
"See, tere bhai ke bhi yehi vichaar honge...And am sure most men wouldn't want a partner who knew more than they did...So now don't start your Mahila Mandal Bhashan !"
So.... Really??
Scene : November 16, 09:15 AM, Khalsa College, Matunga
Baap of all exams shall take place here today....
CAT aspirants and Future IIMites are reading up till the last minute...one formula here...one puzzle there...could get them the ticket to the most prestigious institution in the nation.
A few are listening to music while someone is reading a Sidney Sheldon potboiler.
Amidst all the above I spot a Femme Fatale...doing what comes naturally to her....that is -
Touching up on her Lipstick !!!
Yessssss !! Of allll the myriad things one could do before taking CAT - This one seemed the most important and the need of the hour for her...
On close observation, I could also find a hint of an eye liner and blush on.
Phew....I rest my case.
My work requires me to put in long hours. Sometimes these hours
stretch into late nights.
Now this is enough to give my parents sleepless nights and lack of
appetite (Lo..yeh bhi koi baat hui khaana na khaane ki??)
They keep telling me..."Zamana Kharab hai...sambhala kar...Bhai aaye tujhe office se lene??..achha yeh nahi toh kisi dost (read "Guy") ke saath aane ki koshish kar.. (haan ab saare ladke velle baithe hain na??)
Anyway, just the other day, reading one of those gloomy stories about eve-teasing (euphemism intended) my Mom almost got a minor attack! She kept harping about my lack of safety & security. All my attempts to placate her only added fuel to fire...the conversation later took a point of no return where I found myself being blamed for being a careless traveler, an irresponsible girl...a kid who couldn't take care of herself...
Suddenly, her eyes widened.. I knew her mind was up to something...and I felt like smothering the newspaper editor for spoiling my day !!
My mom rushed to the kitchen and came out with a "Potli"...The potli had a "deadly combination" of laal & kaali mirch...
"Tu aajse apne saath yeh leke jaayegi..."
Now this was too much....!
Notwithstanding protests from people who know me...I would like to think of myself as a fairly confident traveler..Not that I hold a Diploma in Judo or have a Dara Singh look alike as my BF... But I have always "Felt" sure about myself while traveling...
"Lekin mamma...." All my protests died in my mouth when I saw her bloodshot eyes... Fearing another round of her emotional outbursts...Idecided to carry the potli... anything to avoid the battle !
That Night was the scariest in the History of my traveling !!
I donned my best "Don't Mess With Me" look and undertook what I can call the longest journey I have ever taken...Throughout the ride back home, my eyes kept finding their way to the rear view mirror...trying to assess what the driver was thinking...
Did he look sleepy? Was he fancying a drink...a smoke maybe?
Would he rather be someplace else than drive? A bar...home maybe?
Home...Family? Did he have one? Kids? A daughter maybe..?
The thought of light chat crept into my mind. I dismissed it immediately not wanting to give away the unease i felt...
I reached out for the magical "potli" in my purse...my dukh ka sahara...Somehow it failed to provide me with any solace. All I wanted at that moment was to be home, tucked in my bed, listening to Himmesh songs (Yes..even Himmesh sounded bliss to my troubled mind then !).
"Agar isne koi bhi battameezi karne ki koshish ki...toh I won't leave him...For his own sake he better behave..!"
After what seemed like ages, I reached home. I muttered a "Thank You" to the driver, he smiled and left.
Finally!Home...Bliss...
Feeling Safe...? Maybe.
Exhausted...? Definitely !
Strange...All these months I had been traveling without any scissor/knife/spray and other such accessories which other regular travelers claim to carry... I had felt no need for them...
Yet today, even after being armed, vigilant and "almost" ready for combat I did not feel comfortable.
My "Saviour" did not make me feel safe or secure...
I had ended up feeling uneasy, suspicious, sceptical, doubtful, jittery and all too aware of my vulnerability.
For all I know, maybe the driver too wanted to be home and tucked away in his cozy bed...
Phew! Is this how most women felt while traveling late? How did they deal with it?
Uff...sleep and exhaustion were taking over and I could not think straight...
However, one question needed to be dealt with immediately...
Should I carry my "Bodyguard" again??
