Thursday 5 March 2015

Dear Nirbhaya,
This is a letter from a lamenting soul! It is really unfortunate that I realized something significant only after you departed from this hell of a place called earth, Nirbhaya. That I’m living amidst some human beings who say women must be subjugated and kept locked up at houses and Men can walk around freely and do whatever they please. One says women are flowers and Men are thorns. So, we are this and we are that. ‘Are we not human beings at the end of the day?’ I wanted to ask him.
I’m afraid Nirbhaya, I’m living amongst some individuals who have devised some ways of living for themselves (they call it ‘culture’!) only to enforce them down into our throats. Any culture I believed, was to serve the needs of the human beings. From when did we start serving its needs blindly? One could rape and kill women brutally and call it a culture? I bet, vultures have a better culture.  Is getting choked by the closed-mindedness of the people in the name of culture, the fate of every free individual like you and me?
 I feel guilty and shameful to live in a society where a criminal who claims himself to be a man is not guilty despite committing a beastly act. Neither are his friends; nor are his parents. How can I peacefully reside here? I’m suspicious of some teachers who repeatedly tell to their girl students, ‘Behave like a girl!’ I am utterly disappointed of the mothers who fail and have failed to teach their boys how to treat a girl! It is totally ironic to me that both danger and safety come from the same society we live in. It is unworthy to live in a place where fellow human beings- the women who are the co-partners in the human life are treated as sub-humans.
I cannot live in a place where somebody somewhere is waiting to rape one of my sisters and one of my daughters simply because women are considered inferior to men in the so-called culture I belong to. Oh Nirbhaya, this is not the place for me. It is too suffocating to reside here. Please do liberate me from this place as you liberated yourself; for I know death is a better alternative than 'cruelty' in the name of culture; for I know, in a sick society the dead souls stay and the divine souls depart!
With You,
Another Lamenting Soul.


Tuesday 3 March 2015

The Morning Walk and the Random Thoughts!

    March 4, 2015- After two cups of awesome Chai, started an another day!- an another leaf in the chapter of my book of life. Yielding to my temptation I took a few clicks of the morning birds who pecked their grains for breakfast and the Golden-shower tree (the tree with the yellow flowers) who gave a smiling pose to the shivering hands of the amateur photographer. 'Morning is a symbol of hope',remarked my heart-the faculty in-charge of my feelings. 'It is full of life and can provide for renewed thoughts and refreshed actions for a better tomorrow', heart’s explanation followed up. 'Life can be what happens inside vs. what happens outside.’ said my Mind- the faculty in-charge of my thoughts. 'What do you mean?’ asked my Heart seeking for clarification. ‘Yes! Morning comes every day. Birds do what they do every single day and Trees flower each morning. But it all needs a soul to admire and appreciate. Therefore Life is more about what happens inside than what happens outside.’ clarified my mind with its usual dose of philosophy. ‘Doesn't what happens outside stimulate the life inside?’, asked my Heart, a little offended. ‘True that it does. But meaning is manufactured and interpreted from inside without which what happens outside can be so meaningless. You and I are part of an ecology within this mortal body that houses us.’ said my Mind as if it is the creator of this universe. To escape from this escalating argument, I continued walking faster blindly thinking that Life Inside can be hibernated for some time. Thoughtlessness replaced thoughts. As my lungs inhaled some fresh morning air, I decided not to mind my Mind.

So sudden was a sound behind that I understood something unfortunate happened. Two two-wheelers collided with each other and both of them fell on the road. Though mistake was on both sides, the two of them never stopped blaming the others until they parted their ways.