OK, so I’ve failed. I’ll not shy away from admitting that. I failed in carrying out the “Seven Days of Positivity” experiment. Not only did I not feel positive about everything that occurred in the past few days but I also failed to write about it, which according to me, is like breaking a promise.
So the couple of times that I did feel like writing something here, I thought, “Oh, but how can I write anything without first completing my experiment?” And so things got pushed further and further.
This morning, one comment by a visitor to my blog made all the difference. This stranger left a compliment for one of my posts and I decided that it was time to stop procrastinating. I’ve decided that I’m going to forget about the Seven Days project and just write what comes to my mind. I guess, you could call that ‘positive thinking’, no?
And the one thing that has been going around and around in my mind since this morning was a small news item in today’s Times of India. A young tribal girl in West Bengal was stripped and paraded in her village while men beat drums and caned her and groped her all the way. It turns my stomach even as I write about it. Her “crime” apparently was to fall in love with a boy of another caste. The poor girl was made to walk 8 km – naked! Can you even begin to imagine that! With a horde of men following her, touching her, molesting her and recording it on mobile phones!! What kind of human beings are these? Can we even call them humans? How can any human do this to another human? Who gave them the right to do this? Who gave them the right to decide to ‘punish’ this girl – and for what? For loving someone of a different caste? Seriously?! I really can’t wrap my head around this one. It reminded me of movies like “Pratighaat” and “Lajja” which highlighted similar atrocities against women. It reminded me that what we urban, educated people many times dismiss as “these things don’t really happen” (maybe because we don’t want to believe that we do; it’s too uncomfortable to accept it) does indeed happen.
Apparently, some journalists have contacted the police and demanded action against the perpetrators. I can only hope and pray that some form of justice is granted to the girl – though knowing our judicial system, that sliver of hope is very, very thin. And anyway what could ever compensate her? How do you restore her dignity that has been so brutally violated? How do you even begin to heal her mind, her soul? How do you restore her faith in men? How do you make her a normal young girl again? Can anyone?
So the couple of times that I did feel like writing something here, I thought, “Oh, but how can I write anything without first completing my experiment?” And so things got pushed further and further.
This morning, one comment by a visitor to my blog made all the difference. This stranger left a compliment for one of my posts and I decided that it was time to stop procrastinating. I’ve decided that I’m going to forget about the Seven Days project and just write what comes to my mind. I guess, you could call that ‘positive thinking’, no?
And the one thing that has been going around and around in my mind since this morning was a small news item in today’s Times of India. A young tribal girl in West Bengal was stripped and paraded in her village while men beat drums and caned her and groped her all the way. It turns my stomach even as I write about it. Her “crime” apparently was to fall in love with a boy of another caste. The poor girl was made to walk 8 km – naked! Can you even begin to imagine that! With a horde of men following her, touching her, molesting her and recording it on mobile phones!! What kind of human beings are these? Can we even call them humans? How can any human do this to another human? Who gave them the right to do this? Who gave them the right to decide to ‘punish’ this girl – and for what? For loving someone of a different caste? Seriously?! I really can’t wrap my head around this one. It reminded me of movies like “Pratighaat” and “Lajja” which highlighted similar atrocities against women. It reminded me that what we urban, educated people many times dismiss as “these things don’t really happen” (maybe because we don’t want to believe that we do; it’s too uncomfortable to accept it) does indeed happen.
Apparently, some journalists have contacted the police and demanded action against the perpetrators. I can only hope and pray that some form of justice is granted to the girl – though knowing our judicial system, that sliver of hope is very, very thin. And anyway what could ever compensate her? How do you restore her dignity that has been so brutally violated? How do you even begin to heal her mind, her soul? How do you restore her faith in men? How do you make her a normal young girl again? Can anyone?
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