Vision To Horizon...

Once during a casual talk with my teacher she said, “During my school days, if a girl was seen sitting behind a boy or a man on a bike or scooter people would think that he would be either her brother or father… but in today’s so called modern world if she is with her brother or father she would be taken otherwise..”

It’s been 6 years since she said that and amazingly it is found to be true that our desire to tag women with unsocial titles has become an ever increasing trend among modern men.  Recently, in a very famous case, a famous police officer of Mumbai police raided a bar and arrested two women who were found to be consuming alcohol, and they were claimed to be “Randis”. I feel ashamed of calling myself citizen of a country where constitution provides me Right to Equality.

If we ask ourselves, we would find it true that we have made it more difficult for women and girls to come out of their houses. They are being raped, kidnapped, murdered, teased and assaulted every-day and every-night. Even if women go out with protection (going out with men is typically supposed to safe for women in our country) in form husband, father or brother, what happens with them was correctly told by my chemistry teacher.

It is not intended to claim that women have suddenly become unsafe in India but it cannot be denied that overall respect for women in our country, which is known for respecting women in form of goddesses, have gone down drastically in past one decade. Although, in past ten years Indian women have achieved what has never been achieved by Indian women. Athletes like Dola Banerjee, MC Mary Kom, Deepika Kumari, Sania Mirza, Saina Nehwal and many more (sorry, if I am leaving any athlete unmentioned, there are just too many to be mentioned here) have gone on to show that they are world best athletes. With first ever women President, a woman being speaker, a woman being head of political party which has highest number of seats in parliament, a woman being leader of opposition and women like Indra Nuyi and Nanda Kocher leading major business houses and financial institutions of country, respect for women has gone down. May be, ever dominating Indian men have found new way to maintain their dominance by disrespecting and discrediting women.

Only blaming men for this new trend of disrespecting women won’t be justified. With success, women have come out boldly and many times difference between vulgarity and boldness has been overlooked. It’s hard for a young person to find a television show or a Bollywood movie which he can comfortably watch with his parents. Women, themselves will have to define a line between being free to be chosen and being showcased as vulnerable and “available”. Although, It is not intended to say that new trends in women dressing is reason behind increased crimes against women, there must a demarcation line between being bold and being vulgar at least in public places.

However, India is going through a major cultural change and there can views and counter views about what is correct and what is not but crimes against women like rape, eve teasing cannot be justified on any grounds. We have to be broad minded enough to accept all the changes that are taking place and that are about to come along our way. By the way, they say, “Change is the only permanent thing”.

Ketan Manek

Young man with sparkling dreams in his eyes, an Electronics and Telecommunication graduate, a blogger and a Hindi poet who loves to connect with people and is a big foodie. He will be soon working with Cognizant Technical Solution as Programmer Analyst Trainee.

Contact : ketan.123manek@gmail.com

Read his creations in Hindi at ketanmanek.blogspot.com