Anindita Bose
Floating across this abyss, one would find nothing but wailing all around. Wailings of relocated dogs, wailings of children, wailings of helpless women, wailings of mute and helpless husbands, wailings of all the women who are hoping that it’s not them the next time. What used to be the winning trophy after the blood drenched 9 months is now barren land full of exploited women and a safe hub for all the exploiters.
What changed in all these years? Our attires changed, our sleeves elongated, our cautiousness in crowded places increased, our curfews after dark decreased, our trust issues in case of strangers were terribly hampered, but what didn’t change were the exploiters themselves. Instead, the way we adjusted our lives to secure ourselves gave them this privilege to think that it’s okay to abuse someone, because that’s the power they hold.
Rape statistics now and rape statistics then, has a prominent difference, one that forces us to think that we as a nation are marching towards the doom.
A lot of people have a hard time understanding what consent means. A lot of people can’t even fathom that forcing their wives to have sex is rape. A lot of people can’t fathom letting their children know about sex education. Why? Because it has the word “sex” in it, so they automatically assume that their child’s innocence will be ruined. What they don’t know is that this same child can rob someone’s innocence someday.
A lot of people can’t fathom that speaking about menstruation is not a taboo. A lot of people can’t fathom that a woman leaving a man out of her own will is okay and ends up punishing them, not caring about the law.
Ironically, what they can fathom is throwing acid at a woman to get their revenge, raping a woman, a child, a boy, because they couldn’t control their urges. Gang-raping a woman because hey, it’s okay, that’s completely fathomable.
Don’t you often think about why such things are normalised in our country? I do too and honestly, I think the root cause of every problem starts in one’s own home. We as a society, as parents, as friends, as siblings are failures because the rapists are someone’s son, friend, or sibling too, and maybe somehow it’s our fault too that we never tried changing the ways they think.
Maybe today we are seeing this day because we forgot to speak out in the past.
Anindita believes that you should procrastinate daily to give your brain a healthy lifestyle.