"Hang me" says one of the perpetrators of the Delhi gang-rape case. Or so the newspapers tell us. My first reaction was - yes, hang them all, in public and in such a way that they die a very long, slow and painful death. And then hang their corpses in the city square so that passers-by can flog their dead bodies. And then refuse to cremate or bury their corpses anywhere in India. Human rights be damned!
But I think this would be like letting them go easy because once they are dead, they are past all this. So castrate them all instead with the most painful method available - and without any anesthesia. Plaster their photos all over the cities - so that their faces are imprinted on people's minds. Parade them across cities so that people can heap abuse on them. And then put them behind bars where they will be forced to live the rest of their miserable, sorry lives in solitude.
We all should aim to stop the hideous, shameless exhibition of female bodies in movies, magazines and fashion ads - in print, on TV and hoardings. The Censor should not allow songs with provocative banal lyrics. If it takes us to the so-called Dark Ages, so be it. We also need to make more efforts to educate Indian men - perhaps right from childhood - that their gender alone does not make them in any way superior to women. Like charity, this should begin at home, all across India. Mothers, grandmothers and sisters have to do it - even if it means standing up to the men of the family in this patriarchal society of ours.
That said, I am unable to shake off my anger at the stupidity of the victim in question. Didn't she think even once before boarding a private bus at night? This is not Ram-Rajya for heaven's sake.
I wish I could say that women everywhere would have wizened up after this incident. Sadly, that is not true. It was just yesterday that I was waiting at the bus stop when a girl asked me if I was going to a certain destination. When I replied in the negative, she went to a guy standing nearby, he nodded and then both of them left in a rickshaw.
When are we going to learn that personal safety should be given priority over absolutely everything?
But I think this would be like letting them go easy because once they are dead, they are past all this. So castrate them all instead with the most painful method available - and without any anesthesia. Plaster their photos all over the cities - so that their faces are imprinted on people's minds. Parade them across cities so that people can heap abuse on them. And then put them behind bars where they will be forced to live the rest of their miserable, sorry lives in solitude.
We all should aim to stop the hideous, shameless exhibition of female bodies in movies, magazines and fashion ads - in print, on TV and hoardings. The Censor should not allow songs with provocative banal lyrics. If it takes us to the so-called Dark Ages, so be it. We also need to make more efforts to educate Indian men - perhaps right from childhood - that their gender alone does not make them in any way superior to women. Like charity, this should begin at home, all across India. Mothers, grandmothers and sisters have to do it - even if it means standing up to the men of the family in this patriarchal society of ours.
That said, I am unable to shake off my anger at the stupidity of the victim in question. Didn't she think even once before boarding a private bus at night? This is not Ram-Rajya for heaven's sake.
I wish I could say that women everywhere would have wizened up after this incident. Sadly, that is not true. It was just yesterday that I was waiting at the bus stop when a girl asked me if I was going to a certain destination. When I replied in the negative, she went to a guy standing nearby, he nodded and then both of them left in a rickshaw.
When are we going to learn that personal safety should be given priority over absolutely everything?
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