A rant, humour me....

It took me a long time to forget the image after I had closed the newspaper; the x-ray image of a female’s face. It was horrific. The bullet had blown off one side of her face. The cheekbone had destroyed the eyes; there was a gaping hole where the teeth should have been, the ones we brush every day. I was aghast, angry, depressed helpless all at the same time. It was pathetic that a well wisher was fighting against time seeking asylum for her in some country to save her life. She didn't want to go back to where she came from, she was mortally terrified. “The perpetrator has been arrested”, the news item claimed further, a sorry attempt at a consolation. She won’t smile, ever.

Few months back, I came across another story where a college girl was attacked by a man who threw a bottle full of acid on her face. Jilted lover, rage, arrested, prison, out. Good. How can a man who loves her do this to her? Are the women just trophies? Are we still cavemen? Or perhaps is it the basic instinct? Are we still hiding behind that defense? “Man is stronger. Male should dominate the female” I don’t know; is it that I’m just naive, meek “unmanly”? Really? Back in my school days, I came to know that some quantity of conc. acid had spilt onto my teacher’s hand in a freak accident.After a few months, I inadvertently caught a glimpse of the burnt hand. I did not have the stomach to look at her hand ever again. That was her hand, this is her face. Anyone who has held a woman’s face would know how reassuring it is just to have the softness of the skin in your hands; the beauty, the love, and this person decides to scar it forever, in a fit of rage. Rage? Madness, maybe. What is wrong with humanity.

I read about this poor girl who had burnt herself unable to bear the ‘treatment’ meted out to her by her “in-laws”. Yes, a case of Dowry, Case registered, culprits absconding. Most of us, including me, turned to the next page, found that page also boring and jumped to the sports or the gossip sections. A girl had died. She was just married. I wince when the water in my bath gets too hot for comfort. I remember posturing over my burn wound which was just the size of a 50 paise coin, this female, probably just as old as me, decided to burn herself. She would have cried, shrieked while she burned. She had decided to die. The searing pain was nothing compared to what she had to endure otherwise. But, one may never know. Maybe, she didn’t want to die once she was in flames; the heat might have been too much to bear, she might have shrieked for help. She died. What is left? The angry, grieving parents, contrite in-laws and a charred body that could’ve been a woman, a beautiful woman, to be loved, treasured. The ridiculousness of this all boiling down to the mute parents, who believed a girl’s place, was rightfully with the husband. She probably swallowed all the poison to avoid bringing them grief. Sad. The so called ‘in-law’, also a female, an icon of avarice, lost all sense of humanity to what end? Do we blame the women now? Older women? The society? Culture? Tradition? Pathetic. It is just beautiful how all this gets swept under the rug tomorrow, in the name of ‘fate’, ‘penance for previous birth’ and other nonsense. The weddings go on, buying grooms and selling brides.

Then, there is domestic abuse, honour killing and I could go on and on. I’m just talking about news in the Indian newspapers here and I should probably stop at that. Every succeeding paragraph seems to increase in its weight and I am already beginning to sound delirious and frustrated.  

Is it wrong to be a woman? Is it wrong to look beautiful? Is it wrong to be feminine? Is it wrong to be compassionate and considerate? I should probably curse all men. But I won’t. Women do indulge men's 'peccadilloes'; women are mothers and mothers in law too. 

A girl loves a guy, no. A girl wants to study more, no. A girl doesn't care for an offspring, OMG NO WTF. A girl drinks, against Indian culture, premarital sex, whore. who is the judge? Who are the jury?

I have exhausted myself writing. I’m going to fetch a bag of popcorn, sit down and watch an old classic where:
a) A woman will be raped by the bad guy.
b) She will hang herself.

Sex? Love? Beauty? NO. We shall tell our kids, God gave them to us. But Rape is OK,even legal, in all probability. In retaliation, She could wield a knife slash his face, kill the guy, maim his face  with acid, burn him alive, shoot him through the face; so many options.No, She won’t, that will be too violent for her and the audience.Being pure,cultured and steeped in traditional values. She dies. After all, what is life without honour? 

Culture, respect, worship, elders, prestige, dowry, entitlement, authority, domination, rape, death.