There’s something about Xmas

As the cheerful red of Santa costumes and cute Santa caps spreads across town..as small, medium, large and extra large sized Christmas trees rise up in houses, malls and corners of town…as the mini twinkle to the maxi flash of stars smile across various streets and roads of the neighbourhood…the inevitable holiday bug bites you…regardless of the truckloads of work piled at work, regardless of the heaps of domestic chores and to-dos mounted at home!

Maybe it’s the fantasy effect of the various feel- good Santa-based Hollywood movies that I have watched since childhood..maybe it’s just the relaxation that engulfs when you know that the hard,  stressed out and burnt out year is coming to a close..maybe it’s simply the effect of years of Christmas holidays that run in your blood…whatever the maybe for it, come Xmas time and you can’t help humming to the jingle bell score and getting sucked into the festivities regardless of your corporate, personal or ‘home’ status!

So this Christmas I too took out the bright red dresses in the closet, the musty Christmas cap and downed the spirit of Xmas in a sumptuous Christmas brunch turned to lunch and finally to evening tea time…breads, cheesy dips, mousse and cakes that definitely brought up my Christmas quotient in leaps and bounds..rounded off with a walk through the gigantic Indian equivalent of ‘European’ look-alike sparkling Xmas trees and decorations of the season!

It is but natural that the political class of this country must poke their noses and stoke the communal fires during any such festivities and Xmas proved no exception to the rule…but that I guess shouldn’t dampen our spirits and lets still scream out Ho Ho Ho and get ready for the burst of cheer for the new year…I am counting and waiting and smiling as I gape at the next milestone called New years Eve!

The Dark Ages

Another cab rider..another girl raped…another investigation…another set of lapses identified…and its ‘déjà vu’ time….yet again and again in this country that is looking up to ‘ache din’!

As time moves on, as generations take over, we are moving into more oppressiveness..more curtailment and more ‘freedoomless’ womanhood in this country. How do I raise a daughter in this dark cloud of insecurity? How do I confidently take up challenges at workplace when my mind is occupied with more fear and more thoughts than ever before? WE have the energy and the clout to deal with the ‘so-called’ sentiment hurting phenomenon..stemming from lewd lyrics..stemming from a painting or two..stemming from a movie shot on some obscure character.. But we cannot find the focus and the need to stem this bloody ‘free for all’ men’s phenomenon!

What is it that drives these perverted men to ogle, tease, molest and rape women, children and infants as they choose? Who has granted them the birthright to freely pass comments on anything in a skirt? What makes them think that a woman who walks out late night or dressed in a garb of her choice is ‘available’ for rape and literally ‘manhandling’?

If we are infested with the large number of savage men that perform these rituals given an opportunity, then a mass scale ‘pesticide’ is our only option…Our laws need to act fast and act with strength..there is no difference between homicide and rape and both should result in death penalty! And for those ‘eve teasers’ and ‘pleasure seeking’ men on the road, in buses and in crowded places, every touch and every comment should be punished…these are the men who get more courageous and finally plunge themselves into more crimes as the opportunity unfolds..! Let the law and the courts provide the basic protection that it is meant to provide – simple legal action for wrongdoing…no rocket science involved here? Each time a man thinks of groping ..he should think twice about the consequences and if we can bring that fear into that man then law has done its job!

And as for the boys who are toddling and crawling in our households today, we should spend our energies in raising them as men who talk about ‘respect’ and not ‘reservation’ for woman! We need a society of men who do not go on a ‘fault finding mission’ each time a crime is committed against women – not identify frivolous causes of rape – length of the skirt, shade of the saree, the place of crime and all things miscellaneous instead simply admit that crime was committed and needs to be punished. And if our houses can bring up sons who believe in the fact that women are just as in need of freedom, growth and opportunities ..that they do not need a whip to ‘domesticate’ them or a ‘cage’ to protect them ..then maybe we have a future!