THERE COMES A TIME IN EVERY MAN'S LIFE when the sword of conscience swings so close to his soul’s neck that he just has to act so the shadow of that lethal edge vanishes for a while. This blog entry, in essence, is that attempt for me. Starting 2007 with some soul maintenance is my priority so that I can resume living with myself.
It has taken me over a decade to know what I now consider concrete knowledge. The wisdom I have gained has come to me the hard way. This is correct, that is wrong – these definitions have found roots in my psyche after having been there and seen that. The visuals and sounds that have haunted my mind for many years have matured from being amusing slices of inquisitive entertainment to dark reminders of what I see around me. With time, these images have only become murkier and repulsive. The social fabric we boast of being a deserving part of has never looked more shameful.
India ended the year on a shockingly tragic note. While the merry makers were gyrating till their hips collapsed under the influence of overrated alcohol and overpriced adulation of the cliché, parents in Noida, Uttar Pradesh were mourning the deaths of their children. Innocent buds who had not yet blossomed, gruesomely raped, tortured and murdered by a bunch of miserable delinquents. The rage that boils within me as I write these words has no definition as somehow that sword I mentioned about looks at me with an accusing stare. Despite being a stranger, sitting tens of thousands miles away in the security of an upscale lifestyle and a sheltered civilization, I cannot help but get down on my knees and weep in shame. Despite being part of a crowd that can only read such news and move on with its lives, I feel responsible. In spite of not knowing any of those parents, I share their grief. On this first day of the new season, I cry not for them but with them.
The tears that flow from the eyes of my conscience today are not just for the parents who lost their little flowers. They are also for those little faces of joy that never got a chance to experience true bliss of this redundant existence we call life. But more than anyone else, my soul weeps for those immoral excrements of the stench that the evil of the world relentlessly exhumes. Those worthless pieces of human excuse who do not deserve life, but then they do not deserve death either. Nothing the mortal world can now do will ever make this wretched feeling go away. No amount of compensatory facade the administering bodies will now show can ever make some faces smile again. They are lost forever and nothing can make that be the same. I have to live with this shame. I will have to make it a part of me.
Through this merciless suffering I am now beginning to get used to, I pause and wonder what forces are at play for such horrendous episodes to occur. What was going through that individual’s mind when his own soul prompted him to as much as think of doing such a heinous act? What was the trigger?
I look around me and I find a dozen possible leads. What makes these leads even scarier is the fact they are initiated by fellow country men.
The Internet has become a monster that is out of control. With no one policing what goes on, there are a million places where crime breeds. It starts of as a disturbing concept in the minds of an idle individual with no social life, and slowly it turns to greed. The avarice of wanting to fish in more like minded people into the little pool that now boasts of ‘entertainment’ – India style. Soon the pool starts to spread, like wildfire on a scorching day, cracking and forcing itself into everything fresh and alive. Soon the entire fragment is consumed. All that remains is singed morals and carbon souls. These pools contain everything from obscene pornographic material (audio/visual/both) to suggestive literature that is guaranteed to entice the human mind – the male human mind. They contain the latest hip shaking rituals from all around the country to foreign material that shows explicit nudity and shocking attention to detail. The Internet is one large Biology classroom with the reproductive system being taught in a million versions.
What doesn’t help this process is the endless flow of individuals who participate in these features. The speed at which this material finds place on the Internet is mind boggling. If only finding a decent job or a good career was this easy. At such an alarming rate, little wonder that the already frustrated sex component of the average Indian man is fueled further. With free access to these websites dangerous communities of potential sex offenders seems to be on the rise. Some might never do it. Others might attempt something risky and get away. While the rest, attempt it, commit crime and become responsible to the endless chain of innocent lives lost. Combine this domino effect with politics, television, films, and the circle is complete.
Crime is what crime sees. You cannot convince me that the roots of such heinous crimes do not lie in such media. How many tens of thousands of cases of sexual assault gets hidden? How many endless number of ‘taboo bound’ families hush up questionable events in their social circle? One will never know. Censorship, as it were, is a joke in our country.
All I can really say is, as far as the safety of women and children are concerned, India is headed towards the worst. I am not sure where to go from here and I do not know how to stop it from escalating further. For now I am waving past that sword that accuses me of being a mute spectator by putting my shame in words. I do not know how long I can do that.
May the Almighty find a place in His infinite love for the young ones who apparently He needed more than we did.
..ShaKri..
It has taken me over a decade to know what I now consider concrete knowledge. The wisdom I have gained has come to me the hard way. This is correct, that is wrong – these definitions have found roots in my psyche after having been there and seen that. The visuals and sounds that have haunted my mind for many years have matured from being amusing slices of inquisitive entertainment to dark reminders of what I see around me. With time, these images have only become murkier and repulsive. The social fabric we boast of being a deserving part of has never looked more shameful.
India ended the year on a shockingly tragic note. While the merry makers were gyrating till their hips collapsed under the influence of overrated alcohol and overpriced adulation of the cliché, parents in Noida, Uttar Pradesh were mourning the deaths of their children. Innocent buds who had not yet blossomed, gruesomely raped, tortured and murdered by a bunch of miserable delinquents. The rage that boils within me as I write these words has no definition as somehow that sword I mentioned about looks at me with an accusing stare. Despite being a stranger, sitting tens of thousands miles away in the security of an upscale lifestyle and a sheltered civilization, I cannot help but get down on my knees and weep in shame. Despite being part of a crowd that can only read such news and move on with its lives, I feel responsible. In spite of not knowing any of those parents, I share their grief. On this first day of the new season, I cry not for them but with them.
The tears that flow from the eyes of my conscience today are not just for the parents who lost their little flowers. They are also for those little faces of joy that never got a chance to experience true bliss of this redundant existence we call life. But more than anyone else, my soul weeps for those immoral excrements of the stench that the evil of the world relentlessly exhumes. Those worthless pieces of human excuse who do not deserve life, but then they do not deserve death either. Nothing the mortal world can now do will ever make this wretched feeling go away. No amount of compensatory facade the administering bodies will now show can ever make some faces smile again. They are lost forever and nothing can make that be the same. I have to live with this shame. I will have to make it a part of me.
Through this merciless suffering I am now beginning to get used to, I pause and wonder what forces are at play for such horrendous episodes to occur. What was going through that individual’s mind when his own soul prompted him to as much as think of doing such a heinous act? What was the trigger?
I look around me and I find a dozen possible leads. What makes these leads even scarier is the fact they are initiated by fellow country men.
The Internet has become a monster that is out of control. With no one policing what goes on, there are a million places where crime breeds. It starts of as a disturbing concept in the minds of an idle individual with no social life, and slowly it turns to greed. The avarice of wanting to fish in more like minded people into the little pool that now boasts of ‘entertainment’ – India style. Soon the pool starts to spread, like wildfire on a scorching day, cracking and forcing itself into everything fresh and alive. Soon the entire fragment is consumed. All that remains is singed morals and carbon souls. These pools contain everything from obscene pornographic material (audio/visual/both) to suggestive literature that is guaranteed to entice the human mind – the male human mind. They contain the latest hip shaking rituals from all around the country to foreign material that shows explicit nudity and shocking attention to detail. The Internet is one large Biology classroom with the reproductive system being taught in a million versions.
What doesn’t help this process is the endless flow of individuals who participate in these features. The speed at which this material finds place on the Internet is mind boggling. If only finding a decent job or a good career was this easy. At such an alarming rate, little wonder that the already frustrated sex component of the average Indian man is fueled further. With free access to these websites dangerous communities of potential sex offenders seems to be on the rise. Some might never do it. Others might attempt something risky and get away. While the rest, attempt it, commit crime and become responsible to the endless chain of innocent lives lost. Combine this domino effect with politics, television, films, and the circle is complete.
Crime is what crime sees. You cannot convince me that the roots of such heinous crimes do not lie in such media. How many tens of thousands of cases of sexual assault gets hidden? How many endless number of ‘taboo bound’ families hush up questionable events in their social circle? One will never know. Censorship, as it were, is a joke in our country.
All I can really say is, as far as the safety of women and children are concerned, India is headed towards the worst. I am not sure where to go from here and I do not know how to stop it from escalating further. For now I am waving past that sword that accuses me of being a mute spectator by putting my shame in words. I do not know how long I can do that.
May the Almighty find a place in His infinite love for the young ones who apparently He needed more than we did.
..ShaKri..
2 reflections:
I agree with you..But I think money is also involved..These people were smuggling child organs..
Somehow that still doesnt bring an ounce of peace to my struggling start Dheeraj. The impact of media has grown to such an extent that we are losing precious lives like due to no fault of their own, and in turn generating events that have no past or no future. Just a shocking and painfully everlasting present.
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