What a wonderful life – Aruna Shanbaug

[Thank you, DNA India, for mentioning this blog post at this page here] and thank you, Mon, for pointing it out, else I wouldn’t have known!

 

Every time I read this:

‘He (Sohanlal Bhartha Walmiki) choked her with a dog chain and sodomized her. The asphyxiation cut off oxygen supply to her brain resulting in brain stem contusion injury and cervical cord injury apart from leaving her cortically blind‘

..I feel nauseous.

Rape is an indescribable violation of both BODY AND SPIRIT. Being so brutally attacked, and left to die, is living hell.

PLEASE, DO READ THIS VERY STRONG POST. The tears won’t stop. The poor woman was menstruating, so Brute-Rapist-Sohanlal committed anal rape, and left her bleeding to death.

PS: Our esteemed rapist’s name is hardly mentioned by media. So I am taking the liberty of calling him ‘Brute-Rapist-Sohanlal’. Earlier, I had typed ‘Rapist Sohanlal’ but that sounds quite filmy, almost entertainingly trivial even!

A lot has been said about the ‘Brute-Rapist-Sohanlal’ case.

Now why did I choose this title ‘What a wonderful life’ for this post.

This is why:-

(1) Our WONDERFUL Indian culture sweeps ‘rape’ under the carpet. You can steal, punch or even murder someone. But RAPE? Oh no! Now Rape is taboo. We can DO it all the time, but we just DO NOT TALK about it! Praise be to Indian culture!

‘Once Dr. Deshpande decided to conceal the fact of anal rape out of his twisted sense of preventing ‘social rejection’ for the victim and her fiance, there was no going back (Link: Ria’s blog)

The most bizarre part of the story is, however, the accused getting away with a seven-year sentence for robbing and attacking her. Why? Because no one was ready to be the complainant for the sexual assault. Her hymen was intact, so her rape was “unnatural”, which is severely punishable by the law.

But the hospital — already beleaguered following the attack — didn’t want to report an “unnatural offense”, which could lead to further unrest. (Link: blogher.com)

This is exactly why women do not often lodge a complaint about rape. If the rapist has raped her ONCE, our precious MEDIA involuntarily RAPES HER IMAGE MULTI-FOLD. She is left with ‘no face’ to show to society. She and her family are either pitied or scorned. Either way, they become a disgrace.. a black mark!

Indeed, media does help to fuel ANGER against the ‘incident’. But at what cost? The victim is left with no privacy and no respect, while the rapist remains anonymous!

THE ONLY WAY WE CAN CHANGE THIS CULTURE IS IF WE BEGIN TO FOCUS ON THE CULPRIT RATHER THAN THE VICTIM.

Every article that the Internet throws up talks about ‘Aruna being attacked by a subordinate‘. The rapist is a nameless entity. A man, without an identity, name or description. There are no pictures of Brute-Rapist-Sohanlal. There are only those of the victim.

Why are we, as a society protecting our rapists? Why don’t we expose them??!!!

There is only one way forward – Every time media flashes ‘Breaking News’ about a rape, they should bombard us with pictures and history of the RAPIST, not of the poor victim. Instead of interviewing the tear-stricken face of the victim and her shame-faced family, they should focus completely on the inhuman rapist and his family/friends!!

LET US SHAME THE CULPRIT, NOT THE VICTIM!!!

This, should not be ‘Aruna Shanbaug Case’. It should be ‘Sohanlal Brutal Rapist’ case!

(2) Our wonderful society very often seek to explain and justify WHY Sohanlal raped the victim.

Almost every link from the internet has featured this sentence:

‘The man was motivated by intense resentment at being pulled up for his misdemeanours and being ordered about by her.’

and this:

Walmiki was motivated partly by resentment for being ordered about and castigated by Shanbaug

No offence to any authors/websites please. I am MERELY WONDERING, if our SOCIETY SEEK TO JUSTIFY RAPE?

All the articles try to explain WHY Sohanlal raped the victim. It is almost a Cause and Effect scenario. So somewhere, in the darkest recesses of our mind, we are probably trying to ‘UNDERSTAND WHY HE RAPED’.

That, to me, is dangerous. There is NO REASON, NO EXCUSE for a man to rape someone!

(3) Our WONDERFUL judicial system convicted the rapist, of what had been legally proved. Robbery, and ATTEMPTED murder.

Take a look at the justice meted out:

‘He was sentenced to seven years imprisonment for stealing, and another seven years for having tried to harm her fatally. Both sentences were to run concurrently. As he had already spent a year behind bars, six years later, he was a free man. He took up a job as a wardboy in a Delhi hospital.’

(Link: timesofindia.indiatimes.com)

Honestly, what was that all about? Sohanlal was convicted of minor offences, and was awarded two sentences that ran PARALLELY?!

Today, he lives a free man! While Aruna serves a rigorous life sentence!

Wonderful! I have nothing to add.

(4) And lastly, to all our WONDERFUL self-righteous-humanitarians – Why are we jubilant about keeping the poor woman alive?

What are we celebrating? The spirit of life? The wonderful selfless service of the nurses who are keeping her alive? Or is this a tribute to a ‘survivor of rape’?!!

http://www.ndtv.com/video/player/ndtv-special-ndtv-24×7/the-right-to-live-or-die/192954

Wait a minute – In all this, WHERE IS ARUNA???

Read this excerpt from Blogher.com: The author has written to Pinki Virani (the journalist who brought Aruna’s story to light) and received the foll. response:-

‘she (Aruna) does not need food or clothing. the mashed food she is fed, ironically, is what is keeping her alive. her new clothing tends to get stolen. she can’t control the theft because she can neither see, nor speak, nor move from her hospital bed.

all she can do is scream.

this, she does. because it is her last memory — of being sodomised in her workplace, of being strangulated with a dog-chain while being raped.’

Please watch this quick interview with Pinki Virani:

http://www.ndtv.com/video/player/india-decides-9-pm/the-passive-active-euthanasia-debate/192952

She asks a simple question – ‘Would YOU be willing to spend even a moment in Aruna’s shoes?’

The Supreme Court has now legalised PASSIVE EUTHANASIA. So someone in Aruna’s place NEED NOT go through the hell she is still living. A patient’s blood-relations can move for passive euthanasia. That is a minor victory, no doubts. But is it enough, atleast for Aruna?

Life! Wonderful Life!!!

You know what would REALLY BE WONDERFUL?

1- Media HUNTS DOWN Sohanlal, shames him enough to last a couple of lifetimes, and then hands him over to the judiciary!

2- The judiciary re-opens the case, and awards him punishment that is fitting, for his crimes! It is never too late, is it?

It would be wonderful to see Sohanlal hanged in public, on the same day that Aruna might die!!!

3- Going forward, we must jointly expose rapists rather than the victims. Let us stop embarassing the poor victims, and make them feel they are still part of our society, and that it is the rapist who does not belong!!!

What do you think?

Friday Fun – Look what I found! Day 12: Project 365

Guess what I found this morning, as I was de-cluttering? This!!!!!

This timeless, gorgeous piece of music by the once-upon-a-time-gorgeous Lucky Ali!! Click this link to listen to the song on Youtube.

I have many lovely memories associated with this song, and with the tape too, so this picture (supposed to be part of my Project 365), warranted a post on its own 🙂

Warning: Long, boring post ahead!

So, this particular song, ‘O Sanam’ is one of my most favourite EVER! It reminds me of freedom, of being carefree and incredibly stupid. But then, such is the beauty of youth, isn’t it? To do whatever you wish to do, without stopping to weigh the consequences!! And to just be exhilarated about nothing!

The first time I heard this song, was when I had joined the mandatory ‘Higher diploma in software engineering’ course at Aptech. Those were times when parents would be mortified if their child was not taking up a ‘campooter course’! And who were touchingly oblivious to the fact that their children who worked overtime stating ‘combined studies’ were busy generating business for the seedy ‘Valentine’s Day flower-vendors’ on the footpath 😉

Anyway, in the computer Lab (where ‘flirting‘ = ‘switching off a girl’s computer to piss her off!’ (Sigh!!)), a friend was evidently SHOCKED when the gang was discussing this song ‘O Sanam’ and I had no clue what it was!! So I went back home, got the song recorded at the local store. Yeah yeah, those were the days, when we used to jot down the names of ‘supposedly trendy’ songs and get it recorded at the local video store, because that was just way cheaper than buying an audio cassette!!! (And while the recording used to be pretty decent, we were also blessed with hearing the ‘recorder’s’ flowery language/cusses/etc. during the ‘in-between’ gaps between songs :-)) I digress again! So, I finally heard the song!! And, to a romantic like moi, that was a sheer piece of heaven!!!

Once I moved away from home, to do my MBA, my mum sent me money to buy myself a ‘walkman’. I dragged a friend along every seedy street in Pune, to find a good, but not too expensive walkman. And this is what I bought for an exorbitant Rs.1100 🙂 It even had a speaker and recorder (AND it still works, after an entire decade!!) We (my roomie, an extra illegal roomie and I – and when I say ‘illegal’ I only mean, this girl, Miss S, was ALWAYS in our room, despite not actually living there, so my landlady used to stare at her, with evident dislike, every time she came home!! And which we conveniently ignored :-)) have listened to many lovely songs on this walkman, and needless to say, O Sanam was one of them!

And the last (please don’t say ‘Phew!’ :-)) memory is that of roaming the streets of Mumbai, at 1 am, in a cab full of friends, that too at the expense of the company for which I worked 😈 I was working on a project, and when my work got over, a bunch of very close friends arrived, we piled into a Taxi, and simply roamed all around Mumbai.

We went up and down the beach, saw the Hiranandani apartments from afar, and gaped, in awe 🙂 I don’t think any of us even dreamed of owning something like that in our lifetime!!! We were ‘just out of B-school’ and we thought the world of ourselves! And yes, since I was ‘working beyond office hours‘, my noble friends ‘suggested’ I bill the cab fare (which was an enormous Rs.430 :lol:) to the organization, and I very sweetly obliged. I hope none of my ex-colleagues are reading this 😉 And oh yes, I missed telling you, that throughout the drive in the cab, we listened to this tape.

And O Sanam was etched in our memory forever!!

So there, folks. We finally come to the end of the post. Please, do me a favour. Before you shut the computer on my face 😉 do listen to the song. Here:

And, DO SHARE YOUR MEMORIES, with this song, if you would like to 🙂

Love, Lust and Tamizh Cinema

1990: ‘Chennai’ – Old, dull city. Faded tin-like PTC buses plying across dusty roads, passengers hanging out from all doors and windows too, much like grapes spilling out of a basket! Dark-skinned auto-drivers harassing their ‘savaari’ (passenger) for extra money.

Marriage was ‘arranged’ by matching horoscopes and families. And Love signified something forbidden. Passion, lust and seduction – three words used interchangeable, but sadly, all meant something borne out of duty to one’s spouse, or for someone else’s!

Seduction took many forms. Some were naive and delightful, like this:

And marriage meant a mature (beautiful, nevertheless) relationship between two equally serious adults.

Now this song is really old, but still amazes me! http://shankari.wordpress.com/, for putting this on FB 🙂

And one cannot forget this ‘then trendy’ song… (if you can stop laughing at the sensational 🙄 dance moves, that is!)

1992: For a community of people used to Hero Bhagyaraj’s hilarious flirting techniques…

… Perceptions of Love and Lust changed… with the arrival of suave fellow-south-Indian Arvind Swamy!

Suddenly, marriage changed from being a life-threatening-sober-event to something more fun and sexy.

And this innocent young girl’s idea of fun being frolicking about under waterfalls….

took the nation by storm!

Subsequently, ofcourse, we know how Bombay re-defined war, religion and passion among other things.

And suddenly, love was not ‘taboo’ or ‘gross’ any longer!!

This song, from Kalaignan, was as sensational (despite the heroine’s hair-do) as it was melodious. (Thanks, Vimmu & Scorpia, for reminding me).

Over these years, we had a deluge of ‘young’ movies, starring fresh and happy faces. ‘College life’ changed from ‘girls wearing dhavani and oily pig-tails’ to what-was-then-hep outfits 🙂 and Life also meant Fun 🙂

2000: And finally, while one could celebrate Youth and its associated freedom and carelessness, one also realised that beautiful sensual side to love.

This song from Alaipayuthey in particular was both naughty, and sensual. It showed that ‘marriage’ need not mean an always-behave-serious-relationship-of-two-mature-adults. Marriage could also mean ‘friendship’, ‘fun’ and spontaneity :-)

2001 onwards: Now, strangely, my mind goes blank when asked about songs that tingle the romance buds over the last ten years.

What songs redefined love and lust over the last ten years? Do fill in!

And on that happy note, hope you have a very good weekend, filled with sunshine, laughter and romance 😉

EDITED TO ADD:

Current faavvvvvvvvvvouurriiiiiiiiiiitttttttteeeeeeeeee: