When asked by Barkha Dutt-"Kya aapko lagta hai ki aapko nyay mila hai?",pat comes the reply-"Nyay mila hai lekin mujhe unn policewalon ke chhot jane ka gham hai.Main ladoongi.Chhodoongi nahin."
It's been six years since the Bilkis Bano case came to light for the first time in 2002.The entire nation was shocked to see Inhumanity reaching new heights.14 people of a single family were killed including Bilkis's little daughter,Bilkis herself was raped when she was pregnant at that time.But slowly,we all forgot.Bilkis Bano's case became another heinous crime in that long list which shoot to glory instantly and remain there until next heinous crime comes!
How do we live in this nation where public memory is so short,where the very definition of the word 'Heinous' is changed every minute? How do we justify the rape of a pregnant woman? The killings of 14 members of a single family? The refusal of the police department to register the case? The re-election of same government that was accused of being insensitive to the interests of a certain minority group? How do we justify our very existence in this nation?
The Modi government has accused Bilkis of sensitizing the whole issue.What I ask is,How does a woman sensitize her own rape?
Bilkis Bano has truly become a role model for those many other muslim women who are fighting for their rights.Her Never-Say-Die attitude is an inspiration for all of them.When this case came to limelight for the first time,this woman did not even know how to speak hindi.And now,look at her!
What so many people still don't know is that all those 14 people,men and women alike,were "RAPED" before being killed.And killed,they were,by huge rocks.That when the police buried their bodies,they threw salt on them so that noone could find even their bones.And still,the court said,this wasnt the "rarest of the rare" cases!
A special mention of Bilkis's husband Yaqoob.Move over all those Alpha n Retro males-they are good for nothing! Here is a man,who not only accepts her woman after she was raped,he even fights her battle! He claims that he knows only as much about his wife's rape as the rest of world coz he has never discussed it with her.
This is what I call a Man of Substance!
Today,if Bilkis has moved on from being a mere name to a phenomenon,it's truly because her exceptional courage,determination and not to forget a truly exceptional Husband!
Monday, January 21, 2008
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
The Brave New World of Blogs
Yeah! This was the topic of discussion this week in Barkha Dutt's show "We,The People".
People expressed various opinions on the topic.Some said that blogs have given them the freedom to express their opinions on a global platform and get feedbacks from people.How could we ever forget how blogs helped us get an insight into what was happening in Myanamar and more recently,in Pakistan!
For some it was a means of expressing their long bottled desire of writing something.While earlier,unless you were a really talented writer,you had to wait for a publisher to approve your work and bring it out in the market and then only you could find out what others thought about your work! Now,it's just a matter of few seconds before people can leave in comments in ur blog about your work.
While there were other people who quite did not agree w/ the idea of sharing their personal life with unknown people[me being one of them!]
Some did express concerns about the lack of regulations in a blog.They felt there should have been more safety measures to regulate the blog.Well,I won't be able to elaborate this point coz just then there was a power cut! (My Bihar,ofcourse!)
I feel,for me blogs have been a wonderful means of discovering myself.I started writing blogs when I was into a very difficult phase of my life and blog became an easy medium of venting out all my feelings.
I had always known I could write,but I had no way knowing how good or how bad! Blogging gave me an idea about this! Moreover,I had never known I could ever write a poem in English.But I suddenly found myself trying out new things.
Today,if I believe in the power of my Pen (how cliched!),I owe it to my Blog!
Thank You!
People expressed various opinions on the topic.Some said that blogs have given them the freedom to express their opinions on a global platform and get feedbacks from people.How could we ever forget how blogs helped us get an insight into what was happening in Myanamar and more recently,in Pakistan!
For some it was a means of expressing their long bottled desire of writing something.While earlier,unless you were a really talented writer,you had to wait for a publisher to approve your work and bring it out in the market and then only you could find out what others thought about your work! Now,it's just a matter of few seconds before people can leave in comments in ur blog about your work.
While there were other people who quite did not agree w/ the idea of sharing their personal life with unknown people[me being one of them!]
Some did express concerns about the lack of regulations in a blog.They felt there should have been more safety measures to regulate the blog.Well,I won't be able to elaborate this point coz just then there was a power cut! (My Bihar,ofcourse!)
I feel,for me blogs have been a wonderful means of discovering myself.I started writing blogs when I was into a very difficult phase of my life and blog became an easy medium of venting out all my feelings.
I had always known I could write,but I had no way knowing how good or how bad! Blogging gave me an idea about this! Moreover,I had never known I could ever write a poem in English.But I suddenly found myself trying out new things.
Today,if I believe in the power of my Pen (how cliched!),I owe it to my Blog!
Thank You!
Sunday, January 6, 2008
Down and Under!
The controversies simply never fail to raise our eyebrows when it comes to a cricket series played Down Under! The series between India and Australia has just begun and once again,they are the controversies that are filling up the Sports pages[Front pages,in India’s case!] of newspapers!
It was only the second test match and the Indian team recovered remarkably from that horrific first test to perform,if not better,then atleast at par with the Aussies.But then,you can never trust the Aussies to play fair.Since they had realized that they had no chance of winning by playing fair,they did all that was in their might.From blaming Harbhajan for making racial comments to Ponting playing the umpire on the field by ruling Ganguly out,they did almost everything.
What I fail to understand is that is a nation so obsessed with winning that it has lost its sense of right and wrong? Was making a world record of 16 successive victories in test cricket so important that players forgot the rules as well as the code of conduct?
They say,Bhajji made a racial slur at Symonds by calling him a “big monkey”.I say,what did a certain Aussie umpire do when he referred to the entire Indian team as “you Blacks” and later on clarified that he had said “you blokes”?!And even now,when Hogg has referred to Kumble and Dhoni as "bastards".I suppose,"bastard" is much more offensive than "monkey"?!
12 wrong decisions against a single team in a single test match is not a joke.And still it's not for the first time.I don’t think any cricket fan will ever forget the infamous “shoulder before wicket” decision against Sachin.Well,that decision had also come Australia!
I feel it's about time we refused to let people to take us for granted.And,for the richest Cricket board,it,certainly is not difficult.I do not say that the team should refuse to play the rest of the series.But then,let the team register its protest.Let the team play the series under protest.
It was only the second test match and the Indian team recovered remarkably from that horrific first test to perform,if not better,then atleast at par with the Aussies.But then,you can never trust the Aussies to play fair.Since they had realized that they had no chance of winning by playing fair,they did all that was in their might.From blaming Harbhajan for making racial comments to Ponting playing the umpire on the field by ruling Ganguly out,they did almost everything.
What I fail to understand is that is a nation so obsessed with winning that it has lost its sense of right and wrong? Was making a world record of 16 successive victories in test cricket so important that players forgot the rules as well as the code of conduct?
They say,Bhajji made a racial slur at Symonds by calling him a “big monkey”.I say,what did a certain Aussie umpire do when he referred to the entire Indian team as “you Blacks” and later on clarified that he had said “you blokes”?!And even now,when Hogg has referred to Kumble and Dhoni as "bastards".I suppose,"bastard" is much more offensive than "monkey"?!
12 wrong decisions against a single team in a single test match is not a joke.And still it's not for the first time.I don’t think any cricket fan will ever forget the infamous “shoulder before wicket” decision against Sachin.Well,that decision had also come Australia!
I feel it's about time we refused to let people to take us for granted.And,for the richest Cricket board,it,certainly is not difficult.I do not say that the team should refuse to play the rest of the series.But then,let the team register its protest.Let the team play the series under protest.
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