Guwahati Molestation Case: Have we lost our Ethics?

"A teenage girl who was returning home after a party at a city bar was pulled by her hair, lifted up, thrown down, beaten up, thrashed, molested, groped, slapped and stripped in full public view for 30 minutes on Monday night at a busy road near the Christian Basti area in Guwahati by a mob of around 20 men."

These are the opening lines of a report of the incident on the CNN IBN website. The verbs used in them surprise, stun, annoy, perplex, irritate and exasperate me more than any other part of speech. This is just one of countless such appalling incidents that have become an undesirable appendage to our (so called) modern society- such heinous instances of breach of morality, display of profanity, insult of humanity and exhibition of insanity.

"The girl had gone to celebrate a friend's birthday... There (at the bar) they had a fight and the management asked them to leave as they were creating a ruckus over there... they came out and some hooligans (20 of them) saw her and tried to take advantage of her..."

What is disturbing is the fact that this incident, this carnage, happened in full public view. As a matter of fact there exists 30 minute footage of the crime that has gone viral over the internet, in the absence of which this could perhaps have drifted into oblivion just like many others. It nauseates me to think of such scum bags who suppose that merely being physically superior to the opposite sex gives them the right to subject them to despoliation. The fact that being blessed with a pair of glands qualifies them to regard women as commodities. It sickens me to even write of them.

But what is further astounding is the fact that there existed not a single person (read 'viewer') who could step-up and object. There was nobody man enough to call the police, let alone take her side and retaliate. Such is the indifference, such is the passivity we have imbued in ourselves. 'If it doesn't affect us, who cares?' No one wants to be a decent man in an (supposedly) indecent time. We have become amazingly adept at turning a blind eye to things that do not concern us but which we very well know, ought not to flourish.

It is this 'chalta hai yaar' attitude that's making us who we are becoming every passing moment- a self concerned, self obsessed, self centered 'narcissist'. From our petty 'settings' with the local Electrical Officer who we bribe to switch our electric meter or our bigger 'negotiations' with the Income Tax Officers who help us skip our dues, we easily become 'used to' discrepancies and start discovering ways to benefit from them. Needless to mention 'kya karen bhai, SYSTEM hi kharab hai' is the speeding ticket cum excuse that is always at our disposal.

"While the Assam Police have identified twelve men, it has only managed to arrest four so far."

Then...
There's the system, so we mock at it.

There's the police, so we bribe it.

There's the law, so we bend it.

We love such 'challenges' for we know the judiciary is a mess and there's always a babu, a neta or a bada admi who has infected the higher levels and who by his mean nepotism will ensure that the countless jails erected out of the tax payer’s money never get to harbor a convict behind the bars. The deaf needs a bang to hear, it’s said and we do wake up from our slumber, search and light our candles, create fancy posters, shout enthusing slogans and march into the streets behind an 'Anna', only to drift into sleep soon enough. Of course we won't be surprised if all the 20 manage to flee, make a few headlines, churn a few blogs and are forgotten (in fact 'forgiven')

We hear of this every day, read of this often, talk about this seldom, but 'do something about this' never. The media is never an asset, only a spectator and at best a rouser. We watch stuff like 'Crime Petrol', 'Dastak', 'Wardat' etc but that's only before we go to bed.

Change is what we always miss.

"You see, their morals, their code, it's a bad joke. Dropped at the first sign of trouble. They're only as good as the world allows them to be...”

... said 'The Joker' referring to the ‘stupid innocent common man’ and perhaps he was right. But we must remember that in this 'real world' both the lurking ‘Devil’ and ‘The Dark Knight’ reside only within us.

It’s the choices we make that make us who we are...

R.I.P Rustam-e-Hind

Classification of 'The HUMAN SPIRIT'

Having ‘studied’ the girls, we thought (on some public demand!), to do the same with the boys! But then we did not want to reveal the best kept male secrets, so we decided to do this- a classification of Homo sapiens in general! And this time we have tried to keep ourselves a touch formal!

So ever considered how many ‘kinds’ of people were really around you? Ever wondered what kind YOU are? Here's the answer!

(Note: The parts in “italics” are excerpts from various songs by EMINEM)

1. The Followers- The first of the kind, the most commonplace and the most numerous of them all, are what we call ‘The Followers’. These are people who learn by learning to ‘follow’ and over time, get acclimatized to the world around them. They are good observers and get to know some ‘working principle’ of their world and learn to thrive in it. They possess a very calculative, observing and manipulative, though certainly not a creative mind. They keep a wisely chosen circle of friends, who may or may not be of their ‘type’. They keep good company. However their ‘learning’ is not ‘exclusive’. They lack insight and do what they are told, advised or instructed. They don’t ‘experiment’ with life and live within their rules and order, rarely broken or violated. Hence, their life-style is a function of the world around them. People who are ‘Followers’, tend to remain so, for a lifetime.

“I just want to be just like you

Blend in with the rest of the room

Maybe just point me to the closest restroom

Unfortunately I am, but I just hide behind the tears of a clown”

“I just wanted to fit in, at every single place I go.

Sometimes I feel like a robot, sometimes I just know not

What I'm doin I just blow."

2. The Passives- The second and the less abundant are ‘The Passives’. These are people weak at both learning and framing their rules. These are folks who haven’t yet figured out a way to be in the world; hence they tend to stumble around. These people are generally content to be a face in the crowd. They have few friends, all of their ‘type’- little hopes, passions, ambitions or dreams. They drag along a seemingly cheerless existence. They take time to settle into groups and tend to stay alone or with guys just like them. They are those who’d live amongst you and yet remain anonymous. Arbitrary, low on IQ, no specific talents, and tend to defy the ‘every child is special’ tagline. Perhaps, the only +ve thing with them is, (unlike the ‘Followers’), they may, in their lifetime transform into ‘Rebels’ or ‘Explorers’, due to some ‘shot in their arm’- a real strong motivation or life experience.

“His palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy

There's vomit on his sweater already, mom's spaghetti

He's nervous, but on the surface he looks calm and ready to drop bombs,

But he keeps on forgetting what he wrote down,

The whole crowd goes so loud,

He opens his mouth, but the words won't come out

He's choking how, everybody's joking now

The clock's run out, time's up over, bloah!”

3. The Explorers- These are perhaps the most interesting of the lot. ‘The Explorers’ are those who always wish to take things one step further. At the outset they tend to look like the person next door. But beautifully conceived within their seemingly ordinary human form is a very playful mind. These are people who radiate energy and cheerfulness, who possess an aura of their own, those who have really wide social circles. They are friends with everybody. They face absolutely no difficulty in settling into new environments. They are the eye-candies on social gatherings, parties and events, adventure seekers who love to push the limits and experiment with life a lot. They’ve peculiar tastes and hobbies. Blessed with an average mind, they’ve no set rules and principles but always meander along life. They’ll seldom be found alone. In fact, they’ll be caught in the most happening of places, often created by them. They are excellent talkers, blessed with a great sense of humor and people love their company. In short, they believe-‘while we live, lets LIVE!’

“Ain't no way I'ma let you stop me from causing mayhem

When I say I'ma do something I do it,

I don't give a damn what you think,

I'm doing this for me, so fuck the world

Feed it beans, it's gassed up, if it thinks it's stopping me

I'ma be what I set out to be, without a doubt undoubtedly”

“So I better lose myself in the music, the moment

I own it; I better never let it go”

“I'm Superman with the wind at his back

I guess I don't know my own strength”

4. The Rebels- These are the ‘revolutionaries’. ‘The Rebels’ are extremely rare. They are very different from their contemporaries. As such, they seem unusual, peculiar and strange but they are extremely gifted and highly talented ‘super-humans’. These are people born either too ahead or far behind their age for they don’t seem to ‘belong’ to their world. Hence, they keep challenging the accepted and acknowledged norms, ways and traditions of the society. Always pressing for a ‘move ahead’, a change they feel is essential, but which may not necessarily be a positive one. They mock at rules, bend them and make their own. They experiment with life but not recklessly as ‘Explorers’ or just for the sake of it, but for a well defined purpose. They are masters of their trades. Experts at professions. They love solitude, introspect, imagine and create. They are on 7 out of 8 occasions born as Rebels. But very seldom someone does transform into one because of a very strong ‘kick’-a motivation. Had it not been for them, human progress would have been decelerated by bounds. Genius as they are, they must control their instincts, for they do possess a tendency to evolve, from assets, into a liability to the society.

“Nobody knows me I'm cold, Walk down this road all alone

It's no one's fault but my own, it’s the path I've chosen to go”

“There's no limit on how far I would go, No boundaries, no lengths.”

"And I'm not afraid (I'm not afraid), to take a stand (to take a stand)

Everybody (everybody), Come take my hand (come take my hand)”

“A lot of people think... That I worship the devil…
That I do all types of... Retarded shit

Look, I can't change the way I think. And I can't change the way I am

But if I offended you? Good. Cause I still don't give a fuck”

5. The Unpredictables- Having classified 95% of the population; we found we’d still left out a small fraction. A class of people who do not hail from any of the above ‘categories’, or perhaps fall into more than one of them in course of their lifetime. These are the ‘Unpredictables’, folks who cannot be grouped, for they are way too erratic. Almost split personalities- changing ways, habits, desires and form. They are both ordinary and special, simple and complicated, intellectuals and morons, magnetic and hideous, content and dissatisfied. An enigmatic mixture of opposites. Too good to be accessed, we say, too bad to be understood, worse to be rated and classified!

“Lately I've been hard to reach; I've been too long on my own

Are you calling me? Are you trying to get through?

Are you reaching out for me?

Fell down and I got right back up”

“But you'd have to walk a thousand miles

In my shoes, just to see, What it's like, to be me

I'll be you, let's trade shoes, Just to see what it'd be like to

Feel your pain, you feel mine, Go inside each other's minds

Just to see what we find”

And to sum up, here’s what we found pitch perfect for the entire youth population.

Cheers!

“Stay strong to the rest of the world, God gave you the shoes

That fit you, so put 'em on and wear 'em

And be yourself, man, be proud of who you are

Even if it sounds corny,

Don't ever let no one tell you, you ain't BEAUTIFUL…”

“You can do anything you set your mind to, man”