And so she has passed on, freed from the shattered cage that had become her body for weeks, her soul freed from the tortured mind that had been traumatised by the mental and physical hell that 6 beasts saw fit to subject her to. Let her rest. She deserves at least that much from us. We whom as a civilisation (and I use that term lightly) failed her, our institutions and individual intuitions governed by patriarchal prejudice that dictates that women must behave in a certain fashion to avoid being prey to beasts in the skin of men. Let her rest, sleep, find peace, hopefully in a place free from the eyes of carnivores who see her as fair prey.
But let not her memory sleep with her, let not the emotions which she has conjured, from men and women alike, regardless of physical differences, united by humanity subside. Rage, anger, pity, tears hot and cold, grief, remorse, guilt. Let it fill your being that we have failed her and women like her. Do not let it rest and sleep with her. It is perhaps the last vestige of our shared humanity that we can grieve. Let not that descend into eternal slumber too. More than happiness and love, it is the ability to grieve, to feel pain and mourn for the losses of others that is truly the most human of emotions. Tearing for a woman ravaged thousands of miles away is perhaps the only way we can console ourselves that we remain men and not beasts, evolution of mind matched by a regression of soul.
But as we grieve, let us also think, reflect and muse on the societies that we have built. As I reflect on her plight, I am reminded about the 26 lives consumed by a monstrosity in Sandy Hook Elementary School in Fairfield, Connecticut in the US on the 14th of December 2012, 20 of whom were kindergarten kids, barely 6 or 7 years of age. Lives consumed by a society that refuses to acknowledge that there is a serious problem that stems from the gun rights that we are told is enshrined in the fundamental foundations of the state, the second amendment to be exact. The monstrosity that claimed both the lives of rape and gun violence victims in India and the US are one and the same. States, societies and people who perpetrate beliefs, rights and laws that have long outlived their purposes, who defend rights and beliefs for personal gain and selfish benefits must stand trial in the court of conscience as the true perpetrators of these crimes and are real monstrosity that plagues human civilisation.
The rights that we hold sacred are ones that protect all, especially the weak. The laws and beliefs that dictate societies, culture and traditions are the ones that benefit everyone, and reflect the reality of today not a past that we have forgotten and rewritten as chooses our fancy. Rights, laws and beliefs that have outlived their purpose and have become a cancer, ravaging humanity must be amputated, and discarded as we attempt to regenerate and rebuild.
Far more than any right or belief, there lies the right to live and do so peacefully. The right to send your child to school and work in the knowledge that you will see him or her again in the evening. The right to roam your neighbourhood in the darker hours of the day, because it is YOUR country and you can do so freely because it is YOUR right. The right to sleep peacefully at home when your mother, sister, wife and daughter work the night shift, knowing that they will return home in one piece, not ravaged in mind, body and spirit. The right to live your life in peace and safety is the most fundamental of rights and let us not forget that it is sacrosanct to our peaceful existence.
These incidents are a timely reminder that our shared humanity is our shared responsibility. Let us grieve as we should and as we shed tears, let us also think, reflect and act. Let not their lives have been lost in vain. Rage, rage against the dying of the (our) light.
Pravin Prakash
The Social Swami
The Social Swami 
Rape, Rage and Rights
In Political Commentary, Pravin Prakash, Social Commentary on December 29, 2012 at 5:11 pmAnd so she has passed on, freed from the shattered cage that had become her body for weeks, her soul freed from the tortured mind that had been traumatised by the mental and physical hell that 6 beasts saw fit to subject her to. Let her rest. She deserves at least that much from us. We whom as a civilisation (and I use that term lightly) failed her, our institutions and individual intuitions governed by patriarchal prejudice that dictates that women must behave in a certain fashion to avoid being prey to beasts in the skin of men. Let her rest, sleep, find peace, hopefully in a place free from the eyes of carnivores who see her as fair prey.
But let not her memory sleep with her, let not the emotions which she has conjured, from men and women alike, regardless of physical differences, united by humanity subside. Rage, anger, pity, tears hot and cold, grief, remorse, guilt. Let it fill your being that we have failed her and women like her. Do not let it rest and sleep with her. It is perhaps the last vestige of our shared humanity that we can grieve. Let not that descend into eternal slumber too. More than happiness and love, it is the ability to grieve, to feel pain and mourn for the losses of others that is truly the most human of emotions. Tearing for a woman ravaged thousands of miles away is perhaps the only way we can console ourselves that we remain men and not beasts, evolution of mind matched by a regression of soul.
But as we grieve, let us also think, reflect and muse on the societies that we have built. As I reflect on her plight, I am reminded about the 26 lives consumed by a monstrosity in Sandy Hook Elementary School in Fairfield, Connecticut in the US on the 14th of December 2012, 20 of whom were kindergarten kids, barely 6 or 7 years of age. Lives consumed by a society that refuses to acknowledge that there is a serious problem that stems from the gun rights that we are told is enshrined in the fundamental foundations of the state, the second amendment to be exact. The monstrosity that claimed both the lives of rape and gun violence victims in India and the US are one and the same. States, societies and people who perpetrate beliefs, rights and laws that have long outlived their purposes, who defend rights and beliefs for personal gain and selfish benefits must stand trial in the court of conscience as the true perpetrators of these crimes and are real monstrosity that plagues human civilisation.
The rights that we hold sacred are ones that protect all, especially the weak. The laws and beliefs that dictate societies, culture and traditions are the ones that benefit everyone, and reflect the reality of today not a past that we have forgotten and rewritten as chooses our fancy. Rights, laws and beliefs that have outlived their purpose and have become a cancer, ravaging humanity must be amputated, and discarded as we attempt to regenerate and rebuild.
Far more than any right or belief, there lies the right to live and do so peacefully. The right to send your child to school and work in the knowledge that you will see him or her again in the evening. The right to roam your neighbourhood in the darker hours of the day, because it is YOUR country and you can do so freely because it is YOUR right. The right to sleep peacefully at home when your mother, sister, wife and daughter work the night shift, knowing that they will return home in one piece, not ravaged in mind, body and spirit. The right to live your life in peace and safety is the most fundamental of rights and let us not forget that it is sacrosanct to our peaceful existence.
These incidents are a timely reminder that our shared humanity is our shared responsibility. Let us grieve as we should and as we shed tears, let us also think, reflect and act. Let not their lives have been lost in vain. Rage, rage against the dying of the (our) light.
Pravin Prakash
The Social Swami