Rape: An act of violence and not sexuality!

1. RAPE
   NOUN
2. The crime, typically committed by a man, of forcing another person to have sexual intercourse with the offender against their will.

Let its true meaning sink into your very core. At first it may seem a very common offence, obviously due to its numerous occurrences maybe even more than we can count. Also, its nature of commonality has made us emotionless to these incidents which can also be termed as a callous attitude. This ‘chalta hai‘ attitude is what gives an easier access to the rapists to continue sexually harassing women again and again because they realize that if at first nobody noticed it, maybe nobody would care the next time as well.

According to National Crime Records Bureau, 24,923 incidents of rape are recorded in India – annually. To be honest, this is just the tip of the iceberg, nobody is even aware of the many cases that go unreported all because a female has to keep in mind the honor of her family while also bearing the brunt of the society who questions her character, even when she is the victim.

Time and again, a rape victim is made to realize that she is no more pure and is treated like an untouchable, dejected from the society as if it was her fault that she was raped. Moreover, on the off-chance that she is open-minded and dresses up nicely, people immediately label her as ‘desperate’ or comment that she was asking for this to happen, like an attention seeker.

Come to think of it, things don’t really affect us till the time we experience it personally, till then we choose to remain silent on a plethora of issues, but do we really need this to happen to our kith and kin to realize the gravity of the situation? Can we handle the pain and the trauma that a rape victim goes through? Can we even for a fraction of second put ourselves in her shoes and see what she goes through and how judgmental our society is? Living in the 21st century wherein our country is steadily developing into a progressive nation and this how backward our mentality is.

One of the recent incidents took place in Gurgaon where a 23-year-old woman travelling in an auto with her child was groped and raped and her child was thrown out of the moving auto, which died on the spot. This just shows that we have lost humanity in order to quench their sexual urges these rapists can surpass any limit and even perform barbaric acts like mutilating the victim so she dare not speak up.

All these issues make it more difficult for a woman in our society to stay safe when people with such horrible mentalities still roam freely in our country. Why is that we impose restrictions on women, attempting to decide how they should dress up or till what time can they stay out.

Why is that we don’t teach the men to change their thinking in such matters and teach them to respect women and value them, not to look at them as an object made to satisfy a man’s sexual desires only?

The time has come that we stand up against this injustice that has rotten our society and give these rapists a taste of their own medicine, for it is the only way could they ever understand the gravity of the crimes they commit.

“To deter rape, punish those who blame women for Rape!”

 

Karan Arora & Srishti Yadav

A true Devotee

The winter was to an end & i had a sudden plan of travelling to Vaishno Devi with one my best friend & his cousin. Vaishno Devi is considered to be one of the holiest pilgrimages of our times. Popular over the world as Moonh Maangi Muradein Poori Karne Wali Mata, which means, the Mother who fulfills whatever her children wishes for. After reaching there, we took a power nap & started walking toward Vaishno Devi, chanting the name of Vaishno Mata. Positive vibes on the mountains gave us the strength that one could walk miles with. We finally reached the Bhawan, did the rituals, the pandits of bhawan gave us all the blessings & we started to walk up the hills towards Bhairon Ghati to complete our pilgrimage. We reached there around 6 in the morning & I was lost in the beauty of mountains. The Ghati was closed for cleaning so we got time to capture the moments, view the sun rise & feel the warmth of it. Then, we stood in the queue of hundreds of people & were done with the sight. It was time to walk down the mountains, heading back to our hotel in Katra & in between I met this man.

He was a weak flesh, a man in his 90’s with a thick glass specs & hearing aid in his ears. He was sitting outside his house with a weighing scale kept on his left & I stopped. I wanted to check my weight so I asked him about the charges & it was Rs 2. I measured my weight & my friend did too, giving him more the amount then the actual. I wanted to talk to him, ask about his life & share some experiences. So, I sat down on the floor next to him & started asking about him name & what he does for his living. He started by giving with heart melting smile, telling his name ‘Ramdayal’, lives in a space which is not even one-fourth of an actual size room, no mattress on which he can sleep. He was telling us his story & there came a point he said something so emotionally which freaked me out. The shopkeepers near to his place try different pranks & tricks to make him depressed. In short, they wanted to kill him & take the space he has. I changed the topic & asked him about his wife & children if they live together or they too left this old man to die. And here again he smiled, said something that melted my heart & left me stunned.

“I have devoted my life to Shri Hanuman (Indian God)”

Yes!! He served Shri Hanuman his whole life. I was left with no words to say & he was smiling. I thought people actually make business out of god but it actually changed my thinking towards it. There are some people alive who still don’t make business of this & serve the god/goddess for their while life. I was about to leave until I noticed one thing: he has given his more space to the statue of Shri Hanuman than what he had to live. I touched his feet, captured that moment with him in my camera, showed him the picture & asked that who is this person & he answered ‘Shri Hanuman’ & we laughed together. I left from there to complete my journey but I will meet him soon in future. Elderly people are meant to be loved not hate.

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FYI – He lives in Charanpath, Katra near Shri Hanuman Mandir.

Karan Arora

A BOOK OF DESTINY

Destiny in my terms is a book which is written on your life and you are reading it every day, no matter the sun is up or the moon. A book of our destiny is fully a combination of joys and sorrows and no one has to power to re-write your book. I too have a book of destiny that led me to a path which I have never imagined. I always wanted to be a businessman like my dad who was a leading industrialist in Meerut, but after my graduation out of nowhere I had a plan to join my friends in Delhi and in evening I was taken to IP University. They got me an admission form but I was not so serious about it and then I gave it a second thought and got selected in a Hotel Management College after clearing a competition exam. It was the happiest moment for my parents. The interviews started in 2^nd year for our training and I got blacklisted from the first interview of my life. The placement department of my college was not at all happy with what I did but I promised them that it will never happen again. The next one was for Taj Hotels and Resort and we were 40 students, I was so confident about it but unfortunately I got late due to Delhi’s insane traffic. Everyone was done with the interview but I was given a golden change to sit with DIHM students. I gave my best and left a trail. After a week later it was time for the results and got tears of happiness after knowing that I was the only one who got selected for Taj Palace. I cracked another interview for Vivanta by Taj in my 3^rd year. The path was beautiful and I was happy with what’s all written in my book of destiny.

There came a turn in my last semester, the future was dependent on that moment and I wanted to be in Taj for the rest of my life but, there was something else written. I got selected at The Grand New Delhi for Front Office and got an opportunity to work in PR and Marketing and I grabbed it. It was something of my interest, on which I can perform well. Holding on to the same position it’s been 6 months working in PR & Marketing. Eager to see what more has been written in my book of destiny.

‘The journey has just began and many miles to go’

 

Karan Arora

A DREAM FOR AN OLD AGE HOME

I always wonder why do children leave their parents and start living separately. The parents who work hard to provide their children every facility they haven’t got. Sometime I feel like building a home for the people who have got no place to live, those who are betrayed by their children, those who got separated by the loved ones. Those elderly people in our society are meant to be loved by you, me and everyone else. Even a thought of leaving my parents at any point of time in my life will be the worst thought ever. I remember when was coming back to Delhi from Goa, after a fabulous vacation with my friends, I met an old man. Wrinkled face with heartwarming smile, I had an hour-long conversation with him about what he does for his living and what is the reason behind the life he is living. It literally made me burst into tears; I actually felt the pain he was in for last many years. His son is an owner of liquor shop in Faridabad and earns well.

‘A poor father of a rich son’

I was so into his life that I didn’t even thought of asking his name. All I am aware of is that he resides in Agra with his wife under a shelter costing 1000 bucks a month and the landlord was the only caretaker, who helps them with some hot water and a bit of ‘Seva’. Uncle sings bhajans in trains for his living, he doesn’t beg and earns around 200 bucks a day with the talent he has. His voice gave me Goosebumps, so heartening, so melodious that one cannot express their feelings through words. No lies, I gave him 30 bucks and food I was carrying with me and yeah he asked for water though. I actually shared his sorrows and made him feel a bit lighter, he cried he smiled, he was actually trying to hide what he had gone through. After that I helped him with his luggage and asked him where he is going right now and got a reply ‘Faridabad, just to see my son’, he smiled at me, he gave me blessings and he walked towards another coach. The only thought which didn’t let me sleep was to build a home for these people where they don’t have to pay a single penny and they can live a good life then to be on streets, walking and having guilt of being left.

I know it’s not an easy job to build a home even for our family but there is a saying; ‘Where there is will, there is a way’. The day I see myself at some good designation with a good salary, I will build a home for the parents who are left alone in this cruel world to die and I want to be the reason for their happy life.

Karan Arora.