![\"outrage\"](\"https:\/\/wp.patheos.com.S3.amazonaws.com\/blogs\/sites\/356\/2013\/01\/outrage.png\")
<\/a>Lately, we have had a horrendous incident of Rape, which has brought the issue of rape to the fore-front.\u00a0 Now, it seems rapes are happening everywhere and everyday and with every one.\u00a0 Suddenly, women in India seem to be besieged.\u00a0 As if India is nothing but a huge ball of testosterone run wild.<\/p>\nPeople who were talking eloquently about India\u2019s rise as an economic power are now talking about the rapes and how India is completely \u201clawless\u201d.<\/p>\n
It is not as if rapes weren\u2019t happening earlier.\u00a0 Nor were women treated with kid gloves in buses and trains.\u00a0 It isn\u2019t as if gang rapes is a new phenomenon.\u00a0 And, it is not as if rapes weren\u2019t reported either.\u00a0 Everything was there.\u00a0 Our focus wasn\u2019t.<\/p>\n
It is not as if suddenly the wild men of India have dragged our progress down.\u00a0 It is not as if a women executive from Goldman Sachs coming to India will be welcomed by Boardrooms full of hungry wolves.\u00a0 The Economic \u201cwonder\u201d of India is still where it was two weeks back.\u00a0 Our focus isn\u2019t.<\/p>\n
Two Jawans were beheaded recently and suddenly the barbarism of Pakistani Army is being talked about strongly.\u00a0 It is not as if Pakistan has suddenly become a rogue.\u00a0 As if suddenly a devil has descended on Pakistani Army, and the Angels in that organization have suddenly turned malafide.\u00a0 They were as rogue\u2026 as barbaric and as inhuman two weeks back as they are now.\u00a0 Everything just as it is today was there.\u00a0 Our focus wasn\u2019t.<\/p>\n
Learn to be a Nation<\/strong><\/p>\n We have to learn that a Nation of 1.2 bn means a lot \u2026 a LOT of issues.\u00a0 A LOT of fronts on which LOTS of battles have to fought.\u00a0 Everyone in every sphere in every branch of governing and civil as well as military life has to do his\/her days work honestly.\u00a0 Unfortunately, we have become a nation where if someone does actually do a day\u2019s work honestly \u2013 like E. Sreedharan \u2013 becomes a hero.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Because the dude simply completed something that he had started.\u00a0 Just that.\u00a0 Nothing much.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t go up into the sky and bring the stars down.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t make the fastest railway in the world.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t make the longest railway line over a raging sea or ocean.\u00a0 He just started putting a railway line and he completed it in such a way that he actually had proper trains running over them and on time.<\/p>\n Now, everyone was focusing on that, because that was the ONLY thing that bloody worked<\/strong>!!\u00a0 Nothing else works!\u00a0 So that is the \u201cPride of Delhi\u201d!\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Because in that God-damned city only ONE THING WORKS\u2026 and that is the Metro.\u00a0 This metro isn\u2019t the best in the world.. isn\u2019t the longest.. wasn\u2019t the toughest to build.. wasn\u2019t the most different.\u00a0 It is just a simple metro that works!\u00a0 And it is our PRIDE!\u00a0 Such is the level of our vanity!<\/p>\n If our Pride is associated with those few things that work; then aren\u2019t we setting ourselves up for failure at every point?<\/p>\n We didn\u2019t care about women and rapes, because the system to handle that didn\u2019t work.\u00a0 So, we didn\u2019t care as long as my own sister, daughter, mother, or wife wasn\u2019t raped.\u00a0 It was someone else\u2019s so its all good.\u00a0 In fact the newspapers reported rapes NOT because it was a crime that they had to report; but because Rape news was vicariously titillating one and it was almost always accompanied with some half clad women in the next column.<\/p>\n The truth is that Rape was cheap entertainment.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t a crime to be ashamed of as a society.<\/p>\n The economic wonder is also a fragile thing.\u00a0 It is not a permanent or a long term thing.\u00a0 It is going to be very short term if we keep obsessing about every small thing that works without understanding the details behind that.\u00a0 The economic progress will be useful if the country\u2019s resources like Water, Air, Soil etc are being enhanced.\u00a0 But if we are simply earning money by bringing the whole land and other resources down \u2013 as we surely are \u2013 then one wonders if this progress can last more than a little while.<\/p>\n Activists are also like the Government<\/strong><\/p>\n Arundhati Roy is a fiction writer.\u00a0 That is her expertise.\u00a0 But she is everywhere.\u00a0 She can talk about Kashmir.\u00a0 About Nukes.\u00a0 About Dams.\u00a0 About Hinduism.\u00a0 About Society.\u00a0 Whatever is the flavor of the day, she can do Activism for that.\u00a0 If today Pasta had become an issue in India, tomorrow you could see a 4 page article on Pasta and its criminal intent in New Yorker tomorrow.<\/p>\n There is no focus.\u00a0 She needs limelight, Activism happens to be a cool way to do that.<\/p>\n Medha Patkar and other are very similar also.\u00a0 Although to a varying degree.<\/p>\n Now, Dams are an issue.\u00a0 Nukes are an issue.\u00a0 Kashmir is an issue.\u00a0 And simply because India blasted a Nuke does NOT mean that the Dam wasn\u2019t an issue anymore!\u00a0 And just because Kashmir is an issue doesn\u2019t mean that Nukes aren\u2019t an issue.\u00a0 If Nukes is your passion, cute lady, then STICK TO IT DAMN IT!!\u00a0 If Kashmir is your passion, then go stay in Kashmir and GIVE YOUR LIFE FOR THAT CAUSE!<\/p>\n A man was walking on the road and he saw a hot looking lady walking on the other side. He quickly ran upto her and asked \u201cWill you sleep with me for a Million Dollars?\u201d. The lady quickly smiled and said \u201cYES!\u201d, without batting an eyelid. The man asked again \u201cHow about for $100?\u201d. The lady was enraged and shouted \u201cWhat do you think I am? A Prostitute??\u201d Man calmly replied \u201cThat I have already established Sweetheart, now I am just trying to fix your price!\u201d<\/p>\n Activists of today work like Prostitutes.\u00a0 Everyday they have a new issue in their bed, as long as it ensures the constant money supply.\u00a0 And, they aren\u2019t concerned about the issue in its entirety.\u00a0 For example, if someone\u2019s heart beats for the Kashmir issue, one will go into the history of it dispassionately.. and try to see where the seeds of hatred and discord were sown.\u00a0 Why Pakistan is where it is and why India is where it is.\u00a0 Why did the Kashmiri Pandits go away\u2026 what happened to them and who did what.\u00a0 Why are the Muslims in Kashmir where they are.<\/p>\n More importantly, HOW \u2013 now that the water has passed under the bridge \u2013 can we make sure that fairness and justice happens for all.\u00a0 Will it require tough decision.\u00a0 Yes.\u00a0 Will it require creativity.\u00a0 Yes.\u00a0 But ALL that has to be with RESPECT to integrity of India.\u00a0 I am NOT responsible for caressing Pakistan\u2019s ego or helping them come to terms with a difficult world.\u00a0 That is their issue.\u00a0 But, as an activist \u2013 say on Kashmir \u2013 my focus should be how to ensure that the Muslims and Hindus of Kashmir \u2013 first of all LIVE in that land.. and second, live peacefully.\u00a0 If that means folding the UN Plebiscite Agreement and shoving it up Pakistani Army\u2019s ass, then so be it.<\/p>\n But is SOLUTION the focus of these Activists or Outrage?\u00a0 Is Solution the \u201cpot of gold\u201d that they seem to be reaching out to at the end of the rainbow or there own livelihoods?<\/p>\n And, how are they different from the Government?\u00a0 Government also gives some God-Damned Slogan\u2026 and Arundhati Roy also gives slogans.\u00a0 The only difference is that her \u201cslogans\u201d are 4 pages long!!<\/p>\n Solutions and not Outrage<\/strong><\/p>\n Outrage as a start is fine.\u00a0 But Outrage does nothing.\u00a0 It has never solved anything.\u00a0 It will never solve anything either.\u00a0 It makes us feel great \u2013 as to how we took the \u201chigh road\u201d and looked great.\u00a0 What encomiums we gathered on the way.\u00a0 But nothing more.<\/p>\n The Road to Peace in the country are NOT about our egos.\u00a0 The issues are about some ill of the society which is perpetrated by the population that INCLUDES us.\u00a0 Yes.\u00a0 Everyone of us.\u00a0 So we have to come up with Solutions.\u00a0 Comprehensive solutions.\u00a0 Not what looks cool today.\u00a0 Not what will give me enough funding as an activist.\u00a0 But something that will help me do something worthwhile.<\/p>\n Activism and Governance have to have the same character.\u00a0 Because they have the same ideals.\u00a0 Running of the society properly.\u00a0 If the Government screws up, the Activists \u2013 the citizens \u2013 enter that fray to set it right.\u00a0 But in India, Government is not doing its work\u2026 and that we know.\u00a0 But what we don\u2019t realize is that even the Activists aren\u2019t doing their work!!\u00a0 They are merely busy churning up Outrage.\u00a0 Solution is not their aim.\u00a0 That requires talking to, engaging with and learning things and above all devoting lifetimes.\u00a0 Who has that time and commitment.\u00a0 And, the God-damned \u201cEngaging\u201d business doesn\u2019t give you funding!!\u00a0 So, the prostitution of Activism goes on.<\/p>\n We have to remember that we are a nation and we will ALWAYS have multiple fronts and multiple issues on every front.\u00a0 No one issue, no one virtue can be defining for such a vast nation.\u00a0 If it is happening then it is so because we aren\u2019t focused on the work that each one of us is supposed to so.\u00a0 If I, as a policeman.. or as a clerk am doing what I am supposed to do.. then at least that front will be taken care of.\u00a0 Similarly it works for others.\u00a0 But if everyone is focused on either eulogizing the \u201ceconomic wonder\u201d or running down the \u201cRape Culture\u201d \u2013 then neither will we have the Economic Wonder nor a society free of Rape!<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\nRelated articles from External Sources<\/h6>\n
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<\/a>Indian, Pakistani armies to meet over LoC clashes<\/a><\/li>\n<\/a>Pakistanis again fire at Indian positions<\/a><\/li>\n<\/a>India kills second Pakistan soldier in Kashmir<\/a><\/li>\n<\/a>Pakistan summons Indian ambassador over killing of second soldier \u2013 Xinhua<\/a><\/li>\n<\/a>Pakistan lodges protest with India<\/a><\/li>\n<\/a>Pakistani and Indian response to deadly violence in Kashmir shows how much ties have improved<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n