March 03, 2006

A story untold...

Some things make a lasting impression on our minds. This one, more or less, falls into the same genre. It has touched me where it can the most. This isn’t any story to unfold. It is the reality that has never gone unseen or unheard, yet it still remains a story untold. These were the words that seemed too hard to sink in, too unreal to have been spoken by someone about a person whom they would have loved the most. These were the words spoken by a daughter about her father. This justly mirrors the extent of trauma that the daughter and her mother may have faced. I christen it as the worst compliment a father could ever have from his daughter. These were the words that had the ability to strike any human heart.

“You are such a man who upon seeing his wife being burnt alive by his parents, would say that they are just trying to test the quality of the kerosene and have nothing against her.”

She is the daughter and He is the father whom I thought I have known well. Now, I realize that what we see is not what it is. It is something that has not gone unseen or unheard. Still it is a story untold.

Such is the plight of domestic violence in our country. Why is it so that only Asian countries like India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and a few others have high rates of domestic violence? Is there no stoppage to this? India is on the brink of becoming a well-developed nation, but the mind-set of people is not getting any closer to being consummate- in their thoughts, their acts; in almost everything.

Can’t there be an India with better people living in it? We always talk about the progress of our country, the good and bad about her, the system that prevails in her. It’s high time we started talking about her people’s progress- the good and bad about us, the innumerable ways in which we can make ourselves better for us and also for those who live with us. Let’s live life in a better way.

I am not sure I wanted it to end this way, but I hope to have carried it over in the right way.

2 comments:

  1. Kadambini,

    I totally agree with what you had said that domestic violence is looming even in western countries and european countries, but not as much as we have it in India. You may hear about such cases occasionally there, but here at least one household becomes a target everyday. It's so commonly prevalent in our country. The main cause for this, as I feel, is the roots of patriarchy buried deep in our country. It continues because most of the victims, predominantly women, don't come out with their suffering. Instead, they prefer to bear all of it silently. All this tends to encourage it more and more.

    There's only one solution to this. We can't stop the on going domestic violence, but yes, our generation can prevent it from occurring in the future. And, slowly it will disappear with the previous generations.

    For all this to take place, WE (all of us) should change first. WE should change ourselves for the betterment of the country and her people

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  2. evidenza,

    I never denied the fact that most women world over are victims of domestic violence. There are many such cases. But, I just tried to say that these things happen more in asian countries than in western countries as you pointed out that your legal system is quite supportive of the issues against them. But, there are many loop holes in laws that are practised here. Women don't like coming out with their sufferings and this makes it more worse than the actual suffering.

    Yeah, i really want all this to stop not only in India but all over the world. That will be possible only when people (WE) try to stop it.

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