Ye Dilli hai...meri jaan?

Manual to avoid rape? 

The horrifying rape case has once again, brought to surface what people prefer to ignore. The ‘dark’ sides of the world. We do not want to acknowledge that it exists, for it might make our illusion of a perfect world less of a reality. Every time such an incident happens, there are protests and debates and concerns about the safety of an average woman in the city, and as time passes, everyone soon forgets it. Except the victim, and until the next time. And, the next time anything like this happens, the cycle repeats itself, without any meaningful changes taking place. I’m not trying to blame the government or the general citizens of the city here. I myself am a citizen but what am I doing to prevent such incidents from happening in the future? Nothing! Except vent out on my blog. And will this help in any way? I don’t know. Except hope that someday someone reads this and feels what it is like to be a woman in the capital city of India. Is being born a female such a sin that we have to be cautious of our lives daily? Or is working and studying and being out late at night an offence that we must be punished for? Delhi talks of being a metropolitan city with opportunities for anyone from any walk of life. But what good are these opportunities if the basic safety of its citizens and especially women remains an issue? I do not have freedom of expression (fear of being arrested under some IT act prevents me from voicing most opinions now!) ; I cannot be sure about my safety if I am travelling alone in the city. But the girl in the said incident wasn’t travelling alone. So maybe I shouldn’t travel at all, and not voice my opinions as well. I should just sit at home and accept all that is happening; perhaps praying to God that something like this never happens to me or my friends….and that the city that I have grown to love maybe wouldn’t provide me with reasons to hate it every day.