They smiled when she was born, teary-eyed at the sight of their newborn girl child. Growing up, she made them laugh with her antics, until it was brutally wiped off by a vicious, violent act by men who only saw her as something to amuse themselves with! Nirbhaya …the nation stood up and spoke against her brutal murder, but I wonder how often her parents smile even two years after it happened. This post, however, is not about Nirbhaya.
It’s maybe a little bit about me. I wrote a lot about this incident, raised my voice and generally made myself unbearable. And then I got a mail from a dear
friend, an educated man, a nice man, a decent man, asking me to shut up! He said, “Enough is enough. Stop talking about it constantly! It’s happened! It’s over! Now get on with life!” I wonder how Nirbhaya’s parents are getting on with life without her.
I argued that laws should be more stringent. If proven guilty, men should fear for their lives. A man who has no daughters argued that “Capital punishment is for the rarest of rare crimes, which rape is not!” and how sad is that! I wonder how Nirbhaya’s parents cope with that knowledge!
This post, however, is not about Nirbhaya. This is about all the women who have gone through similar brutality. Some have spoken, and some have not. But each of these women were once little girls who brought smiles to their parents’ faces.
This post is also about my daughter who puts a smile on my face. I had never truly known fear of men until she was born. Today, I am terrified. This is about my son whom I need to bring up to know that girls are to be honoured, respected and loved…loved a lot! Exactly like the way we love him today.
This post is about bringing up our sons responsibly. This is about teaching the right things and hoping they will stay in his mind. And above all, this is about knowing when our boys are going wrong and helping them find the right path again. This is about raising our voices and never letting it happen again.
Today, once again I raise my voice and say, “No! I will not calm down! I will not wait for another smile to be wiped off! Today I will accept responsibility for teaching my son. I will fight for laws to be changed.”
I am fighting for the smiles of the Nirbhayas of the world and all the other little girls out there who make us smile.
Image courtesy: BCCL
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