Will you stand with me?

Recently BBC documentary titled "India's Daughter" that focused on "Nirbhaya" gang rape of Jyoti Singh, was in the news because the documentary was banned in India and was pulled from YouTube. If you wish to see the entire documentary, here is the link - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxkMzBqjgw8 and the last para in this article shares some information on the events..

I am not being critical light-heartedly. I love India and Indian culture deeply. However, reality cannot be denied or shoved under the rug and light must be shined on deeply disturbing aspects of Indian culture; the hypocrisy and the patriarchal attitudes against women that make daily living a frustrating grind, for nearly 50% of India's citizens. There are ways in which a woman experiences life in India that a man can never even begin to understand.

Yes, education, elimination of poverty, increasing prosperity etc. may help change the culture a little. But India is one perfect example where education does not change all socially entrenched views. Highly educated Indian boys of wealth and means (including engineers, physicians, surgeons, lawyers, and those quickly climbing the ladder of success, fame, and prosperity), still believe that a different standard exists for them, than girls. Young men engage freely in sexual behaviors, but aspire to marry a "gharelu" (domesticated) young woman.

This is a culture where women in huge numbers experience rape, sexual, physical and emotional abuse, domestic violence, acid attacks, pressure for gender selection and female feticide, elimination from any and all family property etc, despite increasing education. This culture will only change with social education, not just with focus on excelling in math. And real change will come when men take pride in achievements of their daughters, when men take affront in abuse of their sisters, when men experience discomfort when any woman is being harassed or gawked at.

Sharing below a link to my blog and my poem dedicated to Jyoti Singh, the brave woman whose rape and eventual death, pushed this dialog to the forefront.
https://bit.ly/WyY4zf (see information about the occurrence below, under the poem).

I ask you my brothers.........

Maya Angelou calls me a phenomenal woman
I stand tall, side by side, with a man
Yet, I am powerless in face of violence
There, in place of my wit, all I had was silence

When my life turned upside down
In one bus ride across the town
It took six brute men to silence me for the night
When the darkness ended and I saw the light

“I want to live”, I said, fiercely determined
“I want to see the culprits punished”
I may be beaten, lost my intestines
But I have guts, to nail those swines

With or without you, I shall fight
My confidence doesn’t waver, not slight
Though, I am fighting fevers and infections
I haven’t lost my spirit, I’m telling you in my letters

Will you stand with me, for the sake of all our sisters?
Else, evil will infect everything like blisters
I have love in my heart to win the world over
I have anger in my heart to make the Gods cower

I also have forbearance and patience
I have endured for centuries, this nonsense
Now I ask you, my brothers, to speak for me
Against evil, speak on behalf of me, speak with me.

On December 16, 2012, at 9:30 pm, a young woman and her male friend were attacked in a city bus, in Delhi, India. The male friend was beaten, and she was gang raped, and brutally sodomized, and then both were left for dead. Despite loosing her intestines, being on the ventilator, fighting infections, and going through surgeries, this brave woman has not deserted her will to live and her determination to get justice and seeing the culprits punished. She communicated that through letters. The poem above is in honor of her spirit. And for things to change, the men must be as outraged, as women. (Additionally, here is my another poem, previously dedicated to women https://bit.ly/UUQcmN).