Violence: Delhi and Beyond

Last week was tough on all of us. Especially parents of girl child. Delhi Gang-Rape shook us all to the core. We all, for once at least, must have imagined the faces of our girls while mentally narrating this rape incident.

Gruesome acts pierce through our skin and hit our souls. Healing takes time. Parents are vulnerable anyways.

I was no exception. I feared, cringed, sighed. I prayed for power. I prayed for that girl. I prayed for her parents.

This and many such incidents are now our daily feeds of rape, domestic violence, sexual abuse, female foeticide, marital rape or molestation, that happens every hour in some or other part of our country. So many victimised girls we read about. Many of them are abused to death even before they are born. Many women keep suffering under the holy name of marriage. Rarely any girl reports about molestation. There are more faces that news can cover.

To deal, we as a parent do our bit. We educate. We empower. We enforce.

For the sufferer. We feel pity. We pray.

There is probably something more to do.

Few days back in Bareilly (Uttar Pradesh) an 8 year old girl was raped by 11 year old and 17 year old boys. I mentally calculated how it translates to classes they might be studying. I heard myself rephrasing the news “A 2nd standard student was raped by a 5th standard student”. The rephrased news was even tougher for me to digest even though it stated the same fact using different figures. The innocent school going faces came to be, fumbling lines from textbooks, running and giggling in  the school http://artsandhealth.ie/diclofenac/ corridors, munching through the snacks boxes  and the next moment imagining them to be victim of a rape or raping a girl for that matter.

The violence streak in an 11 year old disturbed me for that day, and many days later. I may not quickly judge what forced that kid to indulge into such heinous act, was it because he might have seen his drunkard father abusing his mother, or chacha (uncle) raping his own bhatiji (niece) day after day or even he suffered some molestation from some mama or fua?? ..  but one thing is for sure that these kids are suffering too, the patriarchy and economic disparity of our society. They too are victim. They need help too.

While we talk about stopping violence by avoiding scenarios of girls being victimized, let also consider treating these young mind full of violence.

When the violence is so high in a young brain, I am sure there will be signs and symptoms to figure that out. And there comes our role as a parent. We all need to get educated so see those early symptoms. To identify and hence get them cured.

We don’t need any further Adam Lanza.

While the world is busy in deciding the capital punishment of a rapist, Delhi police are busy thinking newer ways of making Delhi somewhat safe and intellectuals are busy challenging the basic structure of our society, lets also think of ways of reforming the young brains. As parents. As citizens.

Amrita Thavrani is a mother to a two year old daughter. She writes children stories at thestoryhook.blogspot.com. Say hello to her while strolling at the tweet street @TheSeeSawMother.