Honour killings! What honour can we claim to uphold in the brutal acts of killing our own loved ones! Today yet another story flashes across our T.V screens that shows the liveless body of a young man thrashed and beaten to death. What anger is this that can snuff a life out without remorse and how much longer will communities hold on to old dictates that have no meaning in today's world. Izzat seems an over used word in India and crimes can be committed to illustrate its implications with very little to stop this trend. Our police force seem ill equipped to handle the systemic problems that caste issues through up on a regular basis and the evil cycle of violence continues on it's rampage.
The perpetuation of violence in these areas of life is a collective fault because most of us hold ideas of belonging that somehow always are tied up with caste and creed, and therefore keep barriers that separate, which hold unstated attitudes of hostility and suspicion. Our politics is also so hinged on caste issues and religious divides that have the undercurrents of volatility and disruptiveness, and this hold us back from a genuine progress that benefits all and not just the Indian elite.
I read stories of Dalits that repeat the same accounts of humiliation and being ostracized, and I just cannot even fathom why any body can feel superior to another person from reasons attributed to position and birth. I am sure I sound naive, but my thinking just cannot comprehend such attitudes and to know that these exist all around me, makes me feel suffocated, vilified and outraged.
The solar eclipse brought a moment that suspended us in darkness. But for me each such horror that spills blood and strips a person of their dignity to self governance and choice, becomes a moment when I am suspended in to such a darkness each day. Curled up on the floor one young man was killed because he chose to be free. What democracy are we talking about?!
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