Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Ashamed to be Indian


I like N.R.Narayanamurthy ( Founder of Infosys ) or Murthy as he is called simply because his simplicity shines through in complex situations and he is able to cut through the flim-flam and BS with ease and felicity. Yesterday he told the Indian public at large that he was 'Ashamed to be Indian'. This from a man who probably is an Indian icon for much of the civilized world. He is ashamed for the horrific act of brutality that six or more lumpen elements perpetrated on a young women in a moving bus in our national capital New Delhi. This reminds me of Mahatma Gandhi who said something similar when the Indian sub continent was suffused with hate and vengeance even as the sub continent was being cleaved into two nations in what was a weird and tragic accident. Does Murthy offer a solution? He is humble enough to say that he does not have all the answers for the moment but is just ashamed to be Indian! Contrast this with the lovely Gul Panag ( Bollywood actress), who says that statistics are probably lying and that Delhi is not the Rape capital of India. Does this really matter in the face of the agony that the young women who battle for life faces? The portly Kushboo ( South Indian actress - made famous by a temple being built with her as a Goddess in Tamil Nadu ) goes on to add that all rapists need to be hanged pronto, all the time resembling a Deepavali fire cracker about to explode/implode! Brand Delhi is taking a beating - much to the oblivion of its politicians and Indian society at large is taking a bigger one with our inability to look at women as simple human beings, rather than item girls or pieces of entertainment. As more women enter the workplace, issues of harassment are going to become pieces of contention that will surface with increasing rapidity and regularity, unless there is a fundamental shift in the way that the Indian male thinks.This can only happen at home, where parents teach their young son's that there is an intrinsic equality among all life that needs to be respected and preserved.Subjugating other people is not sustainable over time as history has shown repeatedly.Bullying, harassment and rape are forms of primitive subjugation that has no place in modern society and people who indulge in them need to be aware of the repercussions. Interestingly Should we be ashamed to be Indian? If we are proud to be Indian for many things that this great civilization has thrown up, we ought to be ashamed as well for this horrific act of senseless, drunken brutality perpetrated on a young woman who fought with all her might to defend herself. The only one who probably, needs to be not ashamed of herself at the end of this sordid and rather chilling episode!

2 comments:

Mohan said...

I fully agree with the views expressed in the blog. I also agree that capital punishment should be given to such people.

Mohan

Vishnu Raghavan said...

I wonder if society alone is responsible
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/26/genes-criminal-behavior-linked_n_1234423.html
http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/explainer/2013/03/osama_bin_laden_son_in_law_does_criminality_run_in_families.html

http://www.utdallas.edu/news/2012/1/24-15201_Criminologists-Research-Shows-Genes-Influence-Crim_article-wide.html

for i suspect that this problem may be far too deep and upbringing, while undoubtedly a significant component may not offer a complete solution to this debate

trouble is mention genes and there is a risk of being labelled racist
one may as Professor Tim spector says have to take into account the fact that genes are influenced by the environment- they may also be modified.

bit confused to say the least

heartening that the criminals are being punished

but disappointed that the juvennile gets off lightly


this juvennile despite being underaged could well have been tried as an adult for one does no suddenly realise that he is an adult. its a gradual process and he seemed fully aware that he was doing something horrendous
seems no easy solution in sight but the links to genetics are to show that the case is too deep for a simple solution