I want to be a social pariah. Who wants to be a part of a society where the leaders are corrupt, the protectors steal and justice is nothing but a weapon of revenge. The poor get poorer at the cost of the rich getting richer. Greed has reared its ugly head and lots of money solves all problems. It’s every man for himself. There is no sense of community. The religious hatred that flows through every Indian vein makes society judgmental. This judgment is blind, superficial and enhances the divide on the basis of a beard, attire or surname.
The sixteen-year-old has lost count after eight beers. He then joy-rides his hatchback straight into the divider at 200 kilometers per hour, killing his friend on the spot. An exorbitant amount of money paid to the concerned parties solves that problem and the kid gets away scot-free. The cops are more interested in money than justice.
The twin party-poopers ‘patrol’ the streets on their bike looking to cash-in on a good time. They witness entertainment beyond midnight and bust the place. You’ll have to shell out a minimum of Rs 1000 for the party and at least 4000 for not knowing the local language.
You’ll get beaten up if you don’t know the local language. You’re an outsider even though you’ve lived here all your life. You’re a vital cog in the machine of society and yet you’re not a part of it.
Just like the Muslims. Since all terrorists are Muslims, the inverse is implied. Some think that the religion itself imparts violent knowledge while others base their hate on an isolated incident in their lives. We generalize hastily and that is our problem. Our hate towards them breeds more hate and then you have a situation where the state leader himself condones three full days of heinous riotous violence – the merciless rape of women and the brutal murder of innocent children who haven’t even had the chance to be introduced to the big bad world of ours.
The leaders themselves are corrupt. They are hardened criminals given unimaginable power to abuse. They are the mafia without any principles whatsoever, part of a government that is a joke. To be so devoid of a sense of humour and more sensitive than a drama queen so as to charge a cartoonist with sedition is hilarious. It is a dangerous government where the progress of the country and its people is far from being top priority. The leaders want to keep the public uneducated and backward to ensure majority votes.
In this storm of illiteracy and diffidence of the society, women are disrespected. Their rape is their own fault for attracting many a lecherous eye with their ‘short, skimpy’ clothes. There still is no law in place for marital rape, the dowry system is a phenomenon that exists not only in the rural areas and walking alone on the streets after the sun goes down is a strict no-no in most states.
In this state of living, I want to be the discarded one, the last to be picked in the team. I want to be rendered untouchable where the vices of our system will not want to be associated with me. In this caste system of deadly sins, I want to be an outcast. It will be a prison of my own making, but I will still be free. Because I am answerable to myself.
Kabir's Blog 