5 days ago , on Jan 5 I received the saddening news of death of one of juniors whom I know from my architecture college. The pain was not only because of her untimely departure , it was frustrating because she was the victim of a dowry death. Yet another well- educated & financially independent girl was sacrificed at the altar of age- old, outdated & spun out of context social practices of our so called value- based Indian society. Are these our values? I am at a loss even after streching my imagination to limits but I am unable to find a single example in any Veda, Upnishad, Guru Granth Sahib or any religious, pious text which would support such barbarism and cruelty towards a fellow human being.
A perfectly happy, charming & "with twinkle in her eyes" girl who made you smile is lost . Is this "India Shining". Of what use is the economic development and the rising forex reserves and FII's if we still want to live a dual live and hang on to our wrapped principles and social practices.
Is life of a woman so worthless that it is allowed to be lost so easily just because she could not satisfy her in-laws greed. Why do people marry? Is it only a financial transaction, a riskless way of acquiring the consumer goods , money and investments in form of gold ? Have we lost the apathy as human beings? What good has education done to us, to our society? We all have read & written essays umpteem number of times since our school days on dowry, social status of women, child marriage , other social issues , our great Indian society and problems plaguing it. Why do we forget all that we learnt as good students and model responsible citizens when it comes to our daily life.
Does the news of such deaths don't even tug for a second at our consciousness as failed , crippled members of such a system? Why can't we get rid of this monstrous practice which brings only pain, dissatisfaction , causes rifts in families and belittle us as human beings.
No words are enough to console the grieving parents who not only have to bear the loss of their daughter but would also have to run from pillar to post to rightly prove the death of their beloved one as dowry death and fight to prevent the case from being closed as a suicide case.How ironic the victim has to fight to prove he was a victim and the culprit roams scot-free till proven with damning evidence of their crime.
DOES IT LEAVE YOUR SELFWORTH AS AN HUMAN BEING AND INDIAN INTACT ?
TO MY FRIEND........ May your soul rest in peace.
May God give the strength to her family and near &dear ones to face the trying times and bear the loss of their loved one.
2 comments:
i like what you have written here... yes, people still do die and suffer because of dowry...
It is a shame to see that, on one side, we Indians pride to our achievements & developments, yet on the other side, we live a life from the bygone era!!!
In a country, where men bow their heads in front of the Goddess Durga, how can the same look down upon their woman for such ugly and meaningless matters!
Dowry deaths and the killing of the unborn girl fetus are the 2 most important issues which needs to be worked upon.
'The suffering is as long as the sufferer wants' ... its time we take this matter and, educate people. The sooner we do, the better our world around us.
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