Are you sure that's rape you're protesting against?

So what's the biggest buzz in India right now about?
All the protests , of course.
The protests which started after a physiotherapy intern was gang raped on a moving bus in India's very own capital just before New Years.

A physiotherapy intern?
Yes.
On a moving bus?
Yes as well.

But how?
What do you mean "but how"? More than 70 people are raped every day in India. You'd think that by now we'd have a fair range of rape locations. On streets , in public toilets , in stationary buses. And it would be no surprise if people were raped on moving buses before as well. In fact , the actual number of people raped in India on a daily basis would be above 700. The massive number of rapes in the underdeveloped parts of the country not only go unnoticed , but also unreported. We should feel incredibly lucky that this one actually made it to the news.

But how could this particular one have not gotten reported anyway? It's got everything media hungry dicks ever wanted. Crime , peculiarity , national shame and a moving bus.

But what would happen if the rapist was a single person? Or performed in a typical "rape" warehouse instead of a moving bus? Or didn't end up with a dead victim? What happens in this country if this rape was like every other 70 rapes happening this very day?

That's right. No one. 

Well..... some people do , but the number is too small to start national protests with.

Wait....you just mentioned that over 70 people get raped every day in your country. Isn't that over 20 thousand people a year?

Well exactly of course! And this is the point that I want to address my viewers with. 

Our government and society are both pretty messed up today. It has been decades since we've got used to reading that small section in the city column about someone or the other getting raped. Yet all the god damn protests are starting just now.

No , no. Don't get me wrong. It's absolutely great that people are protesting. This will finally give us the hope of improving laws and increasing security of individuals against such incidents. But...

Don't you think that the protests are just a bit too fucking late?

I believe that we Indians are neither so innocent and nor so ignorant. All of us are aware of the bazillion rapes taking place all the time but nothing has been done about it until now. Where were all the full fledged protests when other major incidents made it to the front page? Everyone just kept quite and criticized the nation and its laws. And that is precisely what makes me angry.
The protests are a great news , but I wanted to see those protests a long time ago. And for that very reason , these protests will have to bear mine and any other such people who share my views' criticism for being too damn late.

Well the protests are happening anyway. What does it matter if it's late or not? Shouldn't you be happy about the new changes that are going to come up?
Haha , well many people seem to think so. But in my opinion , they fail to see the much bigger picture.
You see , if the country had reacted appropriately before , then we could have had reforms against rape since a long time ago. And all these rapes taking place in the past few years could have been stopped , and possibly , the Delhi incident as well. It pains me that due to the country's lack of response earlier , we haven't been able to save around 10% of rape victims whom we could have otherwise saved.
Thus my criticism speaks , not only for my continued efforts against rape before the Delhi incident , but also on behalf of all those who could have been saved if only the country reacted a bit earlier.
I am indeed immensely happy that the new changes will finally be put into action , but it does matter that it is a bit late to say that there was no harm done.

What's so peculiar about this incident? What about the Delhi rape was so special that it caused all the uproar and protests that you would rather have had earlier?
Yes , this incident displayed certain peculiarity that finally made us think that we are in a sad country indeed.
First of all , how many rapes take place every year in a well developed city like Bangalore?
Quite less compared to the rural areas. The fact that a person was gang raped right in the very capital city of India startled quite a few. We can see this as one of the factors.
The next factor would be that she was not just raped... She was gang raped.
She was overpowered not by one man , but many. This shows us that we are past the stage where we can stay away from certain individuals with ill motives. We now have to stay wary of full groups of people who are in on such crimes.
Next we have the fact that she wasn't a gullible village girl who happened to walk into a trap.
She was an educated girl who came from an educated family. She was a physiological intern and held a certain social status that was reputable among her peers. The country was shocked when they witnessed such barbarianism even among the civilized classes.
Next factor would be the fact that she died later in the hospital. She was grievously injured during her rape attempt and after a few days she was declared dead. Even Google came up with a lamp on their homepage to mourn our loss. This final death of the rape victim stirred rage among a  lot of individuals.
The last factor is one that startled even the laziest of citizens in this country.
She was raped in a moving bus.
This is the immediate cause that started all the protests.
Everyone was startled at the limits that these people went to rape a person. What would happen next? People raped on public buses? People raped in schools? Colleges? The country could not possibly let this crime go unanswered. The moving bus factor initiated this all.

So , what if she was raped somewhere else instead?
Then this rape would most likely go unnoticed just like every other rape happening in the country.
I first heard of the incident while I was working in my school's computer lab. A student working in a computer nearby shouted out that it had come up on the news that a person was just raped on a moving bus. The ensuing whispers were not hard to interpret.
"On a moving bus? Seriously? Wtf?"
"Man , that's insane. What's wrong with our country?"
"Doing that on a moving bus sounds crazy."
No one seemed to care much about any other detail. Everyone seemed intrigued by the idea of something such happening on a moving bus. I am assuming that this same response was reflecting throughout the country.

What is your final conclusion on this whole matter?
I simply think that if the country was appalled only because the victim did not have the luxury of being raped while still , then we are running on poor moral standards.
The protesters cannot honestly say that it is rape that they are protesting against since this is not the first time such an incident has occurred. Unless they had been protesting before all such events occurred , I would aptly give them the title of hypocrites.

Are they sure that they are protesting against rape?
Or are they protesting against the incident in Delhi to be particular?

I have one last question. Who is asking all these questions in italics?
No one really. I simply thought of using a "questionnaire" style of blogging for this post to make it a bit more interesting. It is quite easy to make sure people click on your blog posts. But not as much as making sure that they read it through to the end.

So this is it. This is my entire take on the incident on Delhi. I am sure that many people would think that I am totally wrong in my opinions and would love to disagree. I would simply ask them to address their issue in the comments below. I welcome any form of criticism.

A Philosopher's Tale

This post is part of the "First Few Old Blog Posts" archive.
You could expect a certain lack of coherency/maturity from these posts.

Forgive me for being blatantly outright at the beginning but I must tell you that I believe I have endured more pain in my past than I would have thought possible. Pain that would leave scars which delude time ; memories that jump out of the blue to haunt what is left ; scrabbling to devour the last scraps of sanity left to feed the pain.
And what must one do then to go on?
Going on is a simple matter , don't mistake me. But what reply could you possibly have when you ask yourself "Why the fuck should you?"
Every action has a cause , every crime has a motive and at the end of the day , so does every life.

I wake up everyday not to the fresh morning air , but to the stark burden of reality. How many times I have found myself walking outside and realizing that it's really happening. I'm out there among everyone else. That this isn't some vivid dream or a thought turned into an image. Almost every step taken reminds me of a memory that I've long wanted to forget. But memories never do that , do they? At one point this crescendo of assaulting flashbacks traumatizes you so much that you push yourself to go sleep. Sleep ; where none of these evils can touch you. And then finally you realize that you've slept for almost the entire day. And every principle that you've built to utilize time productively has been thrown out of the window.

The key to my will propelling me forward is Philosophy. When you take away philosophy from me , is when I will find no difficulty in tying the noose again. But why philosophy? Because it is the only thing that adds a little meaning to a person's existence on earth. We buy coffee powder to make coffee. And that is the sole reason why coffee is powdered. If some power above is reserving us for a brew , I think we deserve the right to know whether it is tea or coffee.

What is the purpose of our existence?

I don't know. And that is why I cannot stop yet. I see my life as a race between this goal and death. The day someone cracks this final piece in the topology of understanding ourselves is when I will let myself guide my feet , instead of this desire. If I die before this happens then I will only find it sorry that my existence has come to an end without my knowledge consisting of why I ever existed in the first place. Why the universe bothered to instill life only to take it back without granting it this small gratification.

When you are such a philosopher , the meaning of every action changes. You don't see people walking in front of you anymore. What you see is countless unanswered questions instead. You question every event and every action until finally , you strip all meaning from the object itself and and you shrug , knowing that that cannot be correct , and so you start again , hoping to accommodate a better answer next time. And every theory thus formed gives you satisfaction as you inch one step further to reaching that last goal. The thought process of such a person is pitiful indeed. His sole motive being comprehension , he ends up questioning questions , theorizing on theories and searching to search. And even then , when he gets back up , you can clearly see the frustration on his face at having come nowhere close to the final piece.

He knows that he has been given life and whether he likes it or not , he must utilize this to the maximum by doing every act of good and standing by it. Take off your coat and give it someone in the cold. Is it so hard? Is it really so hard to oppose wrong and stand by it though it may compromise your position? He sees it as a duty , as a right when he was brought to life. But to what extent does his sense of judging what is right extend to? He knows this judgement is limited and so tries to expand it in every way possible by Philosophy. Do right , but first know what is right.

So what is Philosophy after all? What is this stupid thing that makes me live?
As Wikipedia says it , Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with reality, existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Problems approached by philosophy are done logically by applying reason , facts and evidence. Contrary to the stereotype that there can be infinite philosophies that can go against one and still appear rational , when two philosophies go against each other , one (or both) is usually wrong. Wordplay does not mask reason. By carefully approaching both philosophies , one (or both) can be ruled out. If not , then one (or both) is usually a fake philosophy

Fake philosophies are those which do not involve any form of logic , critical thinking , reason or some sort of relevant evidence in it's construction. I have the found the most reliable source of fake philosophies commonly as captions in Facebook profile pictures (those yolo swag fag types). You can't simply throw in some fancy words and expect your statement to be philosophically accurate. Again , a philosopher will always accept being proven wrong. He will be more interested in correcting his faulty statement rather than sadly brood over being wrong.

A problem that I face as a philosopher is that it is extremely hard to convert experiences into words. This problem is very common since most philosophies originate from certain experiences. We deliberately walk in the dark , trying to figure out why people are afraid of it. And then if we finally do strike upon some sort of meaning , we find it hard to convey this feeling of elation into words. Trying to see everything in a different light , that is our curse. You take a walk in the streets. Humans turn into storehouses of information. Buses turn into means for these piles of information to save energy and money. Money turn into  pieces of paper that has this strange power to get you what you need.

I envy those who do not need to understand more to move along in life. They say "who cares?" to every small question. It only fascinates me how they do so. I am not saying that such people are wrong , or ignorant or stupid. They are a different type of human. A type that will probably lead a more satisfied life. I call such people realists. They do not explore the intimidating limit of imagination. They don't like to guess as much as they like to prove. If only I had their mindset to console me , it would save me from this eternal frustration of trying to find answers all around.

It is indeed a trying state when you form theories about life every night before you sleep: hoping that life is an experiment in which some scientists threw you into a small virtual world with artificial robots all around pretending to be humans. Hoping that someday , a person will finally come up to you and say what enduring those days and nights finally meant.

I hope this post doesn't appear to be funny , strange or exaggerated because it wasn't written in such a mindset.

Quote : "Fuck you world , I'm alive"

EDIT : I was sorta depressed when I wrote this post. Do not judge me too harshly.
Also , thanks to Adithya for clearing out all the bazillion mistakes in my post. He's awesome.