Balram Thawani's Raksha "Ban-Dhan"

I don't believe all the men of India or most of them to be my "Brothers", still, I have been conditioned to address them as one by default. It was funny, the AIB video wherein the assaulters back off from harming Kalki when she addresses them as "Bhaiya", painful yet funny. (No?) The bi-annual festivities of India surrounded around the constrained negotiation of protection for a sister in lieu of a brother's long life surely emphasize on the need of the Indian women to be "saved" with such holy bands. In the lands of Durga and Kali (yes, our very own over-used metaphoric examples of strong women, because P.S. people will find errors with all the mortal ones.) we need male heroes to rescue us. Even if it is our 10-year-old younger brother, our parents will guiltlessly tell us to take him along to the bazaar for our protection. 

It was around 3 days back that I read Balram Thawani's case wherein he along with his party members hit and abused a woman ruthlessly who simply came to seek some help on a water issue. Of course, I know about the forced apology which followed when the incident caught the camera but what scares me is that the apology seemed sufficient to many men. "Ab sorry bol toh raha hai haath jod kar, aur kya karey?" (Now that he is saying sorry, what else do you want?) was the answer I received in a circle I believed to be "safe" for discussion. Feeling sorry for the woman and myself, It pained me to ponder about how many such cases would have existed which went unnoticed and didn't quite find the frame in the camera. Impulsively, I wrote to a media house to cover the piece more extensively because I would have preferred action being taken against such a man than a dedicated repetitive series on why I should blindly applaud a few men in power. What followed didn't turn out to be the most pleasant thing-There was a clip in which the woman assaulted was tying a Rakhi (The band of protection) to her assaulter in order to calm the noise. I am not really sure, do the politicians take us as too fickle minded in order to understand a PR stunt? About the woman, at what price could have the settlement been done or forced out of her? 

The MLA made a statement on how he got swayed by emotions, in the same statement he further stated his 22-year-old spotless experience as a badge of his righteousness. Comically, such tokens don't really work for women when they are suspended on baseless grounds of matters of adultery and the like in their organizations. What can possibly drive a Public welfare representative to be swayed by such extreme emotions to physically attack a woman seeking resolution for her problems? and to what extent will male suppression be accepted under the masculine "natural tendencies of aggression"? 

After the "Ban-Dhan" proposed by the man in question, the news has swiped off the media channels, will not be found in the newspapers by the next fortnight and surely have escaped from the lives of the numb busy public. So the next time, when there is a discussion, Don't you dare say that the average Indians are intolerant. They are, very very much tolerant and used-to such occurrences for such succumbing attitude is imbibed within our own homes.

-Narita