Why we do not respect women?

Why we do not respect women? ('We' means exclusively Indians)! I do not know about western countries and their attitude towards women, but as far as I know, their culture and law are way too different than ours. I mean a man can sue a woman just because she was dressed inappropriately and he got distracted & hence he rammed his car into lamp-post. At the same time, there are cases where women get away with lot of legal support. So, let me not talk about West.

India is a country where boys are taught not in regular sessions, but sub-consciously that the fairer sex is to be looked upon. I remember my school days when we used to have Devi Pooja etc, my father used to make me sit next to him to recite the sermons & also explain them. The recitals embodied what Goddess Kali is about or Goddess Durga was about or Saraswati the Goddess of Knowledge was about. In all this, it was Goddess after all, a woman. But I used to see my Mother being subjected to scolding or reprimanded often during these poojas for silly mistakes. Like, she might have forgotten to bring one or the other things related to these poojas or since she got up early in the morning, like 4.00 a.m. and must be making all sorts of preparation related to poojas like food, 'naivedyam', flower arrangement, 'chandan-haldi' etc. hence would take a casual break to have coffee, since she must be also fasting. I never saw any of the male members treating the women folklore with respect even though they were bowing to the woman in the Photograph riding a Lion or smashing skulls. This is double standard that is embedded in our DNA. Add to this, if I sob or sulk during my failures in exams or other competitive events or may be I got gurt while playing, I used to be reprimanded with the usual tag all Indian use, "kya ladki jaisa rota hai?", which means a girl is a cry baby & if a boy does so, he is queer. The double standards are so deep rooted that boy is distinguished as an epitome of livelihood as compared to girl, though the sorry fact is there are plenty of women out there taking care of their houses, especially in the economically lower strata. Our maid is still working at the age of 57 & so is her daughter-in-law and daughter in their respective in-laws' places. I am yet to see a drunk old woman who does not care about her family, as it is with lots of lethargic and abusive men.

Saddest part is women are also part to these actions. A mother prefers to have a son more often than a daughter. It is part of the social upbringing. This results into infanticide and if the child survives, the girls goes through molestation, eve-teasing or horrible acts of rapes as we are hearing for the last few days. Add to this the double standard remains to be in tact even with people from the educated and economically well-to-do sectors also creating caricatures of women as objects of desire. Take any advertisement, women are hardly shown as worth respecting. To leave a few, like the one where 4 women get down from a Van to get it out of a puddle and then look down on men around, whereby their confidence is due to some washing detergent or some like about women giving corporate presentations etc. Bearing a few such nuggets, all of the media shows women as objects of desire.

India is absolutely senile. First we don't want girls and now we want them as showpieces. If that ain't done, we need them as our slaves (from a housewife to any one on street).The Delhi Rape case is one of those horrifying events which gives us the chill down our spine. But what do we do once the Media forgets it (like it has already almost, since today is Modi's day)? All of us do the same thing. Boys will get back at bird-watching and gather courage to tease. One who does not have guts for that, will talk to his friends that how he masturbates so many times thinking about some 'chick'. People who are from the slums and socially downtrodden will listen to dirty tunes such as 'Munni badnam', 'Shiela ki jawani' or the new one 'Favicol se chipka de' and gather courage to molest women.

Anyway our movies have only two types of romances for sick India, one the unimagineable Yash or Johar Religion of chocolate laden feeling and the other one where the guy is macho and claims boldly that 'pat thee hai ladki, patane wala chahiye'. These inspire the devils and lead to the same old disgust. Unless a mother (from educated/uneducated homes) does not teach her son to respect his sister, unless a father does not respect the children's mother in front of them too & unless the girl in the house learns this is not how I should be treated, these types of self-deprecating acts will continue.

The only way is to offend the offenders and making new laws (which will be with plenty of loop-holes) will be of no use. Making a law was never  a deterrent to any one. In fact in the prison, these accused will learn more about breaking it than fearing. I urge all the women who read this, to be brave, do not go down just because they are men, when you are being attacked, use your hand/fist straight to his tool which he thinks is the strongest. All you need to be is smart when you are encircled by such goons. Attack them as hard as possible. This won't be called violence and you don't have to be afraid. Head straight to the police station and file complaint stating that you have acted in self-defense.

Mean time, I urge Mothers to respect their daughters but at the same time teach them to be brave. Do not differentiate with sons. The confidence will boost the necessary bravery. Even in such dire situations, the girl will know how to defend herself.

Hope the law makers make this god-forsaken, festival infested & marriage, cricket obsessed savage country a place to live peacefully and bring the heinious criminals to the gallows.