Eye opener?

Initially I dismissed the whole Blank Noise Project(BNP) as another ranting that usually goes on. I dislike militant feminism as much as male chauvinism and categorise them under misguided idealogies. But a second look prompted by a friends suggestion made me go over a few of the things that many wrote. I was horrified to learn about the level of torture that an average women endures in a society in trying to achieve 'equality'.
I always thought the eve teasing belonged more to Bollywood than to real life..for after spending time in NE one cannot but but admire the culture in NE India where the women are treated with much more respect not just in scriptures but in real life. It fills my heart with sadness when I realized that all the incidents of drive by rapes and molestations were not isolated incidents by some drunken perverts but were a sign of a deeper malaise afflicting the society. The society where a the forefathers delcared ages ago that, 'yatra naryastu poojyante ramante tatra devatah' (where women are held in high esteem there gods remain happy). In a country where Mahatma delared true freedom to be the day when a woman could walk freely alone at night, without fear, it hurts to see women being assaulted in broad daylight...and most people watching a spectacle. No one should keep quiet and endure. Agreed there will be scornful looks and people saying behind the back, that they 'asked for it'. More often than not these feeble voices do not dare to challenge the fury of conviction. This is one of the issues where forebearance ceases to be a virtue. Enduring such acts, women insult not only themselves but also all the other people who view such acts with disgust.
What is the solution? I don't think enacting a law would be an effective measure. We do have laws banning female infanticide, dowry etc etc...but how effective is their implementation? We cannot cure a cancer by painkillers. We need more effective treatments. They may not be dramatic, but will have a lasting effect. By calling for enactments of laws etc we are placing the burden of solution on 'others', which history has shown is never effective. To begin with as Gandhiji said, we must be the change we want to see in the world. The women who have suffered may not be able to file cases and punish every offender. However by educating children, talking about the problem more freely and not just on a women's day in internet blogs we can hope for the best. Everyday in schools, in our homes and in our neighbourhood we can raise the awareness. Refuse to talk or be 'friends' with those who tease, just as we would try to avoid those involved in criminal activities. If every mother took care of her sons, if every sister told her brother that she could be at the recieveing end some day... I dont think anyone would even entertain such thoughts. True, it is difficult and many may even call it impractical. But it will be a lasting change precisley because we changed the way the society thinks through our little actions. Think of Amul..it started in a cow shed. Blacks in west fought for their rights and still are..look at how they changed the society's thinking through individual acts of courage and conviction.
Imagine the sitaution after 15 years, if everyone of our generation resolved to stop this in our immediate surroundings... Then the effect is no longer miniscule. May be in a decade we will have kids in the school who will not think it is 'cool' and in the decade after that, Mahatma will be happy to see from heaven that India has finally achieved its freedom.
I shudder when I think what my little sister could be writing in an anonymous blog on a womens day in next few years. But I think that if we can stand up now then may be she will only have to read about BNP somewhere among the forgotten Archives on Internet, just as we read about civil rights movement in our history books.
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