random thoughts

I wrote this yesterday morning (16/10/2010). Actually i drafted it in my mobile(not really mine, Nirmal's) and saved it in drafts folder. Now after having got out of that mindset i feel i should share it with you guys. And I gotta tell you I wasn't drunk. I don't drink :D. Now, read on.

The sole purpose for me to live is the responsibility of looking after my parents. I don't find anything else that can be considered as a reason for me to live. This doesn't, in any sense, means that I am going to die, I am not, and I won't kill myself. I don't appreciate people killing themselves much. Taking birth was not our choice so dying should also not be. Is my love a reason for me to live? I don't know. I love her, I really do. Whether she has become a reason for me to live or not is still a perplexing question for me, well she can be a reason or even THE reason.

Isn't it such a pity for a man of 25 years of experience in the hustle and bustle of this world to not know what he really wants from life or what he should become in life? I feel admiration for those who say they want to be x or y in their life, for them half of the work is done. Its not that I believe everyone who says so has found their true interest and passion or like philosophers say 'identified the inner call', only half of them have. Other half is misled by either themselves or the influential surroundings. I know this half is worse than me because they have embarked on a journey in wrong direction and only at the end of the journey they'll know that they have struggled very hard only to end up at wrong destination. For me, I haven't even started my journey. I am moving according to the flow searching for the right pier.

Isn't looking after parents good enough a reason for a person to live? Hasn't it been the sole reason for majority of the population so far to live? On course they’ll have their own partner and kids to look after too. Isn't this a reason for anyone to fight a living for? Why do people get married? Is it for sex alone? Why do people have kids? Is it because it has been so ever since the very beginning of life? I don't know. I don't think many people get married because they really want to but because they really have to. Either the pressure from parents and relatives or the insecure feeling from inside because all of their friends have got married and they all seem to be happy at least outside or because of the thought that they may be known as not worthy enough a person for others to find a husband or wife in them. I find all these reasons equally compelling to make us believe that we should get married and have a so called normal life. But why doesn't anyone do something of such an importance because they really want to, instead of doing it because this is believed to be normal and people have been doing it ever since the beginning. Oh.. One more reason is there. You want someone to look after you once you become old. By becoming old I mean you no longer are capable of doing things, that need to be done to keep you alive, on your own. Many believe becoming old means you no longer have any purpose to live for. Isn’t it the same situation we are in now? Aren’t we all old if that is the case?

It has been said that if you can learn from other people's experience you can conquer heights, the same reason we learn not to touch fire because we know it hurts not necessarily because we have felt the pain touching fire ourselves. In the same line if majority of the population who have spent more than decades here in this world feel their lives have got them nothing they really wanted, why would we take ourselves through the pain to have the same vain feeling, after spending most of our time and energy on good for nothing reasons. I don't know. And I suppose many don't know. Yet people live. That’s the magic of life.

Rape, Suicide and Movies: A Reality Check!

I should say the movie Ravanan is the reason why I am writing this. I could not help but lose myself in thought after watching the movie. One thing really got me hooked, obviously the movie was worth watching and beautiful and all but that is not what I am talking about. There is a character played by Priyamani in the movie, they introduce her character as a strong woman who is protagonist’s sister. A few scenes later she commits suicide after having being gang-raped by Police men. At this point I wondered why the directors or rather script writers decide that a woman should commit suicide once she gets raped, does that really necessary to prove that she is a quintessential woman. Is it all for chastity or virginity the women live for?? May be some script demands that she ought to die but here it was not. Is not his younger sister getting raped a big enough reason for the protagonist to fight against the Police and kidnap commissioner’s wife?? I must say I was disappointed with the way Maniratnam and Suhasini treated the character.

Why is it like rape victims commit suicide in all the Indian movies we watch, well there are a very few exception. But don’t directors have social commitment to make the society better??? We cannot prevent the psychic men from committing rape but we obviously can motivate women to fight against this injustice. I am not asking all the directors to stop making entertainment only movies and turn to social movies which are meant to have an impact on people’s lives, that won’t really help because the mass seldom watch such movies. But I am asking to stop killing the rape victims if it does not really affect the flow of the story. If we keep doing like what we are doing, no doubt that an innocent woman getting raped would not think about anything but suicide, do we really want it that way?? Do we really want them to pay their life only because some antisocial psychic pricks find happiness in this bloody act?? I would rather say we don’t. We ought to do whatever it takes to stop the atrocities like rape from happening but we also need to be prepared for the worst. What if it happens? Should or should not the victim live?? We know how hard it will be for her to come back to a normal life, it may take a few years but I believe a human life is worth the suffering. I don’t know what can we do to bring them back but I really can say we should change our attitude towards the rape victims; they are no material for a tea time laugh for that they have not done anything wrong, they only suffered.

I don’t believe women commit suicide because they believe it’s not worth living if they are sexually assaulted but its more because of the insult they will have to take when this goes public. So we should do whatever it takes to keep them away from public eyes but at the same time we should find ways to prevent women from exploiting this benefit to trap innocent men, because I think if they have nothing to lose a few woman may be willing to file sexual assault complaints to take revenge on men they have personal problem with and also there is the possibility of crooked men taking advantage of this situations for business or personal benefits. All I hope is we will do whatever we can do, without putting too much effort, to make the life easier for everyone. I hope directors will also.