U.N.T.I.T.L.E.D

I am a tad late on penning my views on the notorious gang-rape at Delhi which occurred on that fateful day, on  December 17th this year. However, better late than never is a policy that I believe in. Also, write-ups about such instances will never run out of value as they are a commonality in our great, diverse nation.

  Disclaimer: This post is written at a time when the author is in a murderously furious state and wants to rid the world of men-actually, men and women, who lack the sensitivity to actually opine that there is a cause for rape and that every man who rapes a woman has a reason to do so.

P.S: While the murderous feeling may prevail for awhile, the stance to rid the world of men will not. It is a temporary phase and is a result of the irritation and angst the author is feeling, with respect to men. While this post might sound a tad sexist, it is definitely not the intention. The post is merely the result of the extreme frustration felt by a 22-year- old towards men, who, despite belonging to the supposedly elite, sophisticated realms of society, act like barbarians.

As a student of a well-known college for women in Nungambakkam, Chennai, I expect certain standards of intelligence from the staff. Well, intelligence, sensitivity, all the same, in this case. A new professor has been appointed for the social ethics course in college and the first class of the semester began with a general discussion on the iniquitous Delhi gang-rape that blemished human kind, earlier this month on the 17th. The professor commenced by saying- “You girls must have heard about the plight of the rape-victim in Delhi. This is not the first time, a woman has fallen prey to crude, rapacious behaviour. Admittedly, she need not have gone for a movie that late at night. However, she did not deserve to be raped. Why do you girls think she was raped? What according to you is the cause for rape?”

Now, call me supercilious, but I firmly believe that social ethics classes in college are nothing more than a charade. They are, according to me, nothing more than weekly- one –hour- sessions where students sit in a classroom and allow themselves mental excursions, under the pretext of discussing issues of social relevance. Needless to say, I rarely pay attention in these classes. I am in a world, quite far away, lost in the expanse of oblivion, savouring the feeling of being blank for awhile, albeit, a short duration. All of a sudden, I was jolted out of my reverie by a question that was voiced loudly and clearly in class – “Women dress provocatively and often, this results in rape. So, what do you girls think was the cause of rape, in the case of the girl who was gang-raped in Delhi?”

My social ethics professor had done the impossible- she had rendered me speechless for over a whole minute. Words failed me as she awaited an answer to what she presumably thought was an intelligent question- what is the reason for rape? I was dumbstruck.

 I’m attuned to men being crass and unfeeling to women. According to many men, in fact, most men I've come across, their wives, women of the house, are not meant for anything more than cooking for them, cleaning the house and basically being domestic. Such men care naught that women too are high achievers and there’s a lot more to them than merely cooking, cleaning and housekeeping. However, what shocked me into speechlessness was the sheer insensitivity of a woman, my professor, towards a member of her sex.

 What can be the cause of rape? The question is devoid of logic. Fundamentally flawed. My professor’s statement was that women are raped because they dress provocatively, in which case, there was no reason for the girl from Delhi to be gang-raped as there is no mention of provocative dressing. It can be thus be established that women who dress provocatively are raped, women who are nude are raped, and women, even if fully-clad, are stripped naked of their honour and raped by animals, just like, in the case of the student from Delhi. She was raped not because she was dressed provocatively. She was raped because she was out at night, enjoying a movie, after a hard day’s work. Seems about right because it clearly reverberates with the resonant sentiments of society’s demons- how can a woman consider having fun? No, rape her and punish for the mere thought. Having fun, after all, is a man’s prerogative.


There is thus only one plausible answer to my professor’s question, for want of a better way of terming it- there is no cause for rape except that it happens as men are aware of their power to strip a woman naked and walk away nonchalantly, as thought nothing of significance happened. A man rapes a woman for no other reason apart from the fact that he knows he has the power to do so. He knows he can. What else would explain why Duryodhana almost raped Draupadi in front of her five valorous, unconquerable husbands 5000 odd years ago, or why his brother Dusshasana tried to strip the Kuru empress naked, in a sabha full of veterans?

An old Sanskrit proverb goes - ''Yatra naryastu pujyante ramante tatra devataha" . It essentially can be translated to mean, ''Where women are worshiped, there the Gods reside''. Now, it is ok if women are not worshipped by men. But it is unpardonable and unacceptable that they are stamped and raped.

Now you know why I am in a murderous state towards men. This scene has been witnessed innumerable times as a reflection of society. As a reflection of how men of today, who are supposedly cultured, sophisticated and well-educated, still think that a woman’s job is within the confines of her kitchen, that a woman dared not walk out on the streets or have fun at night, that a woman should be a reflection of the all-suffering, ever-patient Bharatmata, enduring all the crap men and society throw at her without raising a voice.


Behind the facade of culture, sophistication and learning, is a society that is essentially barbaric. Uncultured. Uncivilised. Krishna, in the Mahabharata, poses a question to Arjuna- if society kept mum while the queen of Indraprastha, Draupadi, was being stripped naked in the middle of her menstrual cycle, how could the society take care of lesser women? This question has been answered perfectly- after all, actions speak louder than words and the gang that raped the girl in Delhi have answered it most effectively. It is of little wonder that many women today are trodden upon by men, or are surrounded by chauvinists who think they have the license to do so because they are sure of the woman remaining silent.

Well, the man who was essentially God was bang-on, 5000 years ago, wasn't he?