independence day..

BASANTI WAITING FOR HER DHANNO..

Independence Day came went away with a whimper except for the fire brand politics of Anna ji and his whipping the public into a frenzy. I  also participated in the protest albeit silently ( switching off the lights) but if someone told  me to go for a candlelight vigil  I would revert back to the cynic I am. Yes there lurks a cynic under this happy persona'.

Basanti, a tribal who had the misfortune of being named after the ever green Hema the darling of the masses who mesmerized everyone in Sholay  is still waiting for her Dhanno. Of course, the means have changed the horse /mare has been replaced by the need of a knight in shining armor  who would deliver her form the life of misery perpetuated by problems which she faces everyday. She is not bothered by the CWG scam or the 2G OR 3G or the fact that air band has been undersold or over sold ( wonder how they sell air?.She is not concerned by the fact that if anyone one has a Swiss account or has made crores in every way possible.

This common frail women just wants what is owed to her, no palatial house, or the newest convertible mercedes or fancy foods to eat.

She just wants two square meals a day , a simple dwelling ( the kind we all drew in the geography class in school) one which shelters her form the vagaries of nature , and something which absolutely defines freedom the right to do anything she wants, to love anyone she wants irrespective of caste, sex without fear of being killed slaughtered mercilessly and then the killers scot-free proudly showing their manly chests. Basanti wants what she is due, she doesn't want to be singled just because she is woman and God gave her a set of breasts which makes her fair game to every redneck's comments. she wants to walk late at night to gaze upon the moon and not be worried that she would be raped thrown maimed just because she took a late night walk.

Basanti wants equal opportunity from the minute she is conceived and not aborted just because of the wrong chromosone and that was not what the mother-in law wanted. She wants the opportunity to be born, to breath the fresh air of the morning, let the sun's first rays bask her , let the dew drops touch her naked feet caressing, rather than being killed and thrown in the gutter just because her father gave her the X chromosone. She wants to study to explore and to test the boundaries of knowledge.

What the Fathers and the founding fathers need to do is when they rise from the slumber in which they are is to give us independence from the narrowness and the double standards which exist in this society. The malaise is not out there like a virus it is in the minds , the LOKPAL  bill will yes, correct the society but what about the minds. Till the mind is not corruption -free what do you plan to achieve? The scourge is in our minds.. remember Rabindra Nath Tagore , one of the finest minds of our country his lines immortal Where the mind is without fear, the head is held high...

We need to de-corrupt our minds and then be truly independent. In a nation  where women are killed, battered , aborted, murdered in the name of honor and are still sold in the hope that virginity would cure  HIV AIDS and where women sell themselves for money and are forced into prostitution by pimps and in the same breath this ancient civilization reveres WOMAN  as the forceof life . She is worshipped in countless mandirs, shrines as the FORCE.  

Anna ji the fight against corruption is mighty and honorable the cause is just but take out a minute to think does the common woman want corruption to be finished right now or does she want independence , freedom so readily available to men but deprived to women.

Vaise to,....