A letter from the common man to damini

A Letter from the common man to Damini( not the real name) - The Delhi Rape Victim.

This letter will probably never reach you, Damini.

Outside your room in the hospital, outside the corridors smelling of medicine, outside the operating theaters, the worldis crumbling. Thousands of people are protesting, signing petitions, updating facebook statuses, writing to the PM - all to bring justice to the accused. Some people want them hang. Some want them castrated. Some want them to be handed over to the public.

Obviously, none of this will actually happen.

I read in an article somewhere that death penalties can only be given to the rarest of rare cases. And (it continued to say) that unless the victim dies, it cannot be eligible for a rarest of rare case.

Kasab qualifies because he killed many in cold blood. Your rapists apparently don't.

We live in India Damini. A country of complications and contradictions. A country with age old laws and age old people fiercely guarding them.

I got an invite on facebook today. It read "Save women". The event was at India gate, I believe. I remember shaking my head when I saw the invite. Save women? All in the course of one day?

Things are not looking good Damini. Not for you, not for Delhi, not for India and not for humanity. People are people, but only bodily so. Inside, they're animals. A man guns down little children in a school. Someone murders his own mother. Four drunk men rape and almost kill a defenseless woman. No, things aren't looking good at all.

Perhaps the damn Mayans were right. Perhaps the world is going to end.

Because as far as I'm concerned, this is the end right here. When humanity fails, there's nothing to look forward to. All the education we've received, all the upbringing we've had, all the degrees we've religiously collected, all the Gods and Goddesses we believe in - amounts to precious little if at the end of the day, we're  as wild as a beast.

And even animals are better thanus.

Outside the hospital, there's a blame war raging. The BJP's blaming the Congress. The Congress is blaming it's Police force. The police force is blamingthe society. The society is blaming the party in power. And so, like passing the parcel, everyone's shifting their baggage of responsibility to the next person.

Meanwhile, the people who really care, the people who are affected, are organizing protests and candlelight marches. The people who care, are praying for your speedy recovery.

Because Damini, the truth is this.Nothing else can be done.

Shinde says measures are being put in place. No more tinted windows. More patrolling. Speedier case hearings. But you know and I know that these are mere words.

In a few days, there will be more sensational news. (Paris Hilton coming to India perhaps, who knows?) And you will be forgotten. Your case will suffer the same fate hundreds of cases of despicable crime has suffered -they'll fall into a void of nothingness.

Damini, I wanted to apologize to you.

Because I don't think you've heard it yet. And you need to.

I apologize on behalf of all the men who stare, the men who strip women nude with their eyes inside lifts on a regular basis. I apologize for the men who justify such acts by pointing fingers at the clothes that women wear. I apologize for the police officer whose hungry eyes make you think twice about writing a complaint.

But most of all, I apologize for the scarring trauma and pain you have suffered …....

From all the Men we assure you that we are with you

Common Men India