Saturday, January 31, 2009

Cause and effect: The Indian juggernaut’s moment of truth

India is the country to watch say experts across the globe. It’s the most happening place, recession or not. There are deadlines to meet and milestones to pass. So in all seriousness, the makeover has to be there. But what happens when the soothsayers are embarrassed with incidents like the Mangalore attack on women? The causes are laid on the table and the effects are then justified!

So what happened in Mangalore? It depends on which side of the fence you are. There are sane voices trying to say that this is an open and shut case of violence against women and that is that. But believe it or not there is the ‘cause and effect’ argument. The attack happened because the women were doing something immoral, they were not dressed properly (whatever that means), and they were performing something not befitting them? This then is the ‘cause and effect’ argument. ‘I’ did it because someone else did something else. What ‘I’ did then goes into the background conveniently.

How long will we go along with the cause and effect argument? How long will we justify violence in all it’s forms by hiding behind others? This then is India’s moment of truth. How far have we come? Who are we really? Where are we going?

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