Leaving aside contempt of court, one can analyse rules which affect the public in various ways. The latest directive is also an effort to curb something. Specifically speaking, car windows which do not show, are at risk of hiding criminals, terrorists and offendors of various kinds. So, all those insticts which are done in the cover of darkness will be curbed by this order. Atleast that must be the case for the coming out of the order.
What could be the pros and cons of the order? As mentioned above, those who seek to bring harm to others by using their cars as the place for offence is indeed a reason for the directive on car windows. The cons on the other hand are that it goes against single women who see their car as a world which gives them their space on their terms and the order takes away this space from them. Families who may get to spend quality time together will have to do away with this time all together. Nursing mothers who may want to feed their babies will again have to hide their babies with yards of clothing. Women and children who may want to have a bite of something to eat in their cars may have this privacy lost forever. VIP's, movie stars, sports personalities and even religious leaders who may want a little time away from the public eye may find this more and more difficult and will have to pay the ultimate price of stardom.
One's car therefore has today become one's world. You will find everything from food, clothing, and books to make up, documents and memories. All this has been kept together by the dark window. This is a secret and personal space at the same time and it is an individual's space whatever said and done.
Now that I have conceptualised and talked about my own problems I should also talk about the unsaid problems. Even a recent survey conducted in India has come out with the startling but not surprising fact that 60% of India lives on 35-66 rupees a day. They don't have three square meals, will be lucky to have a cycle, and do everything in the open. Their lives are in the open, their suffering in the open, and we further dissect them and open them up for everyone to see, never really asking them whether they want it this way. Media reports and NGO reports are basically made to document and report a startling fact and nothing more than that.
Now let us come back to the car windows. It is obvious that many (me included) are ilked by this order. But what about those who don't have a chance to express their opposition to be made objects of sensational reporting? What about those who don't even have enough to cover their own bodies with, and are we talking about cars?? What about those who don't have anything to eat in the first place and therefore would not mind whether they can eat it in the comfort of their own spaces or wide open in front of the whole world? What about those who feed their babies while working in someone else's field? What about those whose honour is taken away in front of a bunch of losers who cheer on for more? The list is endless.
I am not saying that the court or the government got it right and thought we should frame laws for our real constituents. What I am trying to say is that we have got the space (outside our cars) to register our opposition. What about those who can't do this? While we seek for some more time for debate and sane decisions let us also pray for the dark windows of our lives to be scraped off. We have maybe lived too long in them and it is time for us to come out.
