Sunday, April 7, 2013

The other fear: I want to see you in the night



New Delhi, 2012

Nights are still beautiful. In this city I have never seen a sky full of stars as I used to see in my village. Cohesion of the crickets in the evening is missing here. Still nights are beautiful. A day is a day and a night is a night, this fact itself is an amazing surprise that the nature offered to us. Let’s walk across the streets, let’s sing aloud. In the night your voice echoes at far distance. At night you are free to walk around since there is less traffic. Since everything is not visible too clearly, a night offers you immense scope of imaginations.

No! I don’t want police patrolling in the name of law and order.
I don’t want to remain conscious, while walking in the nights, if I am carrying my identity proof in my pocket. I don’t even want to be answerable why I’m walking on the streets in the night. I don’t want to see police. I don’t feel good talking to police. I know something really bad happened. But I also don’t want police on the streets. Government is manly. Police is manly. Army is manly.

Dear girls, nights are still beautiful. Do not ask for any security, nothing works. Nights are beautiful in all terms. What happened in Delhi recently has nothing to do with the beauty of the nights.

Blaming government is not a solution. Looking for cops’ help is not a solution.
The problem lies at the core of the patriarchal system and the masculinity itself. Govt. and the cops all are part of the system, so nothing will work ever. Let’s come out in the nights. Let’s start singing aloud. Let’s recite our favorite pieces of poetries.

Delhi, don’t facilitate us so much. Don’t offer us ‘dream houses’ with investment planning. Don’t beautify yourself and don’t remove the poor people from their habitations. Don’t offer car loans. Don’t check my belongings every time I enter at any premise. Don’t compete with the other big big metros. Don’t feel ashamed of your poor people. You are beautiful as you are.

It is only who are out bursting at the event, who made the nights for criminals, where as we deeply believe that the nights were meant for artists and poets. The poets have a time to play around words in the night when there is no rush for earning livelihood. It is only you, who made a ‘discipline’ around how to walk out in the night, how to dress and how not to face problems. By doing that you again and again assured the criminals that how it is fine to commit a crime.

My love, I’ll see u in the nights, when we’ll have enough time to talk without a compulsion of hurry back to office. We’ll paint all over the walls of the city with love so that in the morning my city shines with the rising sun.

21/12/12

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