Fear

" Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high;
Where knowledge is free;
Where the world has not been broken up
into fragments by narrow domestic walls;
Where words come out from the depth of truth;
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection;
Where the clear stream of reason
has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit;
Where the mind is led forward by thee into ever-widening thought and action---
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake."

These are the lines from a poem by Tagore, one which we were made to read as a part of our curriculum in Class 10th. Unknowingly, some lines from it struck to my head, and are frequently reminded by certain incidences in daily life.
I am forced to think about the extent to which Tagore's wish has been fulfilled..and sadly, I conclude his foresightedness about our country's devastated affairs has won over the simple wish of "Freedom" , which appears a justified human right.
Recently,in context to the rape case of a 5 yr old girl in New delhi, like every concerned Indian,  i too was discussing the safety of fairer sex in our country.As the conversation flowed, we all added our personal experiences about eve teasing and the routine mis- happenings that are so common in our daily life.
There were 4 of us , and to my surprsie, everyone had few disheartening personal experiences to share. Being females, we could very well understand each other's grief, and could relate well. We almost sympathized with each other, and yet, while discussing all this stuff..there was an inexplicable sense of helplessness.
A void feeling, a feeling of embarrassment, a feeling of fear, a feeling of being petite, a feeling of being weak...and an unspeakable shame! Shame on the country where we live, shame on the society where we sustain and shame on the mindset of people.
Each of us had a gush of anger, and we all spoke the same thing " Why were we to suffer! What gave guys the license to do away with anything! How would guys feel if the same attitude was adapted towards them. What pleasure would a sane human derive by harassing another innocent human! Why was all this so so common! Why did people take things for granted! And how could this be curbed! "
After narration of any such incidence, there was a sad silent phase..that moment of silence was the deadliest one. It was suffocating.
What was even more heart shattering was our own reaction to such incidences.
After 2-3 incidences, one would get instigated and would say that "It's unfair to be silent! Atleast some answer should be given to these bastards...even if its just a slap!" and the very next moment, others would advise her- " You don't need to be a Jhansi Ki Raani. You alone can not bring the change, and trust me, guys just take a minute to ruin your life forever! They have big bloody egos! Have you not heard the cases where acids are thrown, or the faces are cut, only because of a single slap! It's the best to bow your head and keep moving, ignore such lewd comments! Forget such incidences and just be cautious at all the times. " Sadly,  it even made sense!
We live in a country where media never misses to highlight the cases where " A girl was molested after she did not agree to be girlfriend of someone" or " A girl was swayed in front of a moving bus, after she shouted on the guys who whistled on her" or "a girl was troubled by blank calls, after she shouted back on the guys who stared at her."
We live in a country where females are the ones to be blamed if things so wrong. A country, where if a girl stays out till night, even for some important works, she is considered as careless, a country where if a girl roams around with a group of guys, she is blamed of being too "bold" and "welcoming"..if a girl publicly talks about her own safety, she is considered as indecent.
Yet, its the same country where girls are encouraged to strive for competition with guys in professional growth.
Hypocrite society!

It's pitiable! In a country where females are supposedly reverred as mothers and prayed in the form of goddess, in a country where people fast and seek blessings from little girls during Navratri pooja..in the same country females are forced to live a shielded life...
How can a person live freely when there is a constant fear in his head..how can a person trust anyone, when there are more bad people than good ones..how can a person not be suspicious about even the innocent people, how can a person forget about the pool of emotions when even once he had to face such humiliations...I wonder about it...
Sadly, Tagore's wish has not been fulfilled..we, the humans have failed to do so.And not just for this generation, the pshycological effect of this fear shall be noticed even in the posterity.