A Girl's Life: Story Of An Typical Indian Girl

She is born into a world of happiness. They pamper her with gifts and with love. She is constantly told that she is the apple of their eye. She is told that she is the princess of their paradise. She grows up slowly. She is asked to go to school. She is asked to study. She does her part and does it well. She plays with her brothers and friends. Then she is slowly asked to stay away from them. When she asks why, they tell her cos its not right. When she asks why, they say cos the society says so. Out of love and respect for her family she obeys. She watches them play from her room through her window. But she is not unhappy, she creates a world inside those four walls. A room filled with imagination. A room were everyone has a happy ending. An ever ever land of solitude and peace.

She grows up to realize the differences between the sexes, she grows up to understand the realities of life. She is told, she is the giver of life. But what she doesn't understand is that despite all this why is she still inside those four walls. Why is her place in the kitchen. Despite having the same education as her brother and having scored better than him, why is he studying further not her. Why is it more important to learn to cook more than what she wants to learn. When she walks out of her house, why does she feel like a sheep for slaughter. Why doesn't she feel safe in her own country, which promises her the right to freedom and the right of expression. Why does she feel violated a 100 times a day even without anyone touching her.

She falls in love. A man she knows will keep her happy. A man she knows will do good by her. He reminds her of her family. An innocent romance of words and eye contact. But they found out about it. They tell her its wrong. They don't ask her about him. They don't want to know why she loves him. But they tell her it is wrong. Why she asked? They don't have an answer. She asks again. Why? They told her that the society says so. They say they will kill her if she doesn't leave him. Out of love, out of respect she obeys. She forgets the man of her dreams. Out of love she forgets. She is asked to stay away from strangers especially men. She is doubted despite her innocence. She is asked to go back to her room. The four walls she is so accustomed to now. Only now, it had somehow lost some of its magic. She starts doubting the capacity of life to offer happy endings. She wonders if this is how the world treats its princess's.

Then one day she is asked to serve coffee to some random man. After he leaves, they tell her, he is her groom. They tell her she is a lucky girl. She knows, that's not true. She know within that, its not right. Before she can figure out what is going on, she is inside another room. Only this one is unfamiliar and strange. The very people who warned her to stay away from strangers, locked her inside a room with one. She is scared. But she doesn't give up on her parents, she trusts them and finds love in her new life. She understands that the game of life is filled with sacrifices. She is happy when she realizes that she is pregnant. Her family is happy and so is her husband. She gives birth to a boy. She raises him like a prince. Happiness finds her again and this time she is blessed with a daughter. Her children grow up together. She pampers her son. He told her she was his queen. She loved her daughter. She becomes her daughters best friend. She inducts her into the kitchen. When her daughter tells her that she wants to study further, she tells her, that's not her place. Her son climbs the ladder of corporate life. But her daughter eloped with her boyfriend. She felt disgraced. She felt rejected. The society told her she was a bad mother. She started hating her daughter.

Years have passed now, she is alone. All who she knew, have left her behind. She was staying with her son who had barely any time. His wife, the girl she chose for him, had no time for her. She was left alone to fight her battles. She wondered, if this is the way the world treated a queen. One day she ran into her daughter. She looked older and beautiful. She had her grand daughter with her. The moment she saw her mother, she just hugged her and started crying. She told her she was sorry. She told her she could not leave him behind. She told her of the days she spent crying over her family. Her mother felt sad too. She was near the end of her life and her grudge on her daughter had faded away. They made their peace and said their good byes.

Her daughter came to see her today. She was shocked at the way her mother was being treated. She felt insulted that her own mother who had taught her the lessons of life was barely living on her son's mercy. She shouted at her sister in law and dragged her mother out of the house. She was now in her daughters house. She felt at ease with her. She felt like she had gained her best friend back. She learned that her daughter was working now. She had finished her studies, upon insistence of her husband. She asked her, who takes care of the kitchen. She told her, she earns enough to hire a house keeper cum cook. Her daughter seemed very happy with her life. That somehow made her happy. She wondered how some one she hated so much could make her so happy. She met him that evening. Her son-in-law. She was nervous. She was scared if she would be asked to leave. But he surprised her by greeting her with love and seeking her blessings. She realized that he was every bit the man, she wanted her son to be.

Days passed by and once again she started feeling like a queen. She started feeling like, part of a family. Her daughter felt the same way. She was excited to have her best friend back. They would talk till the end of the night. She fell in love with her grand daughter. She was an angel.

But then that fateful day she fell sick. She knew she was not going to make it. She asked for her grand daughter. On seeing her she started crying. Her daughter told her that everything was going to be alright, she asked her not to be sad. She silenced her saying that she was not sad. She was happy for her grand daughter. She was happy that she would be brought up by her daughter. She was happy that she would not have to live through the circumstance of her mother. She was happy that she was her grand daughter and not her daughter. She placed a hand on her grand daughter's head. But the hand fell limp as life left her body. But there was a smile on her face. Because in that ultimate moment when life was leaving her she realized that she was now going to REST IN PEACE.



Courtesy: Harikrishnan G Nair

Why Your Daughter’s Marriage Shouldn’t Be Your Biggest Dream For Her

“When are you going to start saving? Don’t forget there’s a girl growing up in the house..”, countless wives have been reminding their husbands in Indian households and sometimes on TV screens. Parents in the country place too much emphasis on marriage. And if you’re a girl, this gets doubled. The moment the doctor announces the gender, the planning starts, the saving starts. And more importantly, the worrying.
Because of the pervasive dowry system that devours most families by attaching itself to destructive notions of what constitute status, honor and respect, this directly affects the family’s management of financial resources and how girls are brought up. An unmarried daughter becomes a burden to be removed which in turn subjects her to differential treatment. Giving your daughter’s marriage utmost importance means everything you do for her is ultimately influenced by this concern. You either don’t educate her beyond a basic level because you don’t have enough money to spend on both (and clearly you’ve decided marriage is to be given the bigger priority), or you educate her (often according to your own wishes rather than hers) with the prospect of fetching a well qualified groom so that she can be ‘sent off’ to a ‘respectable’ home.

 Placing emphasis on marriage means raising girls in a manner primarily aimed at moulding them into a societal expectation of what an ideal bride or wife should be like, instead of fostering and encouraging individual characteristics. And in a patriarchal society, these demands are never free of misogyny. The perfect wife looks like Aishwarya Rai, talks like Mother Teresa and is willing to be submissive like Sita. She is unambitious, unassertive, unaware or not demanding of her rights, and has been blessed with extra invisible hands to successfully manage all household work and (increasingly) also a job without the slightest complaints. Girls then are taught from a young age to value their looks more than their talents and skills, to place their career aspirations or financial independence secondary to the need for being married at the ‘right’ time and having kids, and to perpetuate this vicious cycle through their own daughters, all the while carrying a burden of living up to the good girl myth so as to not ‘invite’ rape, lest they become used goods. Because rape is something that is given to us when we “ask for it”, and the unit of measurement of a woman’s worth is virginity. Right?
Imposing one’s dreams on another human being and wanting them to strictly fulfill them for you is a pretty selfish expectation and even a messed up form of ‘love’ (which is how people usually like to rationalize it). This stems from the perception that holds children as properties of parents and in particular, a woman’s identity only in relation to a man. It’s somewhat similar to indoctrinating kids into the parents’ religion at an impressionable age and closing the doors of curiosity, only even more violating. While one may be able to completely break free from religious beliefs at least on a mental level, the social costs of leaving an unsuccessful marriage in a patriarchal culture are many, especially if you’re a woman. Being a father-in-law or a grandmother is a privilege, not a right. But having the freedom to decide whether we want to give our parents that privilege is a right no one should be denied, because the decisions involved would first and foremost affect ourselves.
Not to mention the oppression it puts out for women who don’t fit into the supposed standards. Lesbian women, disabled women, trans/queer women, those wishing to stay single or those who want to have a partner but not get married. Women with physical disabilities constantly deal with ableist attitudes that infantilise them or treat them as less of a woman. Imagine the look of horror on the father’s face when he tells his daughter they’re going to start looking for a suitable match and her response is, “I hope she will let me keep my job.” Thankfully, we have an effective homophobic climate in place to avoid any such awkward situations. It’s simple, we just force them into repressing their sexuality and entering an arranged heterosexual relationship!
Marriage is not the ultimate purpose of a female life. I’ll say that again, it really isn’t. It’s only a part of it, and a choice some women wish to make while some women don’t. The important thing is they should have the liberty to do so without being coerced or emotionally blackmailed. This has absolutely nothing to do with their ‘worth’ as a person. Meaning, purpose and fulfillment in life can be found in a billion ways and if your daughter wants to include marriage at some point in that list, fine. If not, that should be fine as well. Give her education, good morals, encourage her to pursue her passions, let her celebrate her sexuality and uniqueness. The rest should be up to her. After all, if it is your daughter’s welfare that you wish for, then start by placing the control of her future in her own hands.

I am Indian!!!

I am Indian.

The Indian film industry produces almost 3000 movies a year.

95% of them are love stories of some sort or the other.

The same society that consumes thousands of love stories for its weekly entertainment, has an arranged marriage rate of 80%+ in urban middle-class areas, and ~100% in rural areas. Inter-caste and inter-faith marriages are almost like a statistical error.

They are the same people who feel no cognitive dissonance when they go about denouncing dating and love-marriages as a hedonistic, narcissistic western fabrication trying to destroy Indian society. Even as they bankroll and spend thousands of rupees watching movies depicting individuals overcoming social norms (of some sort or the other) to find true love.

This disturbs me very deeply. It makes me think that as a society, we have become so utterly jaded that what we think of egocentric requited love is analogous to what a westerner thinks of magic in the Harry Potter series.

A pleasant distraction, a nice idea, but at the end of the day- an unattainable fantasy.

LOVE AND INDIAN SOCIETY: A LIVELY DEPICTION WITH NURSERY RHYMES

Love has been a four lettered word in conservative Indian households for more reasons than just the actual letter count. But that was 30 years back. Things have been changing rapidly with the onset of globalization. But India is a complex multilayer-d  society with the changes penetrating at varied extent at different strata levels in an already highly heterogeneous society. So what I would attempt is to present how a typical conformist individual from a conservative middle class family would find love. I have tried to use the medium of English nursery rhymes to portray the same to keep the narrative a bit lively.

Let us start where it all begins: when the parents feel their children have reached marriageable age.

Little Jack Horner
Sat in the corner,
Eating a Christmas pie;
He put in his thumb,
And pulled out a plum,
And said 'What a good boy am I”

At this stage, the boy and girls are rather naive and obedient. Or at least the parents expect them to be so. At this point, the process begins. The parents approach a matchmaker/relatives.

Match maker, Match Maker, where have you been?
I've been down to Chennai to visit the girls’ dad keen.
Match maker, Match Maker, what did you there?
I frightened a little girl, under her chair

Once the match maker finds a match, the parents of the boy and the girl interact.

Bah, Bah a black Sheep,
Have you any Wool?
Yes merry have I,
Three Bags full,
One for my master,
One for my Dame,
One for the little Boy
That lives down the lane

The black sheep (the girl’s dad) promises goodies for the master (the boy’s dad), the dame (the boy’s mom) and the little boy who lives down the lane. (The bridegroom) Next it is time to introduce another key actor in the process: the astrologer.

Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are!
Up above the world so high,
Like a diamond in the sky

The astrologer consults the stars and decides if the stars want the marriage to take place or not and on what date and time. With this done, we move to the next phase: the girl and the boy begin to interact over the phone. The girl is very curious about her future husband.

Johnny Johnny
Yes papa
Alcohol?
No papa.
Smoking?
No papa
Girlfriends?
Ha ha ha

Once this phase gets over, we approach the actual day of the marriage.

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
All the king's horses and all the king's men
Couldn't put Humpty together again

On the day of the wedding the bridegroom would be placed on the marriage altar in front of the fire place like Humpty Dumpty. And who said one can only fall in love? One can fall in marriage as well. Once he is into it, his whole life changes and no one can put him together again. With the marriage done, the girls’ parents sadly bid farewell to their daughter.

Little Bo-Peep has lost her sheep,
And can't tell where to find them;
Leave them alone, And they'll come home,
Wagging their tails behind them
The girls’ parents are left feeling like Little Bo-Peep having lost their daughter as the daughter heads for the honeymoon with her husband.

Jack and Jill went up the hill
To fetch a pail of water.
Jack fell down and broke his crown
And Jill came tumbling after.

With the budgetary constraints of a middle class family, the honeymoon can be a bit too adventurous at times and the newly married Jack and Jill may have to overcome quite some obstacles. And then tiding through various obstacles they manage to sail through one full year.

Mary had a little lamb,
little lamb, little lamb,
Mary had a little lamb,
whose fleece was white as snow.

The stork comes and delivers the little lamb to the family as love finally begins to blossom between the couple.

With such a long and elaborate pre love process, no wonder from here on love has only one direction to go.
Though I don't agree that marriages in India last longer than those abroad. That is simply because women abroad are financially and emotionally more independent than women in India. And they KNOW that marriage is not everything. Indian women on the other hand, believe they have no choice, and certainly no world beyond their 'pati-dev' therefore they just put up with everything.

Again, we are confusing marriage with love. Just because a couple is married need not mean they are in love. They just agree to tolerate one another ;-) in easy companionship. OR for the sake of their children!!! neither of these means they are in love :-) with each other. Anyways Indian women are changing too... But it would be an Long process to break the myths.

Is India is an Rapist Society??? A big shame for India.

Rape! Rape! Rape! Is this country going to the dogs? The thought can't not be brushed aside easily. So much of hype about rape! So much of protest against rape! So much of politics around rape! Has this country woken up to a new era of rape? 

What is the truth? When a father rapes his own daughter, an uncle his niece and a female child of five is raped by an elder, isn’t it time to ask what is wrong with our society? And why and how conditions have deteriorated in Indian society?

What else can you expect from a country that has established ceremonial and sanctified rape in the Devadasi system?

The Delhi rape may have brought the student and activist community spilling onto the streets in protest, but as long as society accepts and endorses the ‘invisible violence’ occurring everyday, crimes against women cannot be stamped out.

Our society considers street sexual harassment and domestic violence ‘normal’. When young boys whistle at a girl on the streets, or comment on her clothes or her body, society brushes it off as ‘boys being boys’. Eve teasing is considered an expression of masculinity and we teach girls to get used to everyday harassment, and ‘ignore’ the perpetrators, this is the problem that had deep social roots and had nothing to do with manhood or hormonal youth.

When India became Independent in 1947, the “middle class” averaged around 2.4 per cent in a population of around 300 million people. By 2011 this percentage has risen to an astounding 37 per cent in a population of 1.2 billion. It is this middle class that rules the country and consciously or unconsciously lays down social behaviour, in terms of dress and deportment, man-woman relations, inter-caste marriages and the like arousing envy, jealousy and hatred among the lower castes and classes, which feel frustrated. It is this frustration, one suspects that is the main cause for the kind of violence we see today in everyday life.
Unlike western developed nations which are largely mono-cultured, India is sharply divided along caste and class lines each functioning along established and well-laid out rules of social behaviour. It is when such classes co-exist with the middle classes literally cheek by jowl, as in Delhi that tension prevails which, in turn, ends in violence.
Our middle classes don’t seem to realise that they are living in a multi-cultured society functioning under different sets of values, often in contradiction to each other. It is a fact that we ignore at our peril. And yet it is a fact that the middle classes constantly forget only to be reminded of it when violence takes an ugly turn. Then all hell is let loose. Instances of rape and molestation are not confined to one class or caste. They seem to cut across all social group. But why? And how come? A woman accuses her brother-in-law of raping her. A 22-year old woman from Delhi was allegedly raped and dumped in a Faridabad jungle by the driver of a car who had offered her a lift. A report from Gurgaon noted that a 27-year old woman employee claimed that she was gang-raped by two persons, including a colleague, in a moving car.
  From what one hears, in certain sections of society, for the average middle class male, an educated, self-reliant and self-confident female is an anathema. Unlike Khap which is largely prevalent in the inner regions of north India states like Haryana, west Uttar Pardesh, parts of Rajasthan and Punjab, the aggressive middle class male is a common phenomenon throughout the country. It is for our active women’s organisations to address themselves to societal changes in India and do something constructive. Laws can only lay down rules, they can’t change mindsets; to achieve the latter should be a matter of immediate concern to our thinkers.

Let us then safely conclude that the caste forces, the religious forces, the political forces, the ruling oligarchy and the different pillars such as the media are raping India on the whole. Many are clamouring for the blood of the rapists. ‘Kill them’ ‘hang them’ is the far cry of the so-called protestors against rape. 
 The law may have allowances for hanging and punishing criminals but this will not change the situation. Our behaviour is not controlled by laws; it is the internal control or self-control that stems from each individual’s conditioning that determines his actions.

Love and Indian Society : A thoughful Analysis.

When we talk about love and the Indian Society, there are vastly different images that come to mind. One is the impossibly perfect love as depicted by main stream Indian Cinema – replete with beautiful people, exotic foreign or Indian locales and picture perfect love, for the person, the families. On the other side, there is reality which is full of repressiveness, blood, gore, violence and often heartbreak.
Love … Its not easy to write or talk about it, is it? It is a vast ocean of emotions. We have stories written on it, we have poems penned about it, we have movies made on it. Yet it is so complex that there has not been a clear-cut definition of love.

"Wikipedia says Love is any of a number of emotions related to a sense of strong affection and attachment. The word love can refer to a variety of different feelings, states, and attitudes, ranging from generic pleasure (“I loved that meal”) to intense interpersonal attraction (“I love my wife”). This diversity of uses and meanings, combined with the complexity of the feelings involved, makes love unusually difficult to consistently define, even compared to other emotional states."

In the context of Indian society, love has been twisted around many a times.
Take parental love for instance. A son, from the day he is born, is loved by his parents so much that not a day passes by when they don’t remind him of how much he owes them for all their sacrifices. Even after he is married he is expected to disregard his wife to prove that his love is solely dedicated to his parents.
Whereas a girl, from the day she is born, is conditioned to love not just her parents, her siblings but, when the time arises, is expected to love her parents-in-law also even if they don’t reciprocate her love. Even if they treat her like a doormat.
I would also like to mention a love that our darling children demonstrate towards us, i.e. the cupboard love. Since we control the purse strings, and make the rules they have to abide with, they spend a lot of time buttering us up, softening us so that we buy them the latest expensive game/dress in the market. Sadly this makes them very manipulative and self-centered.
Often when both parents are working, we tend to give them a lot of money and give in to their whims. We are not there to discipline them or check them when they go overboard. This adds to the problem and makes one wonder if we are raising a generation of children with very little self discipline and ethics.
Take our love for God ….We are so blinded by the love for our religion, that we are willing to go to any length to justify our beliefs, no matter how ridiculous and unreasonable they are. We agree to feed our idols, deities with laddoos, milk when there are millions of people who are deprived of food. We don’t even think twice before throwing small children in the well to please God. If only we realize the only way to please God is to love our fellow beings. We take our love for Gods to ridiculous lengths, constructing temples for not only our religious deities but even for Cine Stars like Khushboo, even though there is rampant poverty and perhaps the money spent would have been better utilized in feeding, clothing and educating the poor.

It would be remiss of me not to write about the negative types of love. These types are really poisoning our Indian Society. We all know about obsessive love, the kind that was immortalized by Shah Rukh Khan in the movie "Darr." The person is so obsessive about the object of his/her affections that he/she becomes a stalker or even a killer. This is a disease called obsessive love disorder. The person becomes so obsessive that he tends to treat the object of his affections like a possession. If he can not get her, no one else can. The insane lover may try to kill, maim or even disfigure the object of his affection by throwing acid on her face.
On one side we move the progressive way by legalizing live-in relationships thereby giving a fresh, positive hope for people in love who don’t want to bind themselves to any institution. And on the other side there are sects in our society who still harbor the regressive thought that people having the same Gotra cannot marry each other. And if a couple challenges that belief, then the guardians of such ridiculous ideologies don’t shirk from killing in the name of community honour.
Yes, rapists also rape in the name of love. But I cannot call it love. It is more of a demonstration of power.
Our society is going through a state of change. On one hand laws have been enacted to punish the Khaps and also to legalize homosexuality. Yes, the society has become permissive, so much so that urban youth feel that it is necessary to have a boy friend or girl friend to be considered cool. On the other hand we have the so called guardians of society creating totally unnecessary furore on Valentine’s Day, damaging shops selling valentines and even accosting couples out together.
On one side you have Sania Mirza and Shoaib Akhtar ignoring the India –Pakistan enmity for the sake of their love, on the other side you have a mother being arrested for killing her pregnant daughter for loving and daring to marry a colleague belonging to the lower caste.
Love is a multifarious thing, said a poet. Yes it is, and it is the most joyous and positive emotion, but perhaps true love in which both the partners are free and respected is becoming a rarity especially in the Indian society today.

(This Topic is originally published by Deep speaking Up and I personally thank him for such a thoughtful Post.)

HONOR KILLING: A HARSH REALITY OF INDIAN SOCIETY.

Honor killing is the murder of a family member or social group by other members, due to the belief that the victim has brought dishonor to the family or community. The perceived dishonor to the clan is believed to be caused by unacceptable dress codes, marriage of their choice, marriage within same gotra or inter-caste marriage and engaging in sexual acts.
This heinous crime has gained more momentum in the recent past.  Such incidents have been making news headlines across the country. Story of a prince and princess, who loved, married and lived happily, has been a part of everyone’s childhood. But in real life after marriage they do not live happily, but are found as corpses, if they show the audacity of going against the pride and reputation of the family and community. They are punished because they forget that marriage is not for their happiness but one in which community’s happiness is taken care of.
Love your parents, siblings, relatives, friends and everybody is what we are being taught as children, but least does the victims know that what they had been taught since childhood will turn out to be their cause of death.  It is a sheer shame that we talk about love, harmony and unity on one side and ruthlessly stamp them under our feet in the name of reputation and honour.
This is the harsh reality of Indian society. Sociologists believe that these killings continue because of continued rigid caste system. The pseudo-caste status which brings along other benefits for the family and clan pushes them to this crime. Another important lingering point is the mentality of people which has not changed and accepting marriages in same gotra or inter-caste is still considered a sin. The abnormally increasing rate of this crime is mainly due to lack of formal governance in the concerned regions.
Statistics reveal that honor killing has a greater geographical coverage than just being limited to rural areas. Definitely, the rural percentage is predominating but cases in big cities and states like Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, UP and Tamil Nadu also cannot be ruled out.
This bubbling cauldron of inhumanity is mounting as the growing incidence of “honor killings” becomes public. However, it would be infantile to believe that the reported facts and figures talk in entirety. Much has still to be done to safeguard those who dare not speak out.
A lot of things to be done to reform cultural settings, amend the existing laws and add clauses to IPC as separate offense, educate, and provide professional help to those who commit, inspire, and subtly condone this aberration. Violence is endemic in nature and in humankind. What is the answer? The spider continuous to create deadly orb web and, in the process, the cycle continues.

TRUE DEPICTION OF INDIAN SOCIETY...{ABOUT LOVE}

Love happens. You do not realize when that special someone comes and occupies a tiny little space in your heart and gradually becomes the only one that matters. He changes your world and you accept the change. He adores you and you let him. He cares for you and you start behaving like a kid. He takes care of you and you feel warm. He scolds you and you pretend getting sad about it. You fight with him and drift apart just to make him miss you and pull you closer. He alone can make you feel complete. You can never get enough of him, no matter how much time you spend together. You would do anything to be with him. Those crazy talks, laughter, loving stares, warm hugs, passionate kisses - Love is just so beautiful. It sees no barriers but the world does; barriers like RELIGION. What if a Hindu falls in love with a Muslim? It suddenly is thought of as a crime. Why?

You cannot plan who to fall in love with. Neither can you stop yourself from loving someone. It’s inevitable. It just happens and it can happen with anyone. Indian cinema has a whole lot of movies highlighting the clause of falling in love with the most unexpected person. The guy and the girl are either enemies or from an enemy clan; hating, bitching, fighting and screaming at one another in the beginning. And moments later, they are inseparable. However stupid it may sound, we love to watch these movies, over and over again. I have no count of how many times I have watched DDLJ (dilwale dulhaniya le jayenge). And to add to it, every time is like a first time watch. SRK is the first reason, of course. But another more important reason is I can relate to it. Love truly is uncertain. You never know when the person you keep fighting with and annoyingly tell your friends about, turns out to be the love of your life. This unpredictability is what makes love special. If we could plan when and who to fall in love with, it would have been a little less fascinating. A lot less fascinating I think. The uncertainity; I often thought of it as the beauty of love. Not anymore. Yesterday, watching "ishqzaade" I was so much in terms with reality. I do not know how many of you have watched it and how many of you liked it. I simply loved it. I could give a lot many reasons for that; Parineeti, the lead actress, did really well, she is so pretty, they looked cute together, the music was awesome and so on. But everything took back seat soon after the climax. Beyond acting and entertainment, the movie highlighted the core reality only to make me uneasy and keep thinking about it later on. My mind is still stuck to what I saw a day before. Can loving someone of different religion take away lives? Those innocent hearts died simply because they loved. Tragic.

They say do not expect anything from anyone. Is it applicable to one's own parents? They begin making you understand everything and they cease to understand you when you need them. Strange! Going back to the movie, I was amazed to see their parents running after their lives for being in love and wanting to get married. Shockingly amazed, I should say. How can someone who brought you up to face the world turn against you just because you desire to live with someone from a different religion? Zoya, a Muslim girl and Parma, a Hindu guy; they met, they talked and they fell in love. It was destiny. They never hurt their parents on purpose. Even if they did, unknowingly though, they deserved to be forgiven. When your own parents turn against you, you obviously cannot expect anything from the rest of the world. You become hopeless. I cannot say I know the feeling but I assume it to be pathetic. Even worse! I still remember Zoya say " aise situation mei hasi hi aati h". She trusted her parents to understand her and accept her love even after she knew they wanted to see her dead. She expected them to love her enough to forgive her; little did she know that her own father would try to shoot her. I was taken aback. How could her father bring himself to shoot her? It was just a movie though but still. Sometimes you don’t just watch a movie, you live it. Every incident had so much to say. The extent of helplessness was clearly depicted by the choice they made at the end. They killed each other. I can never imagine how it feels like to kill someone you love so dearly. I guess sometimes good bye is forever. Sigh. :( 

Their dead bodies were seen just to make sure they were dead, nothing else. How can parents not cry seeing their child dead? How could they kill them at the first place? Why is everyone so against inter cast and inter religion marriages? Could our so called mature elders grow up to think beyond religion? Does the special marriage act 1954, allow a Hindu and a Muslim to get married? If not, why such laws are not being made? Is it right to take away the lives of innocent people wanting to get married? The movie struck a chord. It really did. I have so many questions to ask and I have no one to ask them to. I feel uneasy, sad, suffocated; all at the same time.

“It’s strange how humans divided people into religions, castes, races only to forget humanity later on.”





THANKS! TO Shumali Sharma FOR THE ARTICLE.