ROLE REVERSAL

This following article is on an incident that I actually witnessed. Before this little incident, I would’ve never thought that a “male” in this patriarchal society could ever feel self-conscious of a female’s stare. But, it happened and inspired me to write this article.

So, one fine day few girls are all dressed up to have a blast on friend’s birthday. They use the most used and apparently, the best and fastest way to beat the horrible traffic of Delhi – The Delhi Metro. Yes, it has a ladies coach which men are not allowed to board but, then there are a few unfortunate creatures who are either deaf, mentally challenged or rather definitely confused about their sex!

These confused men get a dose of humiliation now and then but still, they try to venture into the forbidden territory. Some brave creatures stand on the joint of the coaches connecting the 'ladies coach' and general coach. It seems as if they just can’t bear the thought of leaving their better half in the company of strangers and others just love staring, after all “they were just looking and what proof do you have that they were staring at you??”

This all brings me to the questions, what if the other half did the same thing to you? What if, a bunch of girls came out of nowhere - laughing loud, stare at you with those calculating eyes, pass that wicked grin and to spice things up say something cheap and whistle??

Coming back to the dressy girls, they were going their own way. They were happy in their own world of silly jokes and poking fun at each other, not caring about the unwanted stares in their direction. And then, there came this guy on the platform. He was standing alone, he stared at the girls and this time all the girls stared back at him in unison. They laughed at some silly joke.

In this fleeting moment, from the second the girls looked back at him till they moved on laughing, any third person could observe the actual discomfort on the face of that boy. All of a sudden he seemed self conscious and retreated back. This incident brought forth the other side. We all are human and hence, can feel all the emotions – good and bad. We all have a private space which when breached by a stranger gives us discomfort, leaving us self-conscious and humiliated.

What will happen if all the women start behaving like men? What will happen if women start going out on a sexual and emotional abuse spree? What will happen if women too start beating up and burn their husbands for not earning enough money like they’re abused for not bringing dowry? What will happen if women also pass the same kind of derogatory remarks on men walking down the streets or throw acid on them for not giving them enough attention?

Think about this kind of world where women give the men the taste of their own medicine. There was a lot of uproar over this peculiar case of “Rohtak Sisters”, where the girls were allegedly found guilty for beating up innocent men. But, then what did they do wrong? Aren’t men abusing women in the worst possible ways? Aren’t they killing, beating mercilessly, raping unknown women and then just proclaiming “she was asking for it”, “she deserved it” and god knows what other things to justify their acts by finding fault in the victims!!

I’m not saying that violence by women is legitimate but, all I’m saying is that violence by human being on any other is wrong. The point is ‘’live and let live”. Just don’t talk about equality to make a statement on social networking sites and get pictures clicked. Try to practice it in real world; don’t limit it to the virtual world. Make this world a better place not just for women but everyone irrespective of the caste, creed, color, nationality, age and gender. The world would become a true hell if every bad action is met with equally bad reaction because as Mahatma Gandhi once said- ‘An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind’!