Shattered: All those myths about Mumbai...

This appeared in Mumbai Mirror today....

                      Are we ready to face the truth about Mumbai???

The time has come to look into the mirror and face a few uncomfortable truths about our city and ourselves. Forget the bilge. Forget the hype. Forget all those myths we have created about our great city. The ghastly fact of the matter is that today’s Mumbai is no different from any other city in India. The mask is finally off. And Mumbai stands exposed as just another wretched Indian metropolis that has zero respect for its women.So let’s not kid ourselves that Mumbai is somehow ‘different’, more cosmopolitan, more liberal, more accommodating, more  anything. No, it’s not. And the sooner we accept that about Mumbai, the better for us. No woman is safe in this city.No child is protected. And  kaan khul ke soona – nobody is in charge here, either. Lawlessness rules. And women from other cities who continue to kid themselves about their personal safety in Mumbai, can take a walk, pack their bags and go home. Yes, even to Patna. Because each time they step out in Mumbai, there is no guarantee they’ll get home in one piece, or even at all. Yup, it’s that bad out there.

Had Thursday’s rape victim not been from our journalistic fraternity, I seriously doubt there would have been such an outcry. It would have been just another rape in Maximum City. We would have tch- tched for a bit and carried on with our lives. Remember, even Nirbhaya’s case didn’t really change a thing in Delhi, despite the nationwide outrage. Rapes were reported in the Capital while Nirbhaya  was still struggling for her life.  And rapes continue in the Capital like Nirbhaya never happened. So it is in Mumbai. But with a difference. The victim is alive. And stable. She has given our cops valuable information that will help them to nail the perpetrators of the crime in court. But I fear for this brave young girl. Who knows what those men were really after? Had she accidentally stumbled on to something they wanted to hide? Did she click pictures that could incriminate the men somehow? Were the men acting on their own? Or following orders? Is it just a case of anti-social elements seizing an opportunity and violating a young woman because they could? Tough questions. She could face far greater danger after she gets out of hospital. We should concern ourselves with her long term safety once she is discharged.

Great cities collapse and rot when then there is a crisis of leadership. Mumbai  has not had a good leader in decades. Even during this particular crisis, we have heard mewing… bleating… not roars or growls. Where are those mighty netas who spend their time issuing dhamkis? Where is the suave M.P. from South Mumbai when we need him the most? Who the hell is in charge of our city, our safety, anyway? Does anybody know? I certainly don’t.

Let’s face it – Mumbai has surrendered itself to hard core goondas who are hell bent on destroying it. Ten years ago, these same hoodlums were more interested in looting the city and becoming overnight crorepatis.Today, there is nothing left to strip, except the honour of defenceless women. The fact that Mahalaxmi is not Sanjay Gandhi Park ( which is a desolate area of the city), and that the rape took place during office hours, also points to the utter lack of responsiveness prevalent in our society. Her cries for help fell on deaf ears. Howcome? Because,nobody really cares a damn or gives a s**t. Rapes happen. So?

And what do you think will happen now?  The cops will parade the accused and invite the media for a photo-op. Let’s change the story a bit here. Let’s insist on those men appearing before the furious city without the black hoods hiding their faces. Let’s insist on the cops doing away with the practice for once. We want to see what these animals look like. We want to see for ourselves whether they squirm and cringe when those flashbulbs explode. But you know what? Nothing of the sort will happen. If the cops oblige,these beasts will probably stare back at us defiantly, and mock our anger.They will shuffle their feet and sneer.  Finally, it is we who’ll blink. Because we will be dying of shame.Even though there is really no shame left here, any more. Women’s lives have become cheap ( onions are more expensive and precious). Women are dispensable. Women ask for it. Women deserve what happens to them. From Maximum City to Besharam City. That’s Mumbai today. Deal with it.

                                                                  *************

This appeared in Asian Age / Deccan Chronicle...

Silencing a rationalist....

                                              Murder Most Foul….

Certain ‘dastardly deeds’ ( how our netas love these two words!) are just more ‘dastardly’ than others. The cold-blooded, pre-meditated, daylight murder of  a legend called Dr.Narendra Dabholkar was one of them. It managed to shock  the nation…. and as we are all aware, these days it’s pretty difficult to shock India.We have become ‘violence proof’, as it were. ‘‘Murders to the right of us, murders to the left of us…”  One can also add, “Murders, murders everywhere, not a culprit in sight.” Dr. Dabholkar was a towering figure, not just in Maharashtra, but all over India. His influence reached beyond our shores and included followers across the world….  people who endorsed and appreciated his school of rational thinking, his progressive world view and his sustained campaign against practitioners of black magic and jaadu tona. That he lived and died for his firm beliefs is a testimony to his unshakeable commitment and vision . Not only was Dr. Dabholkar  a respected rationalist, he was known for his strong views against casteism, and for the support he extended to inter-religious marriages.  Seen in the cultural context of a country which has, for centuries,tolerated and accepted both, his was a particularly courageous stand. Unsurprisingly, his movement had always attracted powerful  critics and staunch enemies out to crush him.His life had been under threat for years. But, as he frequently reminded concerned followers, he was a free man in his own country, and unwillingly to ask for State protection against his own people. It was these very people who pumped bullets into the 69- year- old visionary when he was enjoying a morning walk in Pune. It is in the interests of the nation in general and Maharashtra’s Chief Minister, Prithiviraj Chavan, in particular, to find Dr. Dabholkar’s assassins as quickly as possible. Especially after the C.M. hinted he knew who they were!

 But will that happen?

I think not.

 Ironically, Dr.Dabholkar’s  audacious murder( which was obviously a meticulously planned  political hit) has manifold implications. The bogus haste to identify and punish his killers is disingenuous at best. Justice plays no role in this bloody mess. The man who spearheaded the Rationalist Movement in India, had enormous nuisance value for extremists of all hues. He threatened the status quo and directly dented the  multi- million dollar businesses of well entrenched, well connected individuals running the God Industry in India . Most ashrams with their dodgy  religious leaders are nothing more than fronts for politicians to launder ill-gotten wealth while simultaneously nurturing armies of  highly gullible  followers.  The money at stake is enormous. But more than the unbelievable amount of  lolly involved, it is the inordinate amount of  influence exerted by some of these fraudulent God People that politicians  brazenly tap into. It’s a cosy if sinister nexus that works for both – those venal netas and the wily God Guys. It’s a fair exchange -  money and votes, in return for protection and cover ups. Most of the established ashrams operate in a highly secretive, closed door fashion that does not permit closer scrutiny of their funding or functioning. Dr. Dabholkar’s life long activism against fraudulent  religious practices , made him a soft target. That there were forces out to destroy him, was known to intelligence agencies all along. That nobody acted on the information, can be construed as tacit complicity in this heinous crime.

Maharashtra’s C.M. is apparently keen on getting into Madam’s good books in Delhi. Perhaps that’s what made him  jump the gun and voice his suspicions about the identity of the killers ( hint: it’s the same blackguards who murdered the Mahatma!). What Shri Chavan ( who is known for his sobriety and restraint), needs to be reminded about is that he may be playing with fire with this case . We live in dangerous times. Every State is a tinder box, rife with issues that can ignite passions in a flash. Every political party is in search of  volatile subjects  that can be instantly whipped up and served hot to those interested in taking advantage of the mayhem that generally follows.Throwing politics  into the bubbling, over heated religious cauldron in a country like ours, has terrifying implications and repercussions. Intolerance and anarchy have become the rule. Dr. Dabholkar was well aware of the danger to his life when he proposed a sensible Bill to prevent and eradicate black magic,  over 18 years ago. That the Maharashtra government passed the ordinance in such unseemly haste, hours after he was killed, is shameful. It’s worse still that the haste is being described as a ‘tribute’ to the iconic leader’s legacy, when it’s nothing more than a cheap political trick aimed at appeasing the bosses in Delhi. Dr. Dabholkar would have scoffed at the clumsiness of the gesture.

His funeral pyre had not even been lit when strident and ugly voices tried to besmirch his name. It is not difficult to figure out why this man was so hated. What his enemies could not stomach was his contempt for them and their devious thinking. Dr. Dabholkar was not anti-religion, he was anti-superstition. He despised humbug and pseudo religious mumbo jumbo .That’s the difference. His killers were just hired thugs. But so well planned was the attack, that the motorcycle hitmen managed to get their target in two easy shots despite the close proximity of police chowkies and a nakabandi on the same road. This also establishes the lax and meaningless exercise we call policing in our state. Arresting and punishing the killers has little meaning, unless the government is equally scrupulous about investigating and revealing the identities of  the shadowy figures who hired the gunmen. But that will never happen. There’s much too much at stake. Namely, big bucks and a comfy gaddi.

That catchy old classic ‘Black Magic Woman’ is ringing inside my head and has been haunting me ever since Dr. Dabholkar’s martyrdom. It is tempting to say his enemy number one did jaadu tona on him and succeeded in  killing the one person who’d spent his life fighting the peddlers of  jaadu tona! What a monumental irony. R.I.P.