In pain :(

Today I thought of walking back from work. Krishnan dropped me off in the morning and walked over in the evening to pick me up. The distance was probably just under 2.5 kms – really a short walk but it took us 40 mins !!

The cacophony of horns blaring, the garbage spilling on the sidewalk, the iron pipes jutting out in some odd pattern, the beggars jostling, the odd roadside lout trying to brush against you, the buses nearly brushing you…… And the gorgeous Bangalore weather ! This short walk is so much like our life in India. The cacophony of everyone speaking at home, work, marketplace – we don’t like silence, it scares us because our soul’s garbage is spilling, what else can explain the gangrape of that poor girl ??

Every one of us are beggars jostling for attention, for love, for money, for reaching that peak stepping over every other beggar, get that piece of gold ahead of everyone else, jostling for that piece of flesh – so poor in spirit, so tight fisted, so small-hearted 🙁

The odd roadside lout sometimes drives a Merc, sometimes walks, sometimes becomes a politician, sometimes a police chief, sometimes a high ranking lawyer – don’t be fooled by the Merc or the Ivy League education, the lout comes in all forms.

The iron pipes meant to trip and hurt you … the buses mercifully kill you – no half measures !

The Taj Mahal, the gorgeous weather, the blooming rhododendrons, the Mahabharata, the Buddha, the Mahatma, the Sam Manekshaw, the Adi Sankara, the AryaBhatta …. All co-exist and came from the same cacophony, jostlers, louts – Gangrape and the Mahatma happen in the same universal moment, Gangrape and The Buddha happen in the same cosmic continuum !

We need large brooms, and strong cleansers that work on the human mind and heart – if we want the stench to give way to the sweet smelling “attar” !! I am scared to even hope.

It wasn’t only that poor girl’s vagina that was torn – my beloved India is today spineless, heartless, loveless, her bosom scarred, her body violated, she is cringing in shame and we go about our chores – mindlessly.