Sunday 21 May 2017

The dabaang girls

The dabaang girls


The neighbourhood toughie is known as a Bhai in Bharat. I don't know why or how this nomenclature came about. After all, why should a bad boy be addressed by terms of endearment. To put it simply, ‘bhai’ means brother. But here is my theory. When the neighbourhood people were disturbed by the antics of the toughie, and desired to be left alone, they started addressing him as a bhai, just to get into his good books, that is, if he had any. They hoped that by calling him a ‘bhai’, his filial feelings were woken up, and directed towards them. It also was an attempt to massage the ego of the tough one.
Nowadays, the neighbourhood girls are giving the neighbourhood bhai’s a run for their money. Or so it seems, going by three small news articles in the corner of the inner pages of this week’s newspapers. One was in Kanpur and the other one, in Pune and the last one, in Kerala.
The city of Kanpur. The Khamaria household is happy and celebrating the long drawn out marriage ceremony of the second son, Atul Singh. Usually in an Indian marriage, the groom goes in a procession to the bride’s residence. But here, the groom and his family, is in for a surprise. Suddenly a girl arrives, with the usual band-baaja-baarat, and many men in her procession, dancing away with gay abandon. Suddenly the girl whips out a revolver and fires a few rounds into the air. Thinking that the girl is a little extra extravagant, the grooms family plays along, but not for long. For the girl aims the revolver at the groom, while at the same time, revealing her face by lifting her pallu. The groom is shocked to say the least. For, the girl wielding the revolver is non other than his ex-girlfriend, Akanksha. Akanksha then goes on to abduct the groom, with the help of her associates, directly from the wedding mandap. The grooms family is still in denial, with this sudden development. And the city of Kanpur is in awe of the dabang mahila.
It's Pune. The laid back city, known long back as a retirees heaven, but today taken over by a cosmopolitan culture due to the fast development of the IT industry. A wedding in the Kulkarni family, the groom, boisterously enjoying his last night as a bachelor with his friends. His wedding mandap constructed outside his house, whitewashed just the night before, by the wedding contractor, stands ready for the next day celebrations. As the night enters the early morning hours, the noise levels go down and the groom and his friends, retire for the night. A few shadowy figures, with shawls covering their faces, make their way to the mandap, with bottles in hand. The contents of the bottles are emptied on the mandap cloth and then with a flick of a matchstick, the entire mandap is up in flames and reduced to ashes in a few minutes. The heat and roaring fire wakes up the groom and his family, and he sees his ex-girlfriend, escaping into the shadows.
The incident from Kerala is the most mind numbing. It shows the world of counterfeit godmen who think nothing of stealing from men or raping women, all in the garb of religion. It is the story of a girl, abused and molested by one such character, who had to bear the humiliation and torture from last many years. One day she decided, enough was enough. So the next time he came on visit to her house for some ceremonies, she  feigned sleep, with a newly sharpened knife below her pillows. As expected, he came near her in the still of the night, and in a few minutes, he barged out of the room, howling aloud in severe pain, holding onto his loins. Bobbitised!
These incidents show that at least a few girls in the country, will now stand up for their honour and their rights and not be cowed down by society. More power to them.
Yatindra Tawde

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