Could this be me?
By Sameera Chawla
Do I have to live in fear that this will be me? As a girl child living in the “free” nation I call my home, my sense of security has shattered completely, as a 17-year-old student almost finishing with her high school and soon aspiring to go abroad for her undergraduate studies, I am scared to face the world. On August 9th (2024), casually cruising my social media I stumbled upon deep horrors which I could never have imagined would so deeply shake my belief about the ethos I live in or the morals of the people in my nation.
31-Year-Old, Dr. Moumita Debnath was murdered and raped at RG Kar Medical College, Kolkata, West Bengal, this blasphemous incident has gruesome details that are nothing but inhumane to all of humanity, but further mentioning them takes away a whole chunk of my heart. My mother is 48 years old and a senior doctor and works day and night to save every soul that comes on her table. I would be lying if I say that fear does not consume me every day my mum goes to work and returns home late at night, there are days she does not respond to our calls and just to see the plight of my family being consumed by the fear that she might be in danger is a pain I might not be the only one who understands alone.
How am I supposed to go out into the world, when my own home that I so proudly call my nation cannot protect the victims and imprison the perpetrators for their crimes? Hiding behind “power” or what my generation likes to call “system” is so normalized. “Aa tujhe apna system dikhau” (come I’ll show you the power I have) but at what cost do you have this power? At the cost of a lady who aspired to only save lives and stand on her feet. One can only fathom what future desires she would have wanted to fulfill. Nearing the end of my teenage years, I have desires, aspirations, needs, and wants I wish to fulfill at all costs but I breakdown with the fear that when I go forward to pursue what I want, will I also face such blasphemous consequences? Would my extroverted personality be mistaken for something more? Or a respectful smile even?
I have only come to realize, that this is a canon event that shapes millions of women into who they are. I have the freedom to say that such hell risen incidents take place only to shake millions out of their ecosystems to protest and fight for justice and rights, evidently nothing changes and we in turn only forget about it, and it is forever stamped as a blood-stained horror in our books.
Sameera Chawla
Founder (ANTARA)
