In your internet explorer browser, try and type the name “Scarlett Keeling” in the search space. Just look at the 4th and 5th result. The 4th result is a report from the Daily Mail that quotes Scarlett’s mother to be an “aggressive tigress” rather than a “concerned mother”. And the 5th result is from The Telegraph that says that Scarlett had a drinking problem.
Scarlett’s case has become a sensation ever since her body was discovered on the popular Anjuna Beach in Goa and the departed teenager’s mother has become a philanthropist of sorts. A mother who is fighting for her dead daughter’s justice- a mother who has persevered inspite of all odds against her (may I ask what are the odds for God’s sake?!) – A mother who is concerned about her daughter, sorry, dead daughter’s fate (why the hell did she then send her all alone in that place?)
I came across Fiona’s picture in the widely read tabloid Mumbai Mirror with the caption, “Lone Fighter” on the top. A morose Fiona seated beneath the trees in Mumbai’s Cooper Hospital who has now proposed to go to her home town and perform the last rites, and then, come back and seek justice for the daughter. Hail Fiona, the “Lone Fighter”!
Then, may I ask, what should we call the hundreds of women the world over who are raped brutally and left to fend for themselves, the scars of the trauma fresh and the mind almost ripped to shreds from the ordeal? What should Muhktar Mai be called, the lady who braved the fraudulent system of her country and fought for justice till the end? In her case, the use of the word, “odds” was very much apt- she was a lady from the lower caste with no financial aid or legal aid to battle against the men who so cruelly raped her. She had no education and hence no idea about human rights, leave alone, fundamental rights. Her family was not supportive of her nor were any others, yet, she had the courage to speak up and take the case to the U.N. Not stopping her battle for justice there, she went ahead and built a school in Pakistan, the first one to be so in her village. There too she faced hurdles, but there was no stopping to her spiritedness. So much was her concern for other women who had to face similar circumstances that she even built a cell for their redress.
In Mumbai Mirror itself I came across a write up by Sapna Bhavnani which spoke of a young girl in Chicago, of Indian origins who worked as a bar tender. Drunk, one night, the girl left the bar alone for home. She was raped by four white collared guys on the cold winter night and left with the wounds in the snow. Writing to Sapna from Chicago, the brave woman said, “Sapna, I chose to write to you with a hope that you will print my story. My story is lived by so many women everyday and unheard. I’d rather say yes and give in than be raped again. I don’t need your sympathy. I don’t need a reply. I just want to be heard. My journey has just begun. I am the “math” in the “aftermath”.
Scarlett was raped. But she was fortunately murdered. I say, “Fortunately” because she does not have the misfortune of living with the scars or going through the trauma. She does not have to fight for justice by narrating what exactly happened in the bar uncountable number of times to the cops, to police commissioners, to lawyers and in front of a jury. She does not have to show her wounds to anyone and become red faced. I believe her mother would not have blown up the case to such proportions had her daughter been alive. Or would she have? I believe not. Because a million rape cases go unreported because of the trauma of just going through all that has been enumerated above.
Fiona has done nothing really apart from just alleging. She alleged the laidback attitude of the Goan cops and then the CM of Goa of being involved in drugs. And whoa! Overnight, Ms. Fiona became the torch bearer of concerned mothers in India to such an extent that candle light rallies are undertaken when Scarlett’s body is brought in Mumbai.
Back in her hometown, she is accused of being mentally unstable. But, as anticipated, she rubbished the reports.
Goa is being labeled unsafe for foreign tourists. Goa- a quiet locale, abode of the fishermen and its uninvolved, secular inhabitants- had not known bars, drugs, drinks and raves until the foreigners set foot on it and brought with them their flaky, oddball fantasies.
And, may I ask how safe is that nation where open sex is not a new phenomenon, where young girls menstruate at the tender age of 6 and where teenage pregnancies are on the rise? How safe will a good looking Indian girl be in a nation where she is hooted at when she wears spaghettis or even if she wears full length kurtis? How can we guarantee no chance of rape on a female Indian tourist where men are as sexually activated and have the same libido as men the world over?
Why is Fiona whining about her daughter raped in India when, in her hometown, the same would have occurred, taking into consideration the attitude she has about the freedom that should be given to adolescent children. But, why won’t she do so if we are willing to give so much of coverage to her and acclaim her to be a considerate, caring mother and make headlines out of her baseless comments and count of the number of scars on Scarlett’s body.
Rapes are not new incidents in our nation. They happen frequently and in a much more grotesque manner than Scarlett’s case. They take place at every level of the society- right from the downtrodden to the high class white collared community. But Scarlett was a white, a Briton- people who are worshipped and marveled at in a nation like ours, treated like celebrities, or more so, like people from another planet itself. So, rape on Ms. Scarlett is a sensation, a weighty issue that we just cannot happen to ignore. Had a Ms. Nayar been raped in the U.K., not a dog would have bothered to take note of it, let alone, report it.
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Note to Fiona: We don’t want justifications about anyone’s character. Nor do we want any more allegations on our nation’s political and defense body. Having lived in this country much before you came here on your, “Dream Trip”, and above all being citizens of this land, we very well know how our country functions and are well versed with its day to day mechanisms. Thank you very much, for throwing light on how biased and dysfunctional our police force is and how corrupt our chief ministers are. We appreciate you for sympathizing with us about how ill fated we are to be living under such merciful conditions where basic justice is denied to us. We too, feel poignant about your narrow outlook that fights for only “your” daughter’s justice. We commiserate the fact that you are so hungry for notoriety that you can go to any lengths- even pollute the image of those who are not so as you spuriously claim them to be. Well Ms. “Lone Fighter”, you ask for justice, and, get it you will- for we may be deduced to be a bribable and imprudent populace, but, compassionless and implacable we are not.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Note to the media: We all, atleast most of us, have an idea of the truth behind this incident. So, we expect better and much more momentous stories in the future.
Scarlett’s case has become a sensation ever since her body was discovered on the popular Anjuna Beach in Goa and the departed teenager’s mother has become a philanthropist of sorts. A mother who is fighting for her dead daughter’s justice- a mother who has persevered inspite of all odds against her (may I ask what are the odds for God’s sake?!) – A mother who is concerned about her daughter, sorry, dead daughter’s fate (why the hell did she then send her all alone in that place?)
I came across Fiona’s picture in the widely read tabloid Mumbai Mirror with the caption, “Lone Fighter” on the top. A morose Fiona seated beneath the trees in Mumbai’s Cooper Hospital who has now proposed to go to her home town and perform the last rites, and then, come back and seek justice for the daughter. Hail Fiona, the “Lone Fighter”!
Then, may I ask, what should we call the hundreds of women the world over who are raped brutally and left to fend for themselves, the scars of the trauma fresh and the mind almost ripped to shreds from the ordeal? What should Muhktar Mai be called, the lady who braved the fraudulent system of her country and fought for justice till the end? In her case, the use of the word, “odds” was very much apt- she was a lady from the lower caste with no financial aid or legal aid to battle against the men who so cruelly raped her. She had no education and hence no idea about human rights, leave alone, fundamental rights. Her family was not supportive of her nor were any others, yet, she had the courage to speak up and take the case to the U.N. Not stopping her battle for justice there, she went ahead and built a school in Pakistan, the first one to be so in her village. There too she faced hurdles, but there was no stopping to her spiritedness. So much was her concern for other women who had to face similar circumstances that she even built a cell for their redress.
In Mumbai Mirror itself I came across a write up by Sapna Bhavnani which spoke of a young girl in Chicago, of Indian origins who worked as a bar tender. Drunk, one night, the girl left the bar alone for home. She was raped by four white collared guys on the cold winter night and left with the wounds in the snow. Writing to Sapna from Chicago, the brave woman said, “Sapna, I chose to write to you with a hope that you will print my story. My story is lived by so many women everyday and unheard. I’d rather say yes and give in than be raped again. I don’t need your sympathy. I don’t need a reply. I just want to be heard. My journey has just begun. I am the “math” in the “aftermath”.
Scarlett was raped. But she was fortunately murdered. I say, “Fortunately” because she does not have the misfortune of living with the scars or going through the trauma. She does not have to fight for justice by narrating what exactly happened in the bar uncountable number of times to the cops, to police commissioners, to lawyers and in front of a jury. She does not have to show her wounds to anyone and become red faced. I believe her mother would not have blown up the case to such proportions had her daughter been alive. Or would she have? I believe not. Because a million rape cases go unreported because of the trauma of just going through all that has been enumerated above.
Fiona has done nothing really apart from just alleging. She alleged the laidback attitude of the Goan cops and then the CM of Goa of being involved in drugs. And whoa! Overnight, Ms. Fiona became the torch bearer of concerned mothers in India to such an extent that candle light rallies are undertaken when Scarlett’s body is brought in Mumbai.
Back in her hometown, she is accused of being mentally unstable. But, as anticipated, she rubbished the reports.
Goa is being labeled unsafe for foreign tourists. Goa- a quiet locale, abode of the fishermen and its uninvolved, secular inhabitants- had not known bars, drugs, drinks and raves until the foreigners set foot on it and brought with them their flaky, oddball fantasies.
And, may I ask how safe is that nation where open sex is not a new phenomenon, where young girls menstruate at the tender age of 6 and where teenage pregnancies are on the rise? How safe will a good looking Indian girl be in a nation where she is hooted at when she wears spaghettis or even if she wears full length kurtis? How can we guarantee no chance of rape on a female Indian tourist where men are as sexually activated and have the same libido as men the world over?
Why is Fiona whining about her daughter raped in India when, in her hometown, the same would have occurred, taking into consideration the attitude she has about the freedom that should be given to adolescent children. But, why won’t she do so if we are willing to give so much of coverage to her and acclaim her to be a considerate, caring mother and make headlines out of her baseless comments and count of the number of scars on Scarlett’s body.
Rapes are not new incidents in our nation. They happen frequently and in a much more grotesque manner than Scarlett’s case. They take place at every level of the society- right from the downtrodden to the high class white collared community. But Scarlett was a white, a Briton- people who are worshipped and marveled at in a nation like ours, treated like celebrities, or more so, like people from another planet itself. So, rape on Ms. Scarlett is a sensation, a weighty issue that we just cannot happen to ignore. Had a Ms. Nayar been raped in the U.K., not a dog would have bothered to take note of it, let alone, report it.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Note to Fiona: We don’t want justifications about anyone’s character. Nor do we want any more allegations on our nation’s political and defense body. Having lived in this country much before you came here on your, “Dream Trip”, and above all being citizens of this land, we very well know how our country functions and are well versed with its day to day mechanisms. Thank you very much, for throwing light on how biased and dysfunctional our police force is and how corrupt our chief ministers are. We appreciate you for sympathizing with us about how ill fated we are to be living under such merciful conditions where basic justice is denied to us. We too, feel poignant about your narrow outlook that fights for only “your” daughter’s justice. We commiserate the fact that you are so hungry for notoriety that you can go to any lengths- even pollute the image of those who are not so as you spuriously claim them to be. Well Ms. “Lone Fighter”, you ask for justice, and, get it you will- for we may be deduced to be a bribable and imprudent populace, but, compassionless and implacable we are not.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Note to the media: We all, atleast most of us, have an idea of the truth behind this incident. So, we expect better and much more momentous stories in the future.
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