The Hindu Taliban

I dread reading tomorrow's newspaper.

Last weekend, yet another woman (this time a journalist) was assaulted by two bikers on Mount Carmel road. The journalist was punched in the face before she quickly recovered and grabbed the pillion rider's shirt. The man fell off the bike but both of the riders managed to run away. Cowards. They have no issues in ganging up on lone women but are such wimps when they're challenged back.

First of all, good for the woman because she managed to hit back. Second of all, it's such a pity that she couldn't do more (like kick those men in the family jewels, for starters).

Any person with an ounce of common sense and tolerance condemns the Mangalore pub attacks. It seems that the Bangalore attacks on women have been inspired by the Mangalore ones.

I fail to understand the psyche of an individual who feels it's Indian to abuse and assault women. Who thinks its morally wrong for women to drink or wear jeans but feels its perfectly alright for men to do the same. Who stress that a sari is the icon of Indian culture. Yesterday, inspite of wearing a salwar kameez, I still attracted the wrong kind of attention on the street. Say, wasn't I being 'Indian'? Why did those perverts still materialize? It's like, no matter what you do, you end up losing anyway.

The attacks affair is more than just about inequality (men can do this; women can't do the same). It's also about the inability to tolerate others who live around you.

Last time I checked, India was a free country. The SRS, Muthalik or similar clowns can't dictate what people should and should not do. Apart from anything else, it's in violation of a human being's basic rights to freedom.

By the way, how different is the SRS from LeT? As far as I'm concerned, SRS is just a few steps behind. All the SRS needs to do is kill women. Else they have pretty much 'terrorized' women anyway, which is basically what LeT does: terrorize people. Such groups, needless to say, need to be outlawed and such miscreants need to be caught. Would the Government take such measures? At least to save their seats in the upcoming elections?

Am not sure about that. As for me, I now carry pepper spray in my bag since I usually travel alone. I've also saved my friends' numbers on speed dial.

So this is what the world has come to.