Good morning. Would you like to get raped today?

Are women in India Sexual Objects of Mass Pleasure, meant to be looted whenever you can and wherever you could?

 My country was never like this. My country is a country of unity in diversity, colors, festivals, rich culture and poor yet happy people.

My country is a country where a Muslim child shares the same bench with a Hindu child and reads the stories of greatness of Buddha, taught by a Sikh teacher in a convent school.

The constitution of my country allows a Sikh to marry a Christian and a Maharashtrian to pursue his career in Delhi.

We all ate iftaari at Ramzan and lighted lamps on Diwali. The news of riots was only a newspaper item.

It is the only country where a Shia stays with a neighboring Sunni. It is the only country where parents feed their children first and if left, eat themselves.

I grew up in that India, where we were taught to respect  women, teachers and elders. My brother would treat me the same way as he would treat my colleague. My father sees a little naughty daughter in every girl he sees. We performed our pooja at home and were taught us that God punishes all the evil doers and every evil thoughts.

In the India of my time, I studied in co-educational schools/ colleges and boys of different age groups were my best buddies. I played with them, fought with them; fought for them, sometimes. I never realized I was any different from them, or that the times were going to change ever.

None threw acids on anyone. Not even accidently. None would rape anyone, except in movies where the hero would come to save the heroine to kick start the love story. And please, not infants. There were snakes, and not chopped bodies found in nullahs or bushes. 

The India where I grew, the women were not just lingerie- advertising-models. The women didn’t have so much to pressure to be beautiful all the times. There were no slimming centers and it was common for women to get fat after babies. The society respected them irrespective of their inch size.

There were no societal stigmas of late night. The families went together to watch late night movies and returned home safely. When Dad didn’t have a car, we used to go on our 1988 model of “LML Vespa” everywhere.  The roads were silent but safe. It was safe to return home after attending marriages where mom used to wear all entire jewelery to show off her to her friends.

Haunted houses, unused pathways, desolated buildings. We played everywhere. No man, no watchman, no gardener, no fruit seller, no drug addict, no unemployed youth ever touched us.  

I probably lived in a friendlier India where daughters were daughters and sisters were sisters, and the women were not sexual objects of mass pleasure, meant to be looted whenever you can and wherever you could!

And am not going to discuss any laws today.

Today morning, I read of another Swiss national in India who was camping with her husband, raped. I was................. I really have no words to express. Really..... Only if my remorse could reverse the fact. 

It has not been too long when I left India in that condition. May be Indian men have changed. May be Mother India, is ripped (or raped) off her soul. May be she is muted forever so that she can never speak of her pain.

A Chinese friend planned to come with me to see India. She was so excited until I had to cancel my trip owing to issues at work. I assured her, "You can still go by yourself. Stay with my family. My mother, my brother and my father would take care of you and show you around".

She replied, "No. I don't want to get raped". Her remark has left a permanent mark on my face.

May be there is no India left to return to....