At the outset please note that the my intention is not to hurt the sentiments of any community or sect. I am, in fact, amazed that I need to write this article in the hope of bringing fellow citizens back in focus.
The utter ridiculousness that we, as a country, have been reducing ourselves to is evident on local and social media. The wanton criticism on whether or not cow meat should be sold or eaten etc. is honestly, for now, not my concern. I don’t eat beef not does my family so it being on a menu or off it, has no significant bearing on me as a person.
What has me absolutely dismayed and disgusted is the fact that news debates and social media is rife with what should be done to protect these animals (who for the record have no idea that they’ve left even the Khan’s collective popularity behind) instead of focusing on impending problems starting with women’s safety.
Late last week, a young woman posted about her fear of travelling by metro because she was being stalked. But apart from a day worth of tweeting, facebooking and minor media coverage, no one really thought of it as essential enough to ensure a law is made to save women from harassment on public transport and in public places. Cyber crime is on the rise, the naxals have been causing trouble at various places but not many are even thinking on those fronts; and how would we, especially when we’re deciding the National Menu!
I am a woman and I find it unsafe to be travelling after sun down especially via public transport but sometimes the work happens to keep me back so should I not work anymore?
I would love to join a debate as frivolous as whether cow meat should be on the menu or not. Seriously just make the law, stop the distribution, get it going and be done with it! Eminent personalities are tweeting and talking about this issue which for me is a non-issue the minute you say it’s officially banned. If I got the picture I’m sure every sensible Indian understood the sentiments. I’m not indulging into whether cow meat should be sold or not because there is enough of masala on every media for you to satisfy yourself with.
As for the media, it is either the sensationalism on the border or their utter frivolous conversations on cows that makes the larger picture of people dying, women being raped, children on streets a miniscule problem; one that doesn’t require more importance than a fly on the wall.
We, as a country, have become the butt of international jokes and still all that we can think of is someone organising a beef fest and someone getting banged up as a consequence. I’m not condoning what happened. What I’m saying is if such news doesn’t make it to the public domain 24/7 we could all focus on what we need to be doing to make the real world a safer place to live in not just for the animal kingdom but for humans as well.
Read more: India needs intolerance more than ever
It’s enraging enough to know that my value as a human is now being undermined and I need to speak for my rights in front of animal lovers. There was a time when the opposite happened.
Well so much for me being a woman and for my rights being protected. It’s a shame that I have to be demanding for security and protection from the very country that I belong to.
The current situation reminds me of an old quote by George Carlin which reads:
“We’re so self-important. So arrogant. Everybody’s going to save something now. Save the trees, save the bees, save the whales, save the snails. And the supreme arrogance? Save the planet! Are these people kidding? Save the planet? We don’t even know how to take care of ourselves; we haven’t learned how to care for one another. We’re gonna save the planet?”
Replace the word planet with cows and you will know exactly what I mean in a nutshell.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are the personal opinions of the author. The facts and opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of NEWSD and NEWSD does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.
