The ‘rape culture’ and lost vision of society

Gargi R Prasannan
August 9, 2020

I was studying in 10th grade when I read the Malayalam story ‘Moovanthi’ which means the ‘Dusk’ written by P Padmarajan, an eminent Malayalam writer. It was a great shock for me to imagine the content of the story where a blind daughter is getting raped by her own father. But now, after 5 years I am not surprised by the news reports published about the rapes and assaults happening towards infants to old aged people. Because this has been normalised like anything.

Few days back, every news houses covered a report about a 75-year old woman’s rape and assault by three persons in God’s own country, Kerala. No one was shocked because this incident is one among those which is happening around us every day. The increasing number of sexual abuses and assaults in the country is being neglected by everyone which is now leading to a very dangerous situation. The crime is so brutal both to the mental and vital condition of a person but still it prevails. We should ask to ourselves why this is happening. The mentality of the people towards others has changed drastically and they can’t even recognise their own blood or a lady with the age of their mother. 

The question is not only about the crime but also about the ‘punishments’ giving to the culprits involved in the crime. The judicial system of the country disappoints with its loopholes every time when these types of cases appear in the court. The judicial procedure itself takes years to give the final judgement and the common people should think how many times the judgement gave the satisfaction. We should seriously think about the 2011 Soumya murder case, where she was brutally raped, assaulted and killed by Govindhachami and nothing happened to him. Who saved Govindhachami and many others like him every time?

There are people who still believe that the time, attire and attitude of women is the reason behind such crimes. But how will they justify a 4-month-old baby raped and killed in Lucknow, the rape case of boys and a woman of 75-years getting raped. The problem is not with the time or attire but the mentality of the current society. The situation now tells everyone to be careful even with your own family members. During my teenage, my mother was scared about me travelling alone and asked to keep distance from unknown people. Now I wonder about the advices that a mother probably give to her child. At what age of her child will she start to give advices to be careful? And to keep distance from whom?

If you are not paying attention towards these type of crimes it is just because you believe that your loved ones are safe from all these. But you are terribly mistaken. The current situation of our society guarantees no safety to anyone. It is better to be careful and take care of the people around you. There is darkness behind every warm light you see.

 

Gargi R Prasannan is an Under Graduate student of Journalism and Mass Communication in Nitte Institute of Communication, Derlakatte, Mangaluru.

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Madhu Mailankody
August 9,2020

“What made you choose anchoring as a profession?”

This question has been tossed at me on various occasions by youngsters and elders. Each time I am asked this; I take a moment to pause and ask myself if I chose it or it chose me. 

The reasons are many. For one; I was pursuing my masters in media and communication focused on a career in Public Relations. Secondly; I never thought that hosting non-television events as a compere existed as a profession. But it so happened that my dream of a PR job was shattered by the college I chose. They refused to tutor me in the specialisation I opted for in spite of doing well academically after the first year ( I topped, but yeah didn’t matter) The excuse they had was that not many in the batch wanted the specialisation and they dint find it viable to spend time or money on it. I was given an option to choose between print media or broadcast. I didn’t want both.

I didn’t go to college for a few days. I wanted to make up my mind on what to do. That is when I was asked by a friend to host a talent hunt in a few colleges for a corporate brand. I was familiar with anchoring and voiceovers in school and college; just went ahead without giving it much thought. Ten days passed; the event got done with successfully and I received my first cheque. But the bonus was another offer to host for few more brands. 

I was happy; why not! I enjoyed hosting and it paid money! 

However, I made one last attempt to check with college about specialisation in corporate communication. After all that is what I had enrolled for. 

But no. My dream, time and money didn’t mean a thing to them. 

So Yes! I QUIT. 

Quit college, quit my masters programme hoping I enrol myself in a better college next year. The plan was to just live life one day at a time until then and host events whenever they came my way. 

But the admission next year never happened. I never went back to academics. Instead I continued hosting shows which kept me happy. 

But the irony of it all that is that I chose to not specialise and get my masters degree in broadcast which the college had coaxed me to and today I work as a successful broadcaster with Star Sports Network! 

So yeah; who chose who I don’t really know.

 

Madhu Mailankody is a sports presenter at Star Sports Network and professional MC

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