14th August, 2004

aloque | 14 Aug 2004, 11:16pm

My reading of the newspaper is usually restricted to the sports page and the cinema page every so often, but reading this morning's edition I came across all these protests about the Chatterjee hanging. I wonder what the protestors would deem an ideal punishment for the rape and murder of their 14 year old sister/daughter. I am guilty of detachment just the same as these people are, even if at opposite ends of the spectrum. That I am in the comfort of my own home is probably an insignificant issue. If they protest for the life of a murderer, what exactly are their feelings for the victim? In theory, I do not subscribe to vindictive justice, that a person has to be punished by society for a crime. What is the issue involved in this? What is the take-home message? That rape and murder are unforgivable crimes? That this punishment is to dissuade future offenders? That this is justice? Then why is this the first capital punishment in India in almost a decade? Has only one woman been raped and murdered in all this time? That Hetal Parekh had to die at age 14, thats unjust. That Chatterjee had to be hanged, singled out from an ocean of filth, is surely unjust as well. I think the bastard deserved to die for taking someone else's life into his own hands, but not this way, when thousands of people who have done the same or more are roaming free. Its only reinforces the belief that people are innocent until caught redhanded. That is the take-home message.

Current Mood: Worried
Current Music: none

 

!4th August 2004

aloque | 14 Aug 2004, 10:30pm

Courage is a funny thing. I would be borrowing words when I say, "First you got to do the thing that scares you shitless, and then you get the courage to do it", but when someone else has already said it better than I could, then I see no shame in borrowing them, with the appropriate gratitude, of course.

Had a strange feeling last night as I was driving back home. Maybe its was because I was listening to someone talking about something similar the day before, but for the first time ever, I felt like I knew too many people and had too less time to spend with them. I guess that on some level, I had been asking for that for ever. Now that it has happened, I don't quite know what to think of it.



Current Mood: Thoughtful
Current Music: none

 
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