I'm coughing as I type these words. It's been more than a week my whole body is not functioning properly. My wife insists I see a doc but I hesitate. The check ups, the prescriptions and the tablets nauseate me. Talking about typing, I got my PC recently. A computer of my own after three years of working in this office! Sounds strange, but it's true. Lately, I've been busy chasing stories for my magazine. At times, I did two stories for a single issue that kept me busy while this blog gently weeped!
Some times, I wonder where life will lead me, thinking day in day out about how to do another better story. And, another, yet another. This endless chase! The existential dilemma haunts me. But, a part of me says, work is the sole remedy. So, I sit in my desk and type or read or ponder over.
Yesterday, as I was reading a book in my room at Kausaltar, I heard a voice (or rather voices): Chor!Chor! (thief! thief). A teenager clad in black T-shirt and jeans was running away in the main road. He was chased by a bunch of boys. He crossed a few bystanders. I prayed for his safety. But, half an hour later, he was brought back to the scene from where he alleged stole a necklace from an old woman.
When he was produced in the scene, a police van was following. Suddenly, every one started to kick him, punch him and what not... You can just imagine... I asked to myself: why are these people taking law in their hands. Is this the right way to punish the accused? He too has his right to defend or go through the legal procedure. We hear that in Arabic country, a thief is punished by severing his hand. An adulterer is punished by throwing stones upon him. Now, we claim that ours is a liberal society. Where is the tolerance? Where is the compassion? I was helpless and ashamed as I watched from afar, the boy being ruthlessly beaten. Later in the evening, my brother told me he succumbed to the injury. Let that news be false.
We are heading towards barbarity and inhumanity. It's a bad world.
9 comments:
Miss Million said:...
A million dollar question: Where is humanity?
Well, it has been abducted. We did it. But nice to know that some of us still crave it; call it humaness or humanity.
Our ego abducted the humanity in fact. If I am wrong, forgive me.
Thanks. Miss Million.
In Mars I guess.
I guess you've the power of writing. So you must write an article about it to educate the people. How wrong it is to beat people to death no matter even if it is a thief because then it would make them worse than thief. Same is the case when the mob try to put the fire into vehicle or beat the driver in the scenes of accident. I'd be very grateful to you if you can publish something about this on media.
Good luck.
Only last night, I came up with this banner for my project.
Blogging to CHANGE the World?
Yes- we are impotents! Those of us who feel 'humanity' at heart but fails to bring it outside.
If they are beating the boy- it's his problem.Why should I go and try to make enemies myself? This kind of attitude is responsible for his death- if he really succumbed to his injuries.
Deepakji, life will lead us there where we would have least imagined. Yes, I love to be a workaholic because when I'm busy I forget about the pain- the pain I feel for the "defeat" and not for the 'death' of humanity. But you're doing a good job by making yourself think. Change yourself first- to change the world.
Although, people believe that nothing would happen through writing no matter where you write- in papers or blogs- I know I'm stupid to think that I can change the world.
I hope your mature thoughts would not mind to reconsider your second thoughts- next time when you hear sth like "Chor!Chor" and find yourself in the same kind of situation- please remember- if you had only gathered courage to fight against the barbarity and inhumanity- one life could have been saved...
Either do what you write and your heart tells- or stop remorsefully asking the question- Where is the humanity? It's inside your heart- time for little soul-searching,Deepakji.
Didn't police do anything to stop that Deepakjee?
i do understand what you gonna say. we can do nothing till the system get good itself here.
www.blogtantra.com
Dear Deepak Jee,
Thanks for thought provoking blog. Firstly, let me wish you sound health. (Hope you are ok by now). And I must tell you that we are all fatigued by everyday chores. As a journalist, you find it endless job in creating stories. And in my job, I find it the same. But, I take a break and start visiting blogs or writing my own blogs or reading some newspapers.
1) jobs are endless chores everywhere
We all need a break from routine work becuase of its being burdensome. And why our works are burdensome? This question has hit me many times and with some insight I have come to this conclusion that our jobs in hands are burdensome becuase we have to be a performer in our profession. In our respective professions, there are always somebody looking us up and down. And to avoid failures, we have to do our job and pressure of having to do it make us feel it quite boring at times. A job done under compulsion is always like that, whether you are a teacher or a scribe. This applies everywhere. So, I understand why you are always looking for better stoy and why your are finding your search an endless chase. Please wait for the day. And you may know that the day when you will stop chasing is the day is when you will start forcing others to go chasing a better story. I mean when you are promoted, I am pretty sure that you will not have to go for this chasing. And promotion does not mean elevation in official hierarchy only. It can be anything.
2) sickening vigilanteism
Now let me come to main content of this blog. You have raised valid points whether we, as common Nepalis, hold divine rights to lynch somebody to death for petty crimes? This vigilanteism for ready-made justice can not be frustrations of public against law enforcement agencies only. Till some decades back, whenever a theif is caught, he was either tied with rope and handed over to the police or put him in public display for a few hours. People would not have dared to touch the thief. People would have waited for law enforcers to do whatever they wanted to do according to legal process.
But, today, people are not waiting for even arrival of police and they are meting out their own treatments to a thief or a petty criminal. In this situation, a big question that sticks around is; what if the criminal in question is not a real criminal. If the person, who is lynched to death, is either victim of mistaken identity or victimized systematically, then it is nothing but a criminal action only. People need to know that their venting out anger against crimes can sometimes turn themselves into criminals.
3) raise awareness
It is really saddening to know that after bloody war in Nepal, many of us are dehumanized. With ever increasing fallen bodies, we have become used to deaths and killings. And pyschologically, we are turning into insensistive people. But, we can not let it perpetuate longer. Sensible people need to caution everyone before taking laws at their own hands. We need to warn people that if they start attacking people under the pretext of some crimes, they, too, can be apprehended for criminal actions. We need to tell less matured heads that process of justice is through legal agencies.
Let us continue raising awareness against such inhuman practices. Thanks for relevant blog.
Dear Deepak Jee,
Thanks for thought provoking blog. Firstly, let me wish you sound health. (Hope you are ok by now). And I must tell you that we are all fatigued by everyday chores. As a journalist, you find it endless job in creating stories. And in my job, I find it the same. But, I take a break and start visiting blogs or writing my own blogs or reading some newspapers.
1) jobs are endless chores everywhere
We all need a break from routine work becuase of its being burdensome. And why our works are burdensome? This question has hit me many times and with some insight I have come to this conclusion that our jobs in hands are burdensome becuase we have to be a performer in our profession. In our respective professions, there are always somebody looking us up and down. And to avoid failures, we have to do our job and pressure of having to do it make us feel it quite boring at times. A job done under compulsion is always like that, whether you are a teacher or a scribe. This applies everywhere. So, I understand why you are always looking for better stoy and why your are finding your search an endless chase. Please wait for the day. And you may know that the day when you will stop chasing is the day is when you will start forcing others to go chasing a better story. I mean when you are promoted, I am pretty sure that you will not have to go for this chasing. And promotion does not mean elevation in official hierarchy only. It can be anything.
2) sickening vigilanteism
Now let me come to main content of this blog. You have raised valid points whether we, as common Nepalis, hold divine rights to lynch somebody to death for petty crimes? This vigilanteism for ready-made justice can not be frustrations of public against law enforcement agencies only. Till some decades back, whenever a theif is caught, he was either tied with rope and handed over to the police or put him in public display for a few hours. People would not have dared to touch the thief. People would have waited for law enforcers to do whatever they wanted to do according to legal process.
But, today, people are not waiting for even arrival of police and they are meting out their own treatments to a thief or a petty criminal. In this situation, a big question that sticks around is; what if the criminal in question is not a real criminal. If the person, who is lynched to death, is either victim of mistaken identity or victimized systematically, then it is nothing but a criminal action only. People need to know that their venting out anger against crimes can sometimes turn themselves into criminals.
3) raise awareness
It is really saddening to know that after bloody war in Nepal, many of us are dehumanized. With ever increasing fallen bodies, we have become used to deaths and killings. And pyschologically, we are turning into insensistive people. But, we can not let it perpetuate longer. Sensible people need to caution everyone before taking laws at their own hands. We need to warn people that if they start attacking people under the pretext of some crimes, they, too, can be apprehended for criminal actions. We need to tell less matured heads that process of justice is through legal agencies.
Let us continue raising awareness against such inhuman practices. Thanks for relevant blog.
A moving post Deepak. I can relate to it as this is pretty much the same picture for my community back in Bangladesh. All the developing countries suffer from this.
Some say non-effective rule of law is causing these people to take law in their own hands. But nobody questions why these poorly paid and ill-trained and equipped policemen has to take additional responsibilities. Nobody questions why this teenager (who could be my brother) is choosing this path, what problems does he have?
I think the lack of compassion (which is new to our societies - just look back towards our glorious history as a civilization) where we are being targeted to consumerism - inequality of rich and poor. We are being more selfish day - by -day.
My experience living in a welfare state for the past year tells that
generally they are a proud nation. They don't like to beg or steal although one in five children in Berlin is living under poverty as their parents are on social security. Probably because the difference between rich and poor is not superficial or evident. Sense of equality is there people do not even bother if you are a minister, you have to be in the queue as nobody is ready to give you any VIP treatment.
We need to work on our self esteem and helping each other in the community if we want to gain a positive change.
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