The Difference Between Ignorance And Apathy

Today as they finished operating, the surgeons' of the patient I provided anesthesia to were not discussing her. They were discussing someone else. The same someone the people in my gym, trainers and gym goers, were talking about. 

Last night as I returned from dinner at Khan market at around 11:00 pm, a group of young people were running around the India Gate Circle, holding posters, surrounding a police car. Peacefully. Shouting slogans.  For the same person I heard people discussing today.

I confess..... I don't have the guts to talk about her.  I don't like knowing about her injuries. The physical ones that might heal or the mental ones that will probably not. I don't like to think about what her friend went through. The pain and anguish he felt. I can't bring myself to imagine what her family is feeling. Or whether they are too numb to feel anything right now. I can't pretend to understand what they are going through. 

I don't have the guts to offer my support to them........Because, frankly, I don't know how to support them. 

Ignorance is when you don't know. Apathy is when you don't care. 

So, am I ignorant or apathetic?

 

Or am I just too scared. 

Too scared to get on the bus to go home. Because- IT'S A BUS. And IT'S DARK IN DELHI AFTER 5:45PM. 

Too scared of the feeling of sheer helplessness. 

Too scared because, being a doctor, I know what those injuries mean. 

Or am I in Denial? 

A step in the grieving process.

Grief for a life wrecked. A family put through hell. Friendships put through agonizing pain.

If it is grief.... then, I pray to God.... The next step please, Dear Lord, let it be anger. Let the anger come and come fast. 

Let The Great Lord Shiv open his Third Eye and destroy the Demons who have wrecked this little girl's life. Please Lord Vishnu, now is the time for you to take your last Avtaar. Because "Kalyug" is at its height. No girl is safe. Every lady is at risk. No child can play in the open without its parents being worried for its safety. No person can rest assured until each and every family member is back home from work or school or college or a walk or the market. 

But, until you do come, Dear Lord. We will try. We will try to help. We have to. We can't just sit at home, in front of our computers or over a drink and talk about what a horrible thing it is. We have to make a solution. 

Stop cribbing about our rights and lack theroff.

Remember our DUTIES. And perform them.

It is our duty to respect our fellow human beings irrespective of sex.

It is our duty to allow each person their private space, literally and figuratively, in a public place or in a private home.  

It is our duty to allow every girl child to be born. To live. To develop to the best of her abilities and more 

It is our duty to be damn proud of her.

It is our duty to ensure that she walks free. Not scared. Not bowed down. But, Tall and Happy.

It is our duty to stop an evil act from happening. However small or insignificant it might appear to be. Because it is the little things that sum up to become huge.

It is a small list that I have written. But, hopefully it will be a start. Hopefully it'll soon become much, much longer. Hopefully.......

  Being Me

I met you for the first time,

And I liked what I saw,

I wanted to be your friend,

So I tried to change what I was.

I did my very best,

To be who you wanted me to be.

And, maybe, I did succeed,

Because you became a great friend to me.

But as I grew up and saw more of the world,

Who I had become appealed to me no more,

So I tried to become better,

To become who I wanted to be,

But you fought this change every time you met me.

I didn’t understand what was happening,

And I tried to explain.

Why I had changed,

Why I was no longer exactly who you wanted me to be.

I wish you had listened,

I wish you had seen,

My heart and soul that wanted to be free,

And then you would have realized

That I had become me.