I HAVE A YOUNGER BROTHER AND IT COULD HAVE HAPPENED TO ME

They say Purple is the new Black, when it comes to fashion. And when it comes to safety of women, "KOLKATA" is surely the new "DELHI." Kolkata, used to be considered one of the safest havens, when it came to women travelling across the span of the city. Now it is surely the worst nightmare for any woman and her family. The brutal murder of Barasat boy Rajib Das, is surely the deadliest example of the real situation at ground zero. Sixteen year old Rajib was mercilessly murdered when he tried to save his sister from being molested. And all this happened in the close vicinity of the homes of the district's top law and order sustainers, yet the cops decided to not pay a heed. Its appalling how the bonechilling entire episode was even sought to be downplayed by the authorities, and now the Dirty Politics which surrounds this incident, leaves all of us spell bound.

It might sound a bit far fetched for me to write about the safety of women in Kolkata, when I am miles apart, in a different country and a different continent. But this is something, I feel which touches the chords of our heart even when we are far away from our homeland. Every newsreel about Kolkata gets even more personal for us, those who now stay away. We all want a slice of our favorite city, but the slice just keeps getting bitter for us. The mudslinging which follows is what it makes it even worse.

Having stayed in the city for quite a few years as well as Delhi, and worked for odd hours, courtesy my television journalism days, Delhi seems safer to me. Rajib's murder, and the plight of his sister just convince me all the more. Its just not this one single case which has happened to shake the city and its peace, its the numerous cases which are still going unreported. The administration and its skewed attitude towards the safety of women are not making the picture any prettier.

Why is the safe haven suddenly been transformed into such a bottomless pit? This is not a political platform, neither do I consider myself to be overtly political, but yet I wonder, whether the winds of change in the political arena of the state, are responsible for this. I am not ashamed to say that I am scared to imagine the state of affairs if the winds of change initiate a significant political makeover in West Bengal.

Its not that I am racking my brains and scribbling away after reading a few reports on the safety of women in the state, being miles away from it. It is after all easier to value judge. Hence I will not resort to value judgements. My visit to my city, Kolkata, last Summer, had just proven to be the tip of the iceberg. I dreaded what would follow. Lewd comments in a departmental store by a group of drunken men, in a posh mall in Salt Lake, just saw me and my friend picking up a fight and then almost fleeing from the scene, as the rest of the store remained silent at our plight. Public transport had always been my preferred mode of transport in the City of Joy, but after my last visit, I have decided that it is not so good an option any more. These incidents are nothing when compared to whats happening now to all those families in the city and its outskirts. But if I could get affected with these incidents which happened to Me, maybe I cannot fathom the real pain which the affected have faced.

EMBARRASED is what I am. It is my city, and even I have a younger brother, and this is something which could have happened to me as well. I am embarrassed that my own city has become a place where I do not feel secure any more.