"Be the Change you want to see!"

There are too many things which I wish should change and be a part of that change. We all know that the thing which is constant in life is the change . A change for good is tough but with a continuous pursuit to change we can reach that culmination point.

"Coming together is beginning.
Keeping together is progress.
Working together is success."
- Henry Ford- 

The above words of Henry Ford apply to any thing where we put our effort for some good change!
Change even if its small can lead to a better society . After a long thought  few issues came to my mind  and not just one which stand in top five. They are like below

1. The heinous rape and molestation crimes

First and foremost thing which came to my mind was the recent gang rape that happened in Delhi , the uproar after that and many politicians and babas who passed their baseless opinions listing out many weird tips to be followed for the sure shot safety. I felt sad , bad and hopeless due to it . Instead of pointing at men who rape its always a woman's dress , habits , way of life which are pointed as reasons for the rape.

My blueprint for this is to increase awareness among people as much as possible . Staying mum might make you also the next target.The number of rapists and people who pass on judgements on how to avoid rapes are alarmingly increasing. Every one must raise the voice against these foolish foot in mouth statements as much as they raise against the crime!

Start campaigns , spread messages and educate people in your own way. Writing and spreading the message is also one way of doing it , which I guess most of us can do.

The below campaign is held in Bangalore where men mocked our leaders who say the way a woman dresses is  a reason for getting raped. There were many other protests nation wide and are still happening. Too many voices may mute the loonies.

Dont tell ur Daughter, not to go out. Tell ur Son to behave "properly". 

Image source :  https://fbcdn-sphotos-c-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/406000_453900691344028_491501071_n.jpg


Some how I feel the change will come eventually . I feel humanity still exists and it will lead to sanity. I see that people are not resisting in-justice like before. I hope and pray that this act should not give birth to many more acts. I wish the criminals just don't get away with an alibi of being juvenile. I wish many protest against it and strict laws are passed in favor of their punishment and not just reformation. If the crime is not juvenile they also should not stand a chance to escape.
I would plea all the emerging law students and lawyers and common people like me who feel they have to be punished should raise their voice and protest. PHD's and maintaining a debonair look are not enough to show that a person is harmless. Grooming of minds is needed to bring a change.  I don't even want to discuss if hanging the accused will or will not change the situation. I just want to say saving them will not make situation any better !!

Few steps which can be taken for safe living of women are:

1.)Steps should be taken to maintain separate buses by RTC only for women which run even after midnight.

2.) An emergency contact number which can be reached instantly when there is a doubt of mishap. This has already been taken up . I  hope the number is working.

3.) No Juvenile should be excused from punishment :(

4.) A special police force which deals only women crimes should be operational 24*7.

5.) Cabs driven only for women and by women should be made available . SAKHA cabs for women in Delhi is one such example. Isolated places should be extra secured in peak hours .

5.)Lastly  self defense is the only way where one can stay assured and be strong enough to protect them selves. Every one should be extra vigilant when they are outside and protect themselves.

I dont feel very confident even after listing out all these steps which can be followed to reduce the percentage of crimes! I just hope situation changes for good!

Few organisations like"PRAJWALA"  are doing a great job and identifying the needs of victims of and working towards prevention of such crimes. Women like "Sunitha Krishnan" stand as an inspiration and rape victims should be able to stay confident and fight back like her . I wish to donate money to this organisation through this contest!

I am not sure if signing these petitions will help but do sign the below petitions!

http://www.causes.com/actions/1716615-delhi-bus-gangrape-case-demanding-death-penalty

http://www.change.org/petitions/president-cji-stop-rape-now/signatures

2.   The second issue which I want to highlight is : Female foeticide , increasing dowry rates and not giving importance to female education

All the three issues are inter related. The age old tradition is that you have to give dowry to get married . As a result of that you get a boy educated in the family and make the girl learn house hold chores. Worst of all is you kill the girl child inside the womb so that you don't have to spend in future. Satyameva jayate a recently aired program hosted by Aamir  has highlighted all these issues and its saddening to see that even though there are many women progressing in various fields this is the mind set many carry in India and there are people, even women who work as doctors and teachers who discourage the education of a girl.

My blue print for this is

• To punish the people who violate the law by revealing the gender of the child before birth which is a crime in India . They have to be punished with out fail.

• To educate people about the importance of educating a female child.
• To go to rural areas and also track areas even in cities where a girl child is treated differently and try to educate them. Start special schools exclusive for a girls education.

Rather than trying to change others , be the change yourself. Start respecting and valuing a girl. I feel sad when the house maid says she sends son to school as it would lead to their progress . Her daughter can do work along with her. Even if it takes time one has to patiently imbibe the importance of a girl's education in such people's brains.

The below is the video song by Swanand Kirkire in the program Satyameva Jayate which brought tears to my eyes!! Three cheers to this initiative.

3.  The third issue which always bothers me is the way roads are used in India.

The terrific traffic jams in all metros and people who happily break the traffic rules bother me beyond limits.
The road belongs to every citizen and they use the whole of it. It feels sad to see that many educated students and professionals also behave in the same way.

“When anybody honks at me in traffic, I blush, wave, and shout, “Thanks for being a fan.” Being a celebrity is a 24/7 thing.” 
― Jarod Kintz :)

Honking irresistibly is some thing which one can experience only in India. The impatience and frustration one faces on Indian roads is no match to any other country. In Africa in many places there is no honking at all it seems. There are many other countries where people are patient enough.
I fail when I think of ways to educate and inculcate traffic sense in people. None reacts seriously to any issue till some thing bad happens to their friends or family.

The blue print for this is to create and spread message in a strong way which shows how dangerous it can get if you break the traffic rules, if you drive with out helmets , if you have more than 7 people in a 7 seater , if you are travelling standing on the foot board , if you have more than 2 pillion readers, so on so forth.
Just today I saw a sensible video shared by my friend on facebook. Click on the below hyperlink to watch         - "It happens every where in India".

Other solutions are:

• Go to schools and  colleges and conduct campaigns spreading the traffic awareness and highlighting what an unfortunate thoughtless second can do.

• Make meaningful ads which show the importance of following traffic rules.

• Put sign boards which can really make people feel cautious and guilty when they think of breaking the signal or over taking another vehicle .

• Its my plea to concerned people to save lives by cancelling driving licenses to under age people rather than taking bribes and harming them .

• Laws should be stringent. Instead of taking bribe and forgetting the one who breaks rules , its always good to punish the people by  not allowing them to drive for certain period of time if they still pay a deaf ear even after issuing tickets and challans.

Yamuna express highway which leads to Agra- Tajmahal is one such butter smooth road where rules are strictly followed and you are not even allowed to stop or click on the roads. You will be fined if you cross a certain speed limit. Few people manage to break rules even on such empty luxurious roads like Yamuna express highway.


4.  The fourth issue which is effecting me a lot recently is regarding the "hate speeches and the consequences"

A half baked head belonging to one religion gives hate speech and this leads to people from the targeted community generalize others belonging to the half baked head's religion in the same category. It pains me beyond levels when such hate speeches lead to outburst and angst on social networks and further hate replies where the culprit alone does not face the caustic response. The main targets are always innocent people who don't have any such hatred in their hearts. Being sensitive to a speech against ones own community and paying deaf ear to a hate speech targeted at another community is saddening.

This feeling can be wiped off only by a change in the thought process. Speeches given for political benefits and for being on news should be ignored. Its high time people start using their brains and not get provoked easily by a simple poke.

Rather than putting twitter updates and facebook statuses that so and so people in that religion enjoy privileges and we have given them all facilities put a status which will reflect that India is a secular country and national integrity is our preference. This may just avoid any massacre or extremism.

Outbursts and dumping emotions freely with out any boundaries on social networks is again a common scenario which has no immediate effect other than hurting a certain community and showing the superiority of others. Yes hate speech is not free speech and if hate speeches are uncalled for,  free speeches also cant be encouraged absolutely. Free speech is a highly controversial thing where a person speaks whole of his mind with out thinking twice. It may not lead to betterment always. A change should come from with in and hence people should understand that they once made friends who belonged to another religion and they never became good friends as they share the same caste, creed , region or religion!
Rather than banning movies and artists I wish people who actually spread hatred are severely punished irrespective of their religion and status.

Hope humanity becomes the universal religion and people get united irrespective of provocateurs !

5. The fifth issue I want to highlight is the Social network addiction and the crimes on it.

Every one must be aware of "Malini Murmu's"  case where she committed suicide as boy friend blamed her and openly stated that he ditched her over Face book.

This is just one among many such news where people are highly impacted due to the social networking sites . Researchers are still studying the impact of social networking on people's brains. The virtual world where people literally dwell has its pros and cons.

One should not fly off the handle on Social networks. A silly status update leads to arrests by moral police  but there are many more dangerous updates which harass  a friend , relative or a community on whole. I neither support the silly update nor the arrest which followed. An arrest is not a solution to this. For this a persons mind should not be tangled and messed up. Social network should be used in a responsible way and not to flaunt what every cell of their body feels which might ultimately lead to disastrous consequences.

Similarly people should be strong enough to ignore updates and feelings expressed over social networks. The way an IIM student or a high ranked professional commit suicide due to a mere update just spins my head. Virtual world is not real enough to lead to  death . Hope people realize this.

• Save your self from hood winked people over on line networks

• Protect your accounts from getting hacked. Keep changing passwords

• Do not disclose all your details to a faceless person.

• Above all , get a hold on your emotions and talk to real people when in trouble.

Listing these five things doesn't end the list of all the possible issues where a change is needed. These are the things which came to my mind immediately. Even a single step taken towards change can bring an unimaginable result.  There are many more issues like corruption which is the root cause for many problems , bribery , rise in number of people living below poverty line, rising prices every day , rising crimes every day , rising number of people who stay thick to the rules, so on so forth. The cob-web of problems is always complex and even if a corner is disturbed it may lead to the fall of the crime , injustice and lead to a change in the system and a better life. So friends raise your voices and before raising be the change you want to see. Let me know the things you want to change!

"A ocean is made of so many tiny drops.
A mountain is made of so many small pebbles.
A seed will give birth to a plant which grows to a tree
Bring the change by being a part of the change you want to see"

Note: I don't own the images. All the images are googled.

This post is for "ISB iDiya for IndiChange" in association with indiblogger.in
I want to donate how much ever money I win through this post to "PRAJWALA"  !