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It is time for a jail break
A corner in Mahatma Gandhi’s house with the sandals in the foreground. Internet Photo.
What you need to know:
It is time to change mind-set that has imprisoned humanity for many years. And, it is only through education and the power of will that this will become a reality.
After painful sagas of attacks and rape of Indian women filled the media houses with sensational news, three Indian students studying engineering, came up with anti-rape underwear for females. The underwear sends shock waves to the attacker and at the same time, it is provided with a Global Positioning system (GPS) that alerts family and police. This is not the first time that a gadget is invented to prevent or stop rape. While some of these seem practical, others are so drastic that they may never see their way on a retail shelf. Among the inventors of such gadgets I found some Swedish nationals. They say, ‘need is the mother of invention’ and one would not think that Sweden is among the countries with high rates of rape cases. Statistics proved me wrong, Sweden was on top of the list of countries with high rape cases. Apparently, this is due to the increasing number of immigrants to Sweden , and for this, no remedy has been found.
Although rape cases are happening in many parts of the world, for some reason the ones in India seem to get a lot of attention. Why are such cases more frequent in some parts of the world than others? Is it the cultural view about women? In the Middle East where women are trying hard to reach higher levels of rights and privileges, reports do not indicate high rates of rape. Strangely, cases of rape and physical abuse on domestic workers that come from abroad (mostly from Philippines, Sri Lanka, and India) and serving in regions like the Gulf and Arabian Peninsula are alarming.
Back to India, I remember when we were visiting Mumbai and went for a tour in the house of Mahatma Gandhi, the father of the Indian nation. In one of the corners, there was a room covered with glass and in it some of his personal belongings were on display. The guide was explaining about all the items in detail, she then pointed to a pair of wooden sandals that looked very interesting.
They had a nail-like front that kept the feet steady. It seems this was not their only function. The position of this between the big toe and the second toe created some kind of pressure on the foot. This reduced the urge for carnal desires. It is now known that Mahatma Gandhi became very obsessed with chastity and this might have been one of the systems he used to abstain from such urges.
From devices that stop rapists from committing the shameful act, to tools that help reduce such urges, one wonders why we are not using the most potent of all tools that we have. The human mind. Is it impossible for the mind to control the body from going astray? Does it really help to cover up women in tent-like clothes and think they are safe? Will they be protected from the starving eyes of men, who would let their imagination go wild on how this woman actually looks like inside this tent?
Has the increasing number of veiled ladies in Egypt reduced the phenomenon of being harassed and molested by men? What needs to change is not the clothing, it is the mind-set. Chastity is an act that starts right from the eyes, then it goes to the mind and finally it is translated into action.
Once upon a time, women were prisoners of their household lest they acted against laws of chastity. Today, unchaste minds should be put in the prison of restraint, if not, mass production of Mahatma Gandhi’s sandals will be another option, it is time to set women free!
