(After the more whimsical subject matter of his last contribution, Nikhil returns graver than ever before.)
In the aftermath of the Noida killings and the sudden birth of serial killers, rapists, cannibals, and general all round loonies one must take a moment to ponder over the absolute break-down of general awareness in society in today’s world. Murder, violence, rape, torture etc although reprehensible and uncondoneable in every way has been a part of Indian and for that matter human society since time immemorial but the recent surge of child kidnapping and cannibalism etc is unnatural. In no way am I saying that murder ,violence and the works is acceptable but it has been the bane of civilization since its incept and will grow and flourish at the same rate. The Noida killings, the Punjab killings on the other hand are beyond the boundaries of the imaginable.
What is more frightening and concerning is the fact that our society today has apparently become totally callous to the plight of its own members. We have the shocking instance in Noida where families have been complaining to the police for months that children are missing only to have the police literally laugh at them back in the face. I can understand if the police are a little bit skeptical if one child disappears, after all in today’s society youngsters are easily led astray by financial albeit immoral temptations, but when parents have been complaining for months on end that their children are missing, that to over a dozen in number, to still brush of the incidents and fail to spot a link suggests total incompetence, lack of judgment and total lack of commitment by the police. Shoba De, in an article in the TOI suggested that even if one of those kids happened to be a minister’s son or even an up-society kid, the police would have been onto the case in a flash. Sad as it may sound I have to agree with her. I believe if any of those unfortunate victims had been the son or daughter of a VIP, our wonderful police force would have connected the VIP’s kid to the other children instead of the other way round.
The children in Noida were found in the drains. Does no one clean drains in Noida?? I mean, even an idiot will know that there is something wrong if he finds a few bones floating around in the bloody drain with shreds of clothing on them. Come on chickens don’t wear clothes! Isn’t there supposed to be a drain inspection? As per newspaper account once the police actually accepted that there was a major problem on hand finding the bodies didn’t take too much time. Inference: the bodies were not that deeply hidden the sewage system. Further Inference: Why the fuck were they not found earlier? The bodies were apparently found in an “Open Drain”. An open drain is supposed to smell. Are people so used to putrefying odor that the stench of decomposing flesh goes unnoticed?
Now we come to the most thought-provoking implications of the entire saga?
One: Has corruption reached such a level in this country that whole scale murder can be pushed under the carpet for months on end. I mean come on, our police force is dumb, but not that dumb. Someone must have deciphered a link in the missing children. What happened then? Was that officer or hawaldar bribed into silence? Was the browbeaten by his seniors who were in the pocket of the Dr. Hannibal rip off Noida Businessman? Were the drain cleaners also bribed? Were the municipal chiefs instructed to turn a blind eye to that particular area? These are questions that must be asked and answers must be ferreted out.
Two: has society broken down so completely that it fails to heed the cries of desperate mothers who are loosing their children? Has society become so accustomed to filth and decay that non-inspection of drains and other civic facilities has become an acceptable way of life? Have politicians become so callous that they label the horrors in Noida as “commonplace”?
I’m not going to end by encouraging everyone to “do something about it” or “change the way we think” because lets face it none of us ever does anything. That’s why the country Is so screwed in the first place. Just think over it.