Aghast on new year!

I will never be able to think about new years in the same festive spirit as I used to. We all know what happened in Mumbai. And Kochi. And Kolkata. And many other places.
Sometimes I wonder if, as India becomes richer, young men feeling left out of the economic surge display their frustration through acts like these. Or is it that we have come to the inflexion point where our cultural values from medieval times ( can't say ancient because then you would say - look Ajanta , look Khajuraho ) are encountering the more liberal values from west (beamed to us through numerous channels and pirated dvds) , and making a cauldron of mixed notions and confused intentions. However, 'confused' sounds too soft a word when we look at the manner in which these acts repeat themselves and have become a constant recurrence in our daily lives. 'Evil' serves the purpose better.
I was aghast when a dear friend recently told me of her ordeal in walking the 300 meters from her home to the railway station. And then I think about it. It isn't that I have not known about it. I have walked in female company before and have noticed the looks, emanating from passersby.
And then, you read about articles like these. You feel slightly better till you read comments like this one: . The attitude towards women in India needs to change manifold before one can feel safe. Delhi, the most frequently mentioned city for sexual violence is not alone in its record. Mumbai's record is going down the lane. And all this talk is only about the one-off cases that the media takes up as exemplary cases.
What about the everyday eve-teasing? Even to call it eve teasing is to give it a somewhat dignified look. It is molestation and should be treated as such.
Those police officers and upholders of 'Bhartiya Sanskriti' who go about prowling for cultural violators in parks and elsewhere should feel ashamed. Will they ever realise how much more important it is to prevent such heinous events from happening than it is to guard our parks from coodling couples?

Will we ever give up our moral hypocrisy? The perpetrators have been identified in some cases. Will their mothers teach them a lesson or two in treating women with respect instead of trying to save their sons' skins?

Will we ever live in a country where women feel free to travel in public transport, celebrate new year and walk around without wondering about rowdy men?

No song today please.