A group of friends, who have been together for years, go for dinner to a much talked about restaurant in the suburbs of one of the most populous cities of the world and probably the most 'happening' city in the country. This is the city which has its rich and its poor, its elite and its unemployed, its opportunities and its failures, its dreams and its disappointments, its lions and its rats. The friends get out of the restaurant, satisfied with the food they just consumed and are waiting for some paan, to freshen their breaths and probably to spend some more time together. The girls in the group are seen by a local 'goon' and as happens every so often, he thinks it his birth right to pass lewd remarks at her and make her (and others around) uncomfortable. The girl quietly listens, tries to ignore this 'man' (I'm being polite here) and then leaves with the group like everything is alright. Sounds like a very common story. It is. In most parts of India
Whatever happened with Keenan Santos and Reuben Fernandes (may their souls rest in peace) is ghastly as much as it is unfortunate. My initial reaction was of sorrow, obviously. But I realized soon that sadness was only a little part of what I actually felt. Awe, respect, wanting-to-salute, wish-to-hug were more like what I was actually experiencing for these two lads. They gave a whole new meaning to the phrase "anything for friends". “Ladne ke liye jaan nahi, JIGAR ki zaroorat hoti hai” (You don’t need to have ‘life’ that you can give to fight, all you need is the courage to do so) was what Keenan often told close friends (quoting Reuben’s brother). Their deaths will not go unnoticed in the eyes of the Maker that I'm sure of!
Naturally this incident was followed by a ruckus created by social media and the news agencies; hours of television news covering the story over and over again and groups/pages formed on networking sites for people to join in order to show support. On many of these groups and pages I found written that their purpose was to send a strong message to the authorities pressurizing them to hasten the legal proceedings on the matter; there were links to petitions to be signed by the supporters as well. But what perturbed me the most was posts by alleged members declaring their ‘wishes’ for the culprits to be given ‘capital punishment’, to be ‘killed’/’tortured’ in public, and some not-mentionable treatments to be delivered to them. This tinge of an acute sense of revenge is hard to miss when navigating through these pages. And then of course there is the rant about people, just standing there and not coming to the aid of the youth as they struggled. Other commonly seen comments and posts deal with the fractured judicial system of the country, the ‘race’ of the perpetrators, expletives thrown towards the police etc. (though there was one guy who advertised his dental clinic on the page too!! Can you imagine!! Spammers!! Ubiquitous!! And unstoppable!!) But I guess that is the general sentiment of the mass, ‘kill those who killed’. The end result? Kinda stupid isn’t it? ‘Killing’ or ‘punishing’ the goons is not going to bring Keenan and Reuben back. Or is it? :-/ Also, these guys died doing exactly what the audience present there is being blamed of NOT doing, interfering in something not directly affecting them, ‘helping others’ so to speak. Not a very encouraging example I think!
So what now? Should the initial story that I mentioned be accepted as a part of an Indian woman’s normal life? Should friends like Keenan and Reuben start ignoring such incidents? Or should everybody from the audience also start behaving like Keenan and Reuben and ‘help’ those in trouble? There isn’t a straight answer to this or a similar situation. Not a fair one of course. But then again, there are so many questions that do not have an actual answer.
But this leaves me wondering, I feel I can do anything for people I love. But when it comes to giving up my life, will I be courageous enough? Would I go that far? Guess we’ll find out!
I personally feel utmost regard for these two boys and the many like them, who do not refrain from standing up for what they believe is right. As Keenan said, it requires courage, lots of it, to fight for something. It is people like him who impact others’ lives positively. And the life which positively affects another, even one, is nothing short of phenomenal. Salute!!
