Black or White?

James Watson has only claimed that black people are less intelligent than white people. He has not explained in detail about his testing. He has said that it will take about 15 years to find out about the key differences in intelligence. There are reasonable restrictions to Article 19(1)a which say that a person’s freedom of speech and expression should not be morally demeaning.  

What is incomprehensible is that Watson also says that should not discriminate on the basis of colour, because there are many people of colour who are very talented, but don’t promote them when they haven’t succeeded at the lower level. 

There is nothing wrong in one person being less intelligent and another being more intelligent. All of us do not have the same intellectual capacities. And this is irrespective of caste, creed, race or colour. So why should a respected man like Watson make comments like this and go through the pains of conducting a study on something as mundane as this? Why bring back an age-old issue of black and white? 

It is a way of inciting violence and is in no way in the interest of the public. There have stalwarts from the black community who have been revolutionaries in their own ways – Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, Soujourner Truth, Sidney Poitier, Aretha Franklin and many others.  

Scientific studies need to be made in the ineterst of the general public. Studies and tests are not to be conducted to prove that one set of people are superior to another set.  

Watson conducted a test on something that was in no way of public interest. Freedom of speech and expression is not for a person to say anything they want in a public forum. It is to be used judiociously. It is not to put down a certain section of people just because of their colour. Skin colour is determined by melanin content. One person does not have the right to speak about the intellectual capacity of another. It can be done in case it concerns him in a very direct and obvious manner. 

What Watson did is an outright breach of his freedom and right. It was done at the cost of putting down and hurting the sentiments of the blacks.   

To my Teacher

As I was dragged and persuaded to class on my first day at school, I remember being ‘handed’ over to you, my Teacher. My visualizations of a huge human being with a wooden cane were completely proven wrong. I even remember the colour of the sari you wore that day. You were so nice to me. You sat me down and assured me that everything was going to be just fine. I was in good hands.

My first day at school changed everything. I loved going to school. You taught me the basics of science and math. You taught me to write cursively. As I proceeded to higher classes, you helped me discover my skills and strengths. You told me to work hard and score good marks. You scolded me for sitting in the last bench and chattering with my friend. You punished me for not doing my homework. In spite of all this, you have been my Teacher, my Friend.

Thank you, my Teacher, for being my source of learning. Thank you for teaching me that education is for life and not just for a living. You have been a strong, forceful, vibrant and enthusiastic source of inspiration to me. I am this confident person today because of you, because of your relentless efforts to make me a better person.

Thank you for this gift of life. Sincerely,

Your Student.  

- inspired by my first teacher in Chinmaya Vidyalaya, Mrs Anitha. My warmest regards and love to her.

Destiny’s Child

Everyone is a toy in the hands of fate and fate is particularly harsh to women. Women in India have been brutally abused for absolutely no fault of theirs. When a woman named Imrana is raped, we question her caste, her behavior and her actions. We forget that we are torturing this victim further. We forget that our verdict will change her life. We forget so many things.

Opportunities are available in this country depending on the gender you belong to. The Revised Bill on Household Legal Protection Against Domestic Violence brings, therefore, a sense of liberation. In our country, with the growing crime rate, this bill is a ray of hope to those women who have faced even a threat of abuse in any form.

Men have become predators, messing around with lives. Imrana isn’t alone. But hers is a case enough. She has to live with the trauma all her life. She was literally made homeless overnight. Telling an innocent woman to go back to her rapist father-in-law is not the needed verdict. Secluding her from society for being a victim is not at all justified. The religious order she has been given is patently unfair. Ruining the life of a tender girl is no tough job. It is reality. There has been an alarming increase in cases of sexual assault on women.

When a 23-year-old woman was abducted and gang raped in a moving car in Delhi, the police did not take prompt action. Though the Bill protects wives, sisters, widows, mothers and single women, our society needs to think differently. Women aren’t something bygone. These horrifying acts being committed on them just reveal how much protection is being meted out to them. Violence has just taken a toll.

How many more women are going to be beaten black and blue by her so called ‘new family’ for dowry demands? How many more women are going to live a life filled with danger in every which form? How many more women are going to be blamed for inviting the seduction with their skimpy outfits? How many more of these women are going to live without dignity? How many more questions need to be answered….

The system needs to identify with these tortured victims. Political considerations aren’t everything. The Bill isn’t the end all.

We are in a century where women are still being burnt alive. Women are being gang raped. Women are being stripped naked and paraded through villages. The only reason these acts of barbarism continue is because the offenders get away with it. And we still call ourselves ‘modern’? From no angle is all this in the direction of development.

We need to wake up and perceive things. We need more like-minded people. Like the Pakistani woman who was gang raped by four men from her village as she was the sister of a teenage boy who dared to defy tribal traditions by walking with a young girl. She refused to forgive her perpetrators. She decided to fight back. We all need to fight back. We all need to seek justice. Justice without force is powerless; force without justice is tyrannical.Why do we have to pay a disgusting price for being who we are, for being women?