WOMEN OF MUMBAI AND DELHI – A STUDY IN CONTRAST

“Delhi-1981”- a short-story penned by a Delhi-based Malayalee writer M.Mukundan was a mirror to the moral bankruptcy and cynicism pervading the city of Delhi in the 1980s. The story revolves around a lady chased and brutally raped by two anti-social youth in broad daylight while she along with her husband and kid was crossing a stadium. The narrative in the form of an eye-witness account of two friends who while looking through the window of their flat coming across the young lady, her husband with their kid, walking along under scorching Sun being spotted by two thugs notorious in the locality watching the pretty young woman with hungry beastly eyes and their movements to trap her and rape her without an iota of moral prick. The youth who along with his friend giving the eye-witness account of the whole incident with much sense of humour and excitement like a cricket fan watching the same or like a soccer fan watching the game with bated breath, were true representatives of the youth of the entire society of Delhi. The callous indifference and cynicism they displayed were unpardonable. The story brought Mukundan widespread acclaim and it was a turning point in his literary career. Till then he was caught in the labyrinth of existential agony, identity crisis, meaninglessness and absurdity of life typical of most writers of 1970s. The decision to choose a different path by holding a mirror to the decaying society with a sense of black humour was equally lauded and criticized by readers and critics. One of the reasons why he trod the path of existential agony and identity crisis must have been the result of his prolonged stay in Delhi and also his job at French Embassy in Delhi. Gradually he became part of Delhi and if Jean Paul Sartre, Albert Camus, Simon De Bouviour and Kafka came to be his favourites, nobody can’t blame him. This is not about Mukundan and his literary career. I began the ‘story’ from “Delhi-1981” solely on account of its relevance to contemporary Delhi. Mumbai and Delhi, two metropolitan cities. One the commercial capital of India and the other the “power” capital of India where our responsible rulers are well-entrenched. I have been to both Mumbai and Delhi. I was in Mumbai for nearly five years but fortunately or unfortunately couldn’t continue there for that much period. Delhi being our Capital I am always a keen observer of the day to day goings on there. While I was there I was staying in a flat at Mayur Vihar where my friend and family- his wife and kid were staying. While talking about Delhi naturally we touched upon many aspects of Delhi and being aware of the notoriety of Delhi on the aspect of the sense of insecurity among the women of Delhi. “Women’s security is still a problem in Delhi, no?” “Certainly. It was the situation for years. What I can’t understand is it all happens under the very nose of our ruling elite. I don’t know whether such a pathetic state is prevailing in any other capital in the world. In the largest democracy in the world it is something appalling... that there is no well-oiled law and order machinery to tackle this menace haunting us for the past three or four decades. Shame!”- rage was welling within him. And it was infectious also as I was also raging with anger and frustration, though I had not intended to be in Delhi for a long period. Why is it so? Why can’t the rulers find a remedy? Without adhering to range of the moment decisions why can’t they prepare a long-term remedy? During my five years of stay in Mumbai I couldn’t notice or read about a single story of molestation, rape or something such untoward happen in Mumbai. Mumbai is renowned for its respect and generosity towards women. I could witness several instances of men waking up from their seats even in a crowded local train making way for a woman to sit and the former in the process suffering inconvenience while commuting long distances. It doesn’t mean everything is hunky-dory in Mumbai. Unregulated free-market and neo-liberal economic policies ‘did’ much harm than good to the masses as a whole especially women folks. The penchant to see woman as ‘goods to be traded in market’ grew up menacingly. One of the glaring defects of unregulated capitalism is erosion of values and moral bankruptcy leading to subservience of human beings especially women. If globalization has merits one will have to accept the fact it has its demerits also. The aforesaid reasons must have been the reasons for attempted cases of molestation- a foreign woman tourist had to undergo at the hands of a mob of unruly elements on the eve of a Newyear day two-three years ago. At Marine Drive, in South Mumbai, a police-man – the law enforcer turning law-breaker - also made a vain attempt to molest and rape a teenager and for the beastly crime, he had to face the music. The women of entire Mumbai rose in revolt demanding nothing short of hanging to be awarded to the police-man. That much power they had and equal support in equal measure they got from the opposite gender for their cause in Mumbai. Now compare the powerful women of Mumbai and the hapless women of Delhi. Let us pay tributes to the budding journalist Soumya Viswanathan of Headlines Today and a number of faceless, hapless women residing at various corners of NewDelhi falling victims on a daily basis to the lust of faceless thugs. Twenty eight years have passed by since Mukundan penned the harrowing story “Delhi-1981” and it is frightening to note here that the number of women falling preys to the lustful creatures are increasing on a rampant scale. The recent incidences of suspected rapes in Mumbai cannot be tagged with horrendous rapes carried on by the thugs in the National Capital.