A Need to Escape.

As a woman I have no country …As a woman my country is the whole world.~Virginia Woolf, Three Guineas

Yesterday was a lovely afternoon. I was happy to be in India although I was homesick. Today, all I want to do is go home.

I often think – if India is representative of the future of the world, as populations grow, resources become scarce, competition increases… we are so royally fucked as a human race. As Suketu Mehta, sums it up quite nicely in Maximum City, “God help us.”

This afternoon, I was having another lazy Sunday, trying to download ITunes using my wireless connection which is slower than a turtle walking through cement. It was then that I heard the commotion from a neighbor. Somebody fighting? A couple’s quarrel? Someone shouting on the phone? I couldn’t make it out, except it was getting louder. A man’s voice, screaming. I opened up my balcony door, and realized it was coming from above me, the residence of the “Chairman” of the society (condo association) I live in, a slightly obese man in his 50s was beating the crap out of a woman. Pouding the crap out of her. I couldn’t hear her at all, except when he pounded her, and I could hear a whimper. My knees got weak, my heart started pounding, my blood boiling. I froze and listened. There was nothing I could do. I couldn’t call the police because they wouldn’t do anything in this fucked up country. I couldn’t go upstairs because god knows what would have happened to me, in this fucked up country. I saw a neighbor in the balcony below me. I’m not sure if he was listening, he must have heard it, but there was no expression of action as he stared out on to the street from his perch….in this fucked up country. I started to cry in my helplessness. I’m the first person who doesn’t stand by as crap like this occurs – yet I just stood there….

I just want to go home. I miss American men, who at least pretend they have respect for women. I miss America, where the police at least pretend to do something. I miss a society that at least pretends to address these issues. I wish three things for the men in this country, who compensate for their tiny penises by beating, raping, killing women because they can get away with it:
- castration…slowly
- getting the crap beat out of them until they are senseless
- a one way ticket to hell

Although this happened several hours ago, and I went shopping to escape, I’m clearly still upset and angry. I would refer to the men in this country as “dogs”, but that would be insulting to the canines, who seem to generally mind their own business….

For resources on domestic violence:

• http://www.unifem.org/campaigns/vaw/
• http://www.expressindia.com/news/fullstory.php?newsid=56501
• http://www.countercurrents.org/gender-azmi130803.htm
• http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6086334.stm