I remember I was fascinated with Fairy tales as a child. I think most of the credit for it goes to my audio-visual teacher in primary school for showing films like Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs, Cinderella and many more. One tale from them stayed with me as I grew up and that was the tale of ‘Little Red Riding Hood.’ While the tale has different versions to it, the common element that appears in all the story is that of an innocent girl on her way to deliver food to her grandmother who gets ambushed by the big bad wolf.
While I was fascinated with the story in the 90’s, we are now in 2018 – more mature, more evolved but things haven’t changed. You may ask why and here is my answer. I really think that the tale of the 10th century is still relevant today. There might not be a forest for an innocent girl to travel but every day, thousands of innocent girls leave their home and journey through their respective cities to earn a living. There might not be an ill grandmother but there is a motto for these girls to step out from their safe zone and when they step out, they do trust the surroundings they live in and place their faith in them. But like I said, even in 2018, girls aren’t safe. Big bad wolves still wait around the corner for their prey and we have come across many stories in the past which have left us shattered. Be it the Kathua gang rape or Nirbhaya’s case, these stories have proved that human beings are the worst living beings walking the face of the earth. While we talk about being sensitive, many times there are a number of cases that take place in India which not only point fingers at us but also shows us the mirror of the monsters we have turned. There might be candle marches, talks, discussion but only the victims and their family know the pain they face when such activities take place.
And as a citizen of this free country, I dread for my mother, my sisters, my nieces, my fiance and every lady in my life who does not know of the danger that might come their way. I’ve realized that we have got to0 used to saying, “Thank God it didn’t happen to one of us,” without realizing that it could have been one of us. We get so accustomed to what’s happening at this moment that after some time it doesn’t even affect us anymore. But it is high time we as individuals realize that if we do not take the necessary actions to make our surroundings better for women to live in, who will?
Or else, there will be a tale soon that will be narrated to offsprings later which will say, “There was a bad world where the little red riding hood lived in to fight the men around her, she had to turn into a wolf to save herself!”