This is a question for us, as women. Why are we letting the world around us slip into the morass of turmoil and violence that has become more the norm than the exception? Can we not see how it affects our lives? The lives of our children as they grow up thinking this is how the world turns… with man turning against man, and building walls to keep the other out. That hatred is the emotion of power, rather than love that has ruled hearts for centuries.

Hatred indeed has become the new love; as mankind loves to hate. Men, we can say, will be men. As women who have watched our sons grow up fighting fisticuffs with their friends, and stalking birds and squirrels with catapults and toy pistols, it seems inevitable to us that the testosterone Nature packs into their systems will only amplify the fighting instinct, and make them find excuses for skirmishes. Give them power and the itch begins, to engage in war. And incite others who follow.

But what of us, women? Did Nature not give us the wherewithal to nurture, to protect and teach? Why then do we seem to have forgotten it all?

Such is the power of hate that it can break up marriages, sweeping like a plague through once happy homes. Is that why as the religion of hate filters into more and more homes, even women averse to its power, hold their silence to maintain peace around the dining table? And women who keep silent often find they speak the language of men?

Proved their mettle

No longer wallflowers, women have proved themselves over and over again of being as good as any capable man, in whichever field of enterprise, profession or intellectual adventurism they choose to throw themselves into. Be it science or art, medicine or weightlifting, taboos have been smashed, and only a few glass or bamboo ceilings resist the breaking of the myth of women as the lesser beings. Why then play the silent role while men go on a rampage, in a blind lust for power, burning, destroying, looting, raping!

Rape, the ultimate weapon of hate man uses against man, by attacking his enemy’s physically weaker partner…is it not enough reason for women to unite against hate?

Yet there have been instances of women inciting their menfolk to rape and murder, the blood lust in their eyes flowing strong, fuelled by a mindless hate. Do such women not see their own vulnerability in the face of attack; should the tide of violence turn to attack them?

What too, of the women in power? Women who hold seats in governance. Though a small minority yet, they could unite to raise their voices, to withhold their vote against hate. Yet, the women in Parliaments in our own country, and elsewhere, sit silent as monuments while entire communities of women are ravaged or humiliated. Instead of dividing themselves along political lines, can they not see themselves as the only ones with power to bring the raping mobs to justice? Can any woman condone bestial acts against another woman, just because she belongs to another caste, religion, community or country? Yet so it is. Even if they do not condone it, women, the ‘talkative sex’, hold their silence.

It seems too late for repair now, but is it?

Let us not forget that in our hands is the most powerful tool of all; that of a mother’s love. That can bend and mould a young mind, be it that of a son or a daughter, to grow up responsible and a true citizen of the world. A mother can instil the broader understanding of humanity’s oneness into her brood, and restore the balance of the universe by instilling love. Let us try then to use that power to build a new generation that cares… for everything it inherits, including ‘others’ different from themselves.

When will the women of India wake up? Stop watching from the sidelines? Time now to form sisterhood groups, supporting one another so they can work their way into power in the state, centre…find the forums to voice the need for universal brotherhood.

We fought for equality, we fought for economic freedom. Let us now join hands and fight for peace!

The writer is a Consulting Editor with Penguin India

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