No other society can match the number of reforms that ours has successfully carried out. Our ability to allow and encourage questions is simply unparalleled. That our society still exists and has remained alive and kicking transcending eras of conflicts and invasions - is a proof enough to convince that we have always remained open to questions and reforms. Yes, the kind of individualistic freedom that the today's modern world advocates might not have existed earlier - but the current model is yet to prove its worth. Individual freedom at the cost of maintaining an order in the society has remained a point of real concern for the modern day social scientists. How far is enough - has been the question that the modern world has often struggled to answer. On the other hand, that our society has managed reasonably well in accommodating diverse views and conflicting interests and that too with considerable ease - can only be a matter of amusement for the west. More than us, the West needs to learn from us on how to live in this manner.
Our present rogue and rotten understanding of the issue of respecting our women and allowing them a desired space is nowhere near to what is depicted in our mythology. The present outlook can only be understood to have got developed over the years during adverse circumstances when probably the society was left with no other alternative to keep. This skewed opinion to put women under so much of restrictions must have been our way to defend us from our inability to affect the required changes in the system that ruled us. A loss of confidence in the ruling system can only be the reason of affecting such transformation where 'precautions' started dominating over 'justice' and 'reasoning'. Yes, the idea of having 'Kunti' or 'Draupadi' may not pass the current scrutiny based on the modern world norms but quite strangely it also appears as un-Indian if it is compared with the present India. The idea of a character "Durga' and 'Kali' on one hand and "Saraswati' and 'Laxmi' on the other may not be 'perfect' by the standards of our modern world but nevertheless they also collide head-on with our current opinion about women.
Our 'glorious past' may not pass the quality test on a scrutiny based on the parameters of today's modern society but it would only be absurd to overlook the same just because it fails to show us a rosy picture when viewed with a microscope of today's world. Why can't we be asked to change our microscope itself. For it is high time that we start inspecting the idea of putting individual concerns ahead of the concerns of the society as that has only resulted in encouraging a culture of violence and dissatisfaction - prevalent everywhere today. A disturbed and agitated society that lost its patience on the rape-events in the absence of any effective action by the system has shown enough glimpses to prove that branding us as a society that encourages rape-culture is patently unjustified. This strategy is intended only to encourage 'Mukesh Singhs' and abuse and suffocate 'Nitbhayas'.
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