Did You Ever Love Me? by Rithvik Singh is a tender contemporary poetry collection about love, heartbreak, longing, self worth and learning to let go. Its greatest strength is emotional accessibility: Singh writes directly to readers who feel intensely and care deeply. The collection offers comfort without pretending heartbreak is simple, though its simplicity may occasionally feel familiar to seasoned poetry readers. Did you Ever Love Me? Have you ever loved someone so completely that, after they left, you were left wondering whether they had ever understood what they had been given? Not merely whether they loved you, but whether they ever noticed how much you loved them, how much patience you offered, how many small things you remembered, or how often you chose to stay when leaving might have been easier. There is a particular loneliness in that question because it rarely arrives at a dramatic moment. More often, it finds you while you are doing something completely ordinary. Yo...
What's this hoopla all about?
Ok. I get it. A woman was gangraped in Delhi. That is as routine an incident as going to office or school everyday. I mean, that happens all the time. A few months ago a string of incidents regarding minor girls being gang raped in Haryana had hogged the media lime light. Of course nothing happened, I am sure. No one burned paraffin candles or drew placards for those girls whose voice probably we would never here.
But this incident happened in Delhi. Our very own rape capital of India not just the political capital. And suddenly you are having all this hoopla that is very weird and phony. What are these guys trying to prove?
Yes, we are a callous nation. We are a homogeneous mixture of several races of aggressive people who either tried to defend the riches of this land called Bharat or who tried to invade and exploit it. We have more crimes happening domestically than on streets. Most of all who is bothered?
More than half of these people protesting won't vote in the next elections. And those who do will not take an informed decision. That's a known fact. The Republic of India is a democracy. We either get justice in the courts of law or on the election day. Having black and white photos on facebook is like a kid whimpering half heartily for a chocolate. The parents know that the whimpering would stop in a few minutes so they don't even pay attention. If the kid still pesters they offer the kid a toffee half the rate of the chocolate. Everyone gets happy.
So back to the democracy front. How many of these protesters raising hue and cry today would have the guts to fight the battle out in the court of law? Very few. Better and more easy way is the ballot. But look at the case of Delhi. Every time you have an incident in Delhi like this one, the CM says that the government in the Center, won't let her control the law and order machinery. Standard response. She shrugs the responsibility on her own party's government with whom probably she can't work. Wonderful news is that the girls and women folk in Delhi love her and vote for her as ardent fans. The safety of women can never be a poll issue because the women and youth of Delhi are rock solid behind the present CM.
But jan lokpal bill could have been a poll issue. Corruption yes. See the vidhan sabha results in Himachal. Virbhadra Singh won the elections for the Congress. The man mired in so many corruption allegations voted to power by the very youth who today says they want a special parliament session for some rape law.
Lastly whats this thing about Delhi and Mumbai. Like I wrote in the beginning, something has to happen here to cause people to take on streets. When terrorist attacks happened in Mumbai, near about the same time bomb blasts also happened in other parts of the country. No one gave a damm and no one still does. All they care about is something that happened in Mumbai. As if the new India is only out the big metros, unlike the days when the real India was in the villages. Now all protests happen there and about incidents happening around them. A few days of hoopla and phony protests and they fizzle out sooner than a bottle of soda turns in to plain drinking water.
All that is left in the end is the victim and the family still waiting for that justice as the protesters move on to another issue, another topic. Anyone remember Ruchika Girhotra?
Ok. I get it. A woman was gangraped in Delhi. That is as routine an incident as going to office or school everyday. I mean, that happens all the time. A few months ago a string of incidents regarding minor girls being gang raped in Haryana had hogged the media lime light. Of course nothing happened, I am sure. No one burned paraffin candles or drew placards for those girls whose voice probably we would never here.
But this incident happened in Delhi. Our very own rape capital of India not just the political capital. And suddenly you are having all this hoopla that is very weird and phony. What are these guys trying to prove?
Yes, we are a callous nation. We are a homogeneous mixture of several races of aggressive people who either tried to defend the riches of this land called Bharat or who tried to invade and exploit it. We have more crimes happening domestically than on streets. Most of all who is bothered?
More than half of these people protesting won't vote in the next elections. And those who do will not take an informed decision. That's a known fact. The Republic of India is a democracy. We either get justice in the courts of law or on the election day. Having black and white photos on facebook is like a kid whimpering half heartily for a chocolate. The parents know that the whimpering would stop in a few minutes so they don't even pay attention. If the kid still pesters they offer the kid a toffee half the rate of the chocolate. Everyone gets happy.
So back to the democracy front. How many of these protesters raising hue and cry today would have the guts to fight the battle out in the court of law? Very few. Better and more easy way is the ballot. But look at the case of Delhi. Every time you have an incident in Delhi like this one, the CM says that the government in the Center, won't let her control the law and order machinery. Standard response. She shrugs the responsibility on her own party's government with whom probably she can't work. Wonderful news is that the girls and women folk in Delhi love her and vote for her as ardent fans. The safety of women can never be a poll issue because the women and youth of Delhi are rock solid behind the present CM.
But jan lokpal bill could have been a poll issue. Corruption yes. See the vidhan sabha results in Himachal. Virbhadra Singh won the elections for the Congress. The man mired in so many corruption allegations voted to power by the very youth who today says they want a special parliament session for some rape law.
Lastly whats this thing about Delhi and Mumbai. Like I wrote in the beginning, something has to happen here to cause people to take on streets. When terrorist attacks happened in Mumbai, near about the same time bomb blasts also happened in other parts of the country. No one gave a damm and no one still does. All they care about is something that happened in Mumbai. As if the new India is only out the big metros, unlike the days when the real India was in the villages. Now all protests happen there and about incidents happening around them. A few days of hoopla and phony protests and they fizzle out sooner than a bottle of soda turns in to plain drinking water.
All that is left in the end is the victim and the family still waiting for that justice as the protesters move on to another issue, another topic. Anyone remember Ruchika Girhotra?
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