RAPE: A DECONSTRUCTION

The last couple of days in the social media world have been particularly trying. If the crap about the Mayan Apocalypse was not enough, the social media sites were agog with news and reactions concerning the Delhi rape incident. I usually don't bother making my observations known or jotting 'em down but I noticed something pretty peculiar this time around which prompted this.

I saw a lotta males going to great lengths to not only 'condemn' the admittedly horrendous incident (which was ok in a way) but also reiterate the fact that THEY RESPECT WOMEN thanks to the values fostered by the females in their respective families. And not so surprisingly, a large number of the female sex nodded their vigorous assents collectively. My first reaction went 'eh' & then when I cottoned on, I saw that this was crap. A rape is not the consequence of a single factor. Let us stop kiddin' ourselves. Precious few (if any) men look at ALL women with respect. Only genuine saints/sages are mentally/spiritually evolved enough to view all humans in an equally dispassionate manner. The rest (This includes ALL men) are not averse to viewing some women as sexual objects. While an overwhelming majority have the mental apparatus to restrain themselves, the rest are ticking time bombs waiting to explode. There may be a variety of reasons why a rape is committed. This is a phenomenon that has been happening for thousands of years. A lotta ppl. seem to think that castration/hanging would put an end to it. While it may certainly reduce the number of cases, rapes will still occur. Just like how murders still occur and will occur.

Coming back to the "I RESPECT WOMEN CUZ I WAS BROUGHT UP BY STRONG WOMEN" junta, I have a few things to say. It is not incorrect to assume that a sizable number of females associated with the rapists have been good sisters, doting moms and grandmoms. Frankly, a lot of reactions and 'chest thumping' have approached high camp. I may be cynical but it just didn't ring true. While everyone were busy conjuring ways to best torture the rapists, no one deemed it necessary to point out the fact that the rapists were inebriated when they committed the heinous crime. That's not so surprising cuz most of these punks cannot  'outrage' against the evil effects of alcohol for obvious reasons. We seem to think that it is the duty of the Government to guarantee safety for women. It is at best, an utopian dream. I have outraged against this spineless,gutless Govt. myself but that was ONLY regarding its indecisiveness to be strong and come down hard and fast against offenders. Booze,skimpily clad women and horny men make an explosive cocktail whichever way you look at it and blaming the Govt. is all too convenient an exercise.

While I bloody well accept the fact that this is not an ideal situation, one has to appreciate a parent's concern in ensuring the safety of his/her child. Criticising them cuz they are loathe to give 'freedom' to their female wards is bull. All they are doing is minimising the risk probablity of a mishap happening. Venting and outraging against such things never help. I was amused on receiving a lotta "STOP RAPE NOW" petitions. Me signing it won't help a fart.

Salman Khan mouthing crap was the last straw. The daft punk owes a large chunk of his inexplicable popularity to chest thumpin' misogyny. Alcohol,mental afflictions, dearth of moral fibre,impact of crap filled films and disintegrating family life all play a part.

I respect female intelligence so this is all that I've gotta say to 'em - The world is a fuckin' jungle. Deal with it and do what you have to do to be safe. 

COTTON COMES TO HARLEM & CHESTER HIMES:A REVIEW

Magic is a hugely abused word and can be as elusive as a loutish runt, trying to lose himself in a Mardi Gras crowd.

Very rarely, it manifests itself in some obscure form or the other. Himes wrote some ground-breakin',spine tinglin',nerve janglin' classics but "Cotton Comes To Harlem" is his definitive Masterpiece.

GOD (He is black by the way) decided to put pen to paper one day and this macabre,bawdy,freak Masterpiece was the result.

If ever I dream of writing a novel, I only pray to GOD (That nigga again!) that it turns out to be something like this.

When I read Himes, I can almost smell the stale cigarette smoke forming geometrical patterns in gaudily lit rooms and the frozen garbage rotting away in many a tenement basement. Pock- marked delinquents, busty Madames with yellow rotting teeth,chippies with a sharp nose for a sucker,hopheads hankering after a fix,gutter punks out to slit throats for a buck,Mack Daddys with little else to show for talent,oily fatheads pulling the strings that keep all the scum floatin'......Heaven, it sure ain't!

A sample - "The broken concrete paving was strewn with broken glass bottles,a rusty bed spring,several worn-out automobile tires,the half dried carcass of a black cat with its left foot missing and its eyes eaten by rats." Now if that ain't a hard-boiled setting, Kapil Sibal is Sunny Leone in disguise. No one captured the post war race relations in Uncle Sam with such unrelenting frankness & penetrating perception. As someone put it sententiously, "Himes is a demented realist" and his books radiate feral violence & Cop strong arm tactics that makes "Dirty Harry" look like Martin Luther King in comparison.

 Himes was a Criminal who made good and his bleak outlook on life and his clamorous urge to depict the ugly side of Harlem and the plight of the Blacks was fueled by his own sobering experiences as a wild,restless African American who was shown the double-birdie by a white dominated societal set-up. But his books are more complex than they seem.  He is not apologetic about the rotten eggs in the Negro basket and doesn't always take refuge in the oft-quoted whine of "Them fuckin' whites ruined us". Nigger or not, a criminal is always a criminal and Himes never blurs that line.


If you are looking for 'feel good' fiction, look elsewhere. Himes' novels seem to be too pulpy,Noirish and violent to be actually true and I dismissed his books away as merely escapist,hard boiled fiction at first but when I found out that his brutal,evocative description of Harlem and his inhabitants weren't that far removed from reality; it did things to me.

What the hell are ye waitin' for?! As Chester himself might testily utter - "Grab 'em books soon as ye kin 'fore ye feel sorry fer yeself."


Read him before you croak. Bet your rump you'd regret it otherwise.