Media: Eyes of the planet

A 23-year old girl brutally got raped and battled for her life for a week but succumbed to death in India. Another 35-year-old woman from a farm near Goma, Congo was raped by 5 rebels at gun-point. Another 25-year girl got raped on her way back from college in Indonesia.

As I was growing from a girl whose world was only to play with her dolls, toys and her family to a world where as soon as you step out from your home you will be astonished to see that how people around us in our country treat women. I always wanted to run out of my place to move to a safer place. Initially, it was my community, then my city, then my country. But, Alas, I was so wrong. I thought that only in My Country women are not safe but gradually I had to face the harshest truth that it was across the globe. Honestly, I was shocked.

If media had no role to play, I would have never got a chance to see the other side of the coin. Only and only because we have a medium-MEDIA that we know that what women in other part of the globe is going through. Therefore, all the women globally have stood up now to fight for their rights.

Few days back, I read about a lady Manisha whose wedding was fixed with a well-educated guy. As the wedding day approached, the monetary demands of the groom’s family kept increasing. The girl’s family had no other option except to fulfill their demands as the invitation cards already went out. But for the girl this was completely unacceptable. She talked out a plan with her brother and they did a sting operation on the groom’s family. They took a hidden camera in a pen and recorded the complete conversation when the family was demanding dowry from the girl. She didn’t utter a word at that minute. Later, she took that recording and gave it to the national news channel and they aired it across the country.

To the shock of the groom’s family, they were arrested. Also, the brave lady announced it on the channel that I will get married the same day it was decided but to a man who accepts me the way I am. So, she shared her contact details and her phone was flooded with numerous calls from all over India to marry the brave girl without even a single penny in return. She is today very happily married EVER AFTER.

Imagine, if there was no media then her life would have been completely opposite. She opened eyes of our country, our policemen and inspired so many more girls going through this phase to fight against such greedy people. Similarly, without media our horizon would have been limited to our own communities, cities and countries. But, today we share our stories globally and share solutions as well. We give each other moral support which is most required in our tough times.