Background to 'Of Karma and twisted justice'

The previous blog was written under the effect of antibiotics and fever... so please ignore the first two lines. Now people close to me know that I think a lot, and on a weekday when u are lying in bed with nothing to do, too weak to move, or talk to anyone coz of a sore throat, you tend to miss office (I can't believe I said that, God help me (and i say god only figuratively)). And in this state of acute depression, which is my usual state, (there, I said it), i happened to read the worst book possible. Let me give the background before that:
My colleague/friend Ap was telling me about these connected short stories, very happy happy love stories, with happy happy endings, and I told her to give to me coz well I needed some happy happy reading as i ws not feeling very happy. Now there was another book she had told me about, and Ap gave me that instead of my happy book!!!! So there I was, coughing away, shivering, wallowing in sadness as A was mean to me (we got engaged by the way, but about that later), and i thought let's read the HAPPY book. But noooooooooooo........ (echo echo echo...)
What she gave me was Pinki Virani's 'Aruna's Story' and I bawled like a baby, i mean from the inside. It was in that mindset that I wrote Karma and twisted justice. Now I need to write about this book although I don't have the words to describe it.
You may find it difficult to get this book coz of court case, that's what Ap tells me, but you can get a lot of info on the net. There have been numerous discussions on her. Although I have read the book, I think my mind has blocked some of the heinous parts, and anyway I am not here to give the summary of the book. In a nutshell, it's a story about a normal woman, with normal dreams, which were snatched away from her just when she was about to reach them. Aruna Shanbaug was a nurse in a Bombay hospital back in the early 1970s. Beautiful, ambitious, hardworking, in love with a doctor and about to be married. But she used to speak her mind if something was wrong. A particular person, who was a sweeper in the hospital, didn't like it. So he raped her. He was also a sadist. So he used a dog chain on her neck which cut of the blood supply to her brain. He also stole some jewellery and cash, worth 700 bucks i think. He was caught later, got just seven years and was free after that. Seven years only, you say? Coz according to the 1970s' legal terms, what he did to her was not rape and they convicted him only on the stealing part. Well, it was that time of the month and the guy didn't want his hands dirty, so you can imagine what he did, how he did it. He used a dog chain, I said that right? In those few minutes, Aruna lost everything, her brand new wedding sari inside a brown wrapping paper lying somewhere in that dark room.
Because of severe brain damage, Aruna lost her speech, sight, mobility; she would laugh or scream hysterically, but that's about it. But she could feel pain. That part of the brain somehow remained intact. I am only talking about the physical part, I can only imagine if she was able to think or not, and if so what would go on in her mind. Her fiance, nice guy, would come to her everyday for few yrs, bt then family pressure to get married, which was the practical thing to do, and he was gone. That was one of the most heart-breaking parts of the book.
Aruna is still alive; she is probably 61 now. Why is she still alive, that's all I could think of. And why did something like this happen to her, I think of that too. Because 'That's how it works', 'as you sow so shall you reap', what did she sow? I know there are million of sad and happy stories out there. And so many before me must have thought of this: Why does anything happen? And does it have anything to do with our actions? If not, then what's the point of being nice? Y not become animals and only follow our instincts for instant gratification. That's what the sweeper did and he is now roaming free, while even after decades Aruna still lies in the hospital waiting for justice.
How am I supposed to accept that?

Of Karma and twisted justice

I am feeling so sick I want to cry. I am feeling so alone I don’t want to feel anything. Why is life not fair? The law of Karma says we have to bear the fruits and punishment of our actions if not in this life then next. Bt shouldn’t we get our reward and punishment in the same life? What if a person is really nice in his next life bt because of the extra baggage that he is carrying he has to bear the brunt of it. Well he is a nice person now. Shouldn’t he be given a second chance and allowed to bear the effects of his present actions and not be punished for sins of a life he doesn’t even remember? Otherwise what is the point of being good? Half of the crimes happen in this world because life has been unfair to some people. So isn’t god just sowing the seeds, for more trouble for more sin simply to justify that your previous life ws not enough for the list of punishment he has planned for u. god is such a sadist then, what happened to the benevolent forgiving god? How are we supposed to have faith in a situation like this where we already know that we are doomed to be punished just coz we did something wrong, not now, bt long long ago. And when you see the corrupt smiling, lolling in luxury, with somebody’s blood on their hands, you get even more frustrated at this twisted form of justice; all u can do is look at him and say: have fun boy, in your NEXT life you will pay for it. But if the poor guy is a decent man in his next life, will it be fair to pay for his sins, his children suffering for their father’s sin, sins of a life that doesn’t exist? So what kind of screwed up logic is this? I know there are probably bigger issues in this universe, bt I cant help bt think how helpless, pathetic we are, foolish to have hopes in our hearts, jumping in joy over a minor coincidence when the reality is that someone or something is keeping track of your every action and you or someone will pay for it. It’s a different matter if u deserve it or not. Coz life is not fair. Can you accept that?