Today's blog is once again inspired by a spectacular performance put up by the Malayalam Crew of Theatre No.59 at MCC on Day 2 of the Theatre night. This play, titled 'Rithu', was such an emotional masterpiece that it brought almost the entirety of Anderson Hall (where this event was taking place) to its feet. And God, did even a standing ovation seem far too less of a credit that could be given to the act that was put up on stage.
Here, we could see 'Malik', a fifth-grade student from an ordinary working-class family in Kerala, filled with a sense of curiosity about the differences between the male and the female anatomy. When he raises this doubt to his parents, he is shunned and silenced. So he decides to take a peek into the girls' washroom at his school so that he can understand why girls sit down when they pass urine, unlike boys who stand. But he is caught by a teacher of his and is brought to the principal who beats him and shames him, demanding his parents to be brought to the school to talk about this issue. But another teacher who has always stood up for him by the name Lissy, rushes to the principal's office to take his stand. She talks to the principal and comes to a compromise, saying that she will go to Malik's house herself and talk to his parents so as to avoid the shame that they could possibly face as they are forced to come to school. After much debate, the principal too agrees with this.
The teacher actually does end up visiting his home but there we see her becoming a different version of herself, straying from the good character she was until then. She convinces Malik's parents to let him come to her home so that she can talk to him about all his wrong-doings and correct him. There, as one might guess, she takes advantage of Malik's innocence and curiosity for her own pleasure, and she rapes him. Yes, she rapes Malik. Yes, boys can get raped too.
That was the whole point of this play (which we will get to later). Then, we see Malik's cousin introducing him to porn and it's when he watches it under his cousin's compulsion that he realizes what had happened to him. He connects the dots and tells his cousin of it but that guy just treats it like an accomplishment of some sort. Malik's parents walk into the scene and find the mobile where the video is playing, and the cousin who wants to be goody-two-shoes pins all the blame on Malik. He gets verbally abused, pushed over and shunned by his own father and mother for being such a disappointment to them. They do not trust him when he says he has done nothing wrong. They do not try to understand his side of things. Even his own mother to whom he tries sharing the abusive incident refuses to trust his words and calls him a blatant liar.
At last, we see Malik as a grown-up man, gone through a lot of changes and transitions in his life. But even through all of it- even though many things passed, and many people walked in and out of his life- the trauma from that single day in his childhood, it stayed with him forever. It haunts him in sleep still. In his own words, translated to English, the darkness that creeps over the night as he tries to sleep has the face of that cruel and vulgar lady who raped him. And nobody asked him about it or listened to him when he tried to talk. Nobody gave him a chance to speak of his pain. He had to cradle that within himself throughout his life, leading to the instability of his mind.
We always see people covering children's ears and barricading them whenever there is a talk about anything that is remotely sexual. And yes, they shouldn't be exposed to such explicit content at such a tender age but they sure do need to have the basic knowledge of what it is. Sex and everything associated with it shouldn't be considered as a complete taboo. Children should be aware of their own body parts and the need for consent. Their curiosity and doubts shouldn't be seen as something dirty and vulgar, but they should be addressed and answered in an age-appropriate manner. And yes, it is also to be addressed that rape is not something that is exclusive to girls. It happens to boys too. There are female predators just like male predators who feed on the innocence of young boys and girls. It is important for the kids to be warned against such advances from those vulture-like people. It is important that the kids feel comfortable enough to share things that have happened to them with someone without fearing punishment or blame.
It is truly important to stop silencing a person who speaks out on this topic and start addressing how crucial this awareness is in this cruel world. Because no child should be taken advantage of just because of the fact that they are a child. No one deserves to have something like that happen to them. No one deserves to live with such a life-long trauma.
So I reimpose my previous statement and conclude this blog,
STOP SILENCING AND START ADDRESSING!
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