T(a)inted

8^th march was celebrated as “international Women’s Day” with the pomp and show, which includes hordes of message to one’s female friends, big advertisements in newspapers, celebrities spreading the joy on television and free drinks to all the ladies in the bar.

When everyone was busy writing best wishes messages on facebook , sending bulk sms or getting their female friends drunk on free booze, I was busy smashing cars.

I did my portion of good deed. I smashed 4 cars. Every shattered window, windscreen and broken glasses are dedicated to all the women in the world.

I am a not a wild person (except in bed), I rarely resort to violence not even when provoked, what pushed me off the edge was this news in the newspaper a week ago, where a  girl was kidnapped in broad daylight by three boys in their teens, raped and murdered in the safe haven of their brand new Swift. The car was a gift to the budding teenager on his 18^th birthday.

The sheer volume of such cases has made this incident a mere cliché. The tinted windscreens give such hooligans an added advantage. In India the norms for tinted glasses are 70% transparency on front and back and 50 % transparency on the side windscreens. India being a land of law abiding citizens, you can find plenty of cars with jet black windscreens.

Unlike any endangered species you can find these specimens at traffic signals waiting for the signal to turn green, right under the nose of the traffic police. You can spot them on roads, in parking lots or one might even be in your garage. I never understood the mindset of people installing dark tinted glasses. A dark film has no extra feature than a normal film. A normal film is enough to increase the efficiency of your air conditioner and there are ways to protect yourself from sun, using a SPF 75 sunscreen is one option, sunglasses are another, sunblockers can be purchased from street vendors for few bucks.

Impatience is the new patience and illegal is the new legal.

Cars today have become a safe haven for all age groups, teenagers who cannot find a place alone, make the backseat of the car; their love dungeon, married men indulge themselves in adultery in safety of their dark tinted cocoon. Black Tinted windscreens, Loud Deafening music, their is no stopping this evil machine.

In 97% of the cases the victim knows the offender; it is their known who took advantage of them. No wonder why so many cases are swept under the carpet and never see the light of the day.

A famous psychologist says “the tinted glasses, the enclosed space and the increasing speed of the vehicle provide confidence to the rapist; it provides him a feeling of control and safety.”

Tinted glasses are not the most draconian thing in this world only their merits are a little lopsided. They do protect us from damaging sun rays and salacious gaze.

Here is a four point solution to the problem:

• Government to make stringent rules against tinted windscreens. The fine is just a meagre Rs 100, which is nothing as compared to the money spent on film(tint).
•  Instead of writing tickets for dark tint, cars must be confiscated and the windscreens removed, there and then.
•  Multi National Companies before employing the vendors, making sure that none of the vehicles have tinted glasses, as most of the crimes happen during the odd hours drop and pickups

And the best one is:

•   Taking a pledge that every year on 8^th march you will smash at least one dark tinted car, time to give something back to the society.