Endangered Human Rights

Defining Human Rights, fighting for human rights, making a human being understand one’s rights, practical application of human rights, actually assessing the people living with ones rights of being human are all humongous issues related to human rights. There are about three hundred organisations working all over the world to ensure that human beings live their lives with respect and dignity.

 

Renu was twelve years  old, when I first met her. A fair, round faced, good looking, healthy child, standing behind her grandmother, with beautiful deep black eyes wide open and a forceful effort to keep them stuck to ground.  Renu  had the privilege of being brought up like princess, though her  grandmother and mother both were housemaids. She used to go to school…studied upto XII, did courses on beauty parlour. She wished to be independent in life and certainly not a house maid. Years passed by, grandmother expired, mother started having health problems and Renu had to start accompanying her mother to support her in her work. She was at the peak of her  youth ,  eligible  boys tried and proposed but Renu selected one. Though, she enjoyed love of her life, it never culminated to marriage. The boy’s parents got him married somewhere else.  Slowly and slowly, Princess Renu started becoming a burden to the family. It was the power of her beauty and youth, Renu selected another admirer and settled for marriage. The husband was madly in love with Renu. He used to take care of everything about her life, but with one condition, she should not be in touch with anyone else, not even with her family members. Just to ensure that he would lock her from outside when he goes out for work. As it was all because of love, Renu also accepted that action of locking her from outside. In due course of  time, the same action of love started bothering Renu, so much so that one day she eloped to her mother’s  place by breaking the lock.

Jiah, Divya, Meena : No more sad Note

Beautiful, bubbly and talented teenager Jiah was successful in making her mark with her debut movie 'Nishabd' . Jiah actually got recognition as an actor in her first movie itself. We could see her talent in her second movie and a glimpse in the third one in 2010. We did not see much of her in last couple of years, and we are not that extra inquisitive to know the happenings of a young actor’s life. But suddenly the morning news made Jiah all time famous for the last act of her life. The reason behind this ultimate act of Jiah was stated as a phase of professional and personal disappointment. She went through depression due to not having a job for last three years.

Jiah’s death reminded us of few more actresses of  yesteryears, like  Meena Kumari, Parveen Babi, Divya Bharti whose life ended in a sad note. The last one was Divya, died at the age of nineteen. Though we missed her for sometime, inevitably someone else had taken her place.

Meena Kumari  was one of the most prominent actresses to have appeared on the celluloid world of Bollywood. She is often cited as " Tragedy Queen" – both in recognition of her frequent portrayal of melancholic and dramatic roles in her films, and as a reference to her real-life story.  Her love for Kamal Amrohi, a married man, her short lived marriage and subsequent divorce and the struggle to lead a lonely life, took entire happiness from Meena Kumari’s life, and made it akin to the character’s she often portrayed on the screen. 

A talented poetess, Meena, when she fell in love with Kamal Amrohi, expressed it wonderfully when she wrote: 

"Dil saa jab saathi paya
Bechaini bhi woh saath le aaya"

(When I found someone like my heart
He also brought sorrow with him)

Her anguish was visible in the lines:

"Talaaq to day rahay ho Nazar-e-qehar ke saath
Jawani bhi meri lauta do Mehar ke saath"

(You are divorcing me with rage in your eyes
Return to me, also, my youth along with the alimony!)

Sadly though, Meena Kumari who could express her feelings so vividly, could not control the manifestations of her emotions.  Struggling throughout her life to be understood and loved, Meena Kumari found solace in alcohol and ultimately surrendered her life to liver cirrhosis. 

It’s time that we learn from other’s life and go out asking for help who have successfully handled   such phases in life. There are many, but life of Rekha could be depicted as a school of emotional strength. Rekha was born to Tamil actor Gemini Ganesan and Telugu actress Pushpavalli. Her parents were not married, and her father did not acknowledge his paternity during her childhood. While looking for a footing in Bollywood, Rekha revealed her origins, covering the scars of a rejected identity.