To Keenan and Reuben: The Boys Who Did Not Look Away
Published on November 4,2011 at 4:50 am in Uncategorized, 8 comments
BY RIYA KARTHA, BLOGGER AT QUAINT MURMUR, FREELANCE WRITER AND LECTURER AT WILSON COLLEGE
If there is anything we are taught from birth it is to avoid confrontation. To look away. We are moulded as a society to ignore, to not take chances with, to leave well enough alone.
Two weeks ago, a casual dinner turned into a nightmare for a group of young Mumbaikars. As they stepped out after dinner, an altercation with a drunk man led to events which nobody could have foreseen. Reuben Fernandez and Keenan Santos died of stab wounds inflicted by one man with an army of thirteen. The latter died soon after the altercation, the former succumbed to his injuries last night.
Well-meaning folks say they could have avoided the altercation. By looking away. By ignoring it. By leaving well enough alone.
I didn’t know either one personally. What I do know is that I am grateful that they existed at all. I have lived in Mumbai for many years now and this is the city I call home. And yet today, in this city, two boys are dead because they took offense to a drunk man making sexual advances towards a girl in their group. Because they didn’t look away.
Too often I have fought my own battles with a niggling feeling that some man would come and get me back for standing up for myself. Too often I have been upset with male friends who ignored a threat, choosing to look away instead. So when people shrug sadly and remark that looking away was a better option, I feel my heart break.
Because there is a fundamental flaw with that logic. If there is anything that we should learn from the deaths of Reuben and Keenan it is that looking away is not the solution. It is that we have lost our voices, our dignity and indeed our conscience by repeatedly looking away each time we are faced with an assault on our individual and collective dignity. Nobody deserves to die for standing up for someone elses dignity. Nobody deserves to die like that. And that we have begun to believe that is the way things are is where the flaw lies.
Any woman who has walked the streets of this city will attest to feeling the humiliation. Because we face these killers every day. They walk among us, talk dirty to us, feel us up, brush against us, pinch us and grope us and every single time we report these, we are asked to keep our mouths shut for fear of swift and painful retribution.
And so by doing so, we have lost our collective voice. We keep our heads down and we shut our eyes and ears and we move on. Oblivious to other people, oblivious to all the injustice around us. And because two boys refused to do so, because they refused to listen to the naysayers, they are dead. What a horrible way to go! Fighting for a society that probably wouldn’t have done the same for them.
So no, I don’t think they should have looked away. I think we should have looked out for them. We should look out for them now. We should stop looking away before Reuben and Keenan seem like a distant memory.
Thank you, Keenan and Reuben. For not looking away.
You are both heroes in my book.
8 Responses
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I salute Reuben and Keenan. What they did was the right thing to do. Shame on all those people who think that they should have just stood still and ignored this harassment of a woman.
My deep condolences go out to the family of Reuben and Keenan.
Regards,
Pramod
I didn’t know them…never met them…but somehow i feel indebted to them for what they did…the way the stood up to evil…call me hormonal or overly sentimental…i am miles away but today i weep for them…RIP bravehearts….a few more like you and the world would have been such a nice place to live in.
.Its a shame that such an incident occured in our society. Reuben and Keenan are the real heroes.Their families should be proud of their brave deeds.I hope that the culprits will be punished soon…
DEEP CONDOLENCES TO THEIR FAMILY MEMBERS.
Hi Riya,
I completely agree to every statement made. There are many times in our life where we come across situations where we have to decide whether to look away or to look upto. And looking upto does not necessarily mean starting a scuffle, its just to show that you still have the will to retaliate and not take irresponsible actions for granted.
My heartfelt condolences to the family and close friends of Reuben and Keenan, who have lost something that’s irreplaceable. But at the same time they must be feeling proud to have nurtured and imbibed the true values of “standing tall for truth and justice” in their loved ones.
Reuben and Keenan achieved what was destined for them. It’s now upto us who witnessed this ordeal, whether to take it as an inspiration or just look away considering it as just another happening.
RIP Brave souls, you made a difference in my life.
Riya,
Your are totally right. Mumbai is not a safe place, especially for women. I salute the courage of Reuben and Keenan and my deepest condolences to the families and loved ones of Reuben and Keenan.
Criminals and goons are becoming strong because the police still lacks the will to combat crime. Criminals are fearless because the police has failed to create a deterrent to curb crime. Another reason why such elements are moving around fearlessly is because the politicians are playing their dirty games of vote-bank politics and using these criminals for grabbing votes. Its shocking what happened to Keenan and Reuben. They sacrificed their lives protecting their friends. In any civilized nation, where citizens are aware, educated and law abiding, such an incident should never happen. This raises the question about what is the police doing? What are they doing? Can’t they handle even basic law and order. Its a fact crime is running very high in this city. Thats why such thugs can get away with murder. What has our society done to make Mumbai aware about standing up against such elements? Nothing. Your opening lines touches the right chord. What about self-defence. How many of us have self-defence training? Very few. This is the state of affairs.
Regards,
Anurag
Please, give these criminals the hardest punishment.. Don’t hang them to death but give them something new.. Like Dog-bite inside the cell punishment and daily torture punishment through out life.. This will set-up an example to the society.. and those criminal minds out in the city, will fear.. then no one will ever dare to do this again..
Whatever I write here wouldn’t be enough for the mettle of these two MEN , Ruben and Keenan ,who did the right thing which very often most of us hesitate or are reluctant to do.Not long ago a similar thing happened in Kolkata, where a 16yr old boy died trying to defend the honour of his sister.
Its sad these things keep happening in our country , a blotch to the very humanity in each one of us.
Its the same case in every state of our country.
All I want to do is remind every one of us who keeps reading these kind of news everyday and is willing to take this as a part of “reality”, YOU COULD BE NEXT !!!
Ceasor, Anurag,
I think the whole idea of whether to act or not is a perpetual dilemma for us. I’m playing devil’s advocate here, but humour me.
Perhaps the boys would have been alive today if they hadn’t reacted. And so many of us who agree with their actions have no idea if we ourselves would have stood up, or would have chosen to blend in with the onlookers. Then again perhaps the price of keeping quiet is much higher.
When I wrote this post, I was seething. Now I’m haunted by peoples’ comments all over; everyone seems to think they would have acted in support if they had seen such an incident take place. I hope none of us have to ever find out, but I worry that words are much easier to bring forth than actions.