Filicide

Fil´i`cide
n.1. The act of murdering a son or a daughter; also, parent who commits such a murder.

Definition of Filicide as given in the Webster dictionary.

This is a new term that I learned today. I am happy that I could enhance my word power atleast by a bit by knowing there exists such a word in English language, but I am unhappy by the way I came to know about this word.

I had a much event less morning and noon session today,the usual sleepy session, encounter with books and the usual surfing and chatting..But again by evening,as similar to yesterday, I had a not so good news in store for me when I turned on CNN-IBN news channel.
Before getting into that ,let me narrate a very short story

The main characters are a 14 year old girl,her father and a servant of their house.The girl was said to be having a close relation with the servant (mind you,she is 14 year old).The girl's father is told to be having an extra marital affair which the daughter couldnt digest, even the servant knew it.So when the girl and the servant were discussing the issue, the father came in. He didnt like what was going on there and he took the servant to the terrace ,finished him off and later killed the girl. Finally after so many issues and controversies,the police finally arrests the culprit.

It would make a wonderful story and infact a wonderful movie in Bollywood or Hollywood whereever it is made because one would feel it could miss a bit of reality and there is lot suspense and thrill.But truth at times is stranger than fiction.I would be happy if this was just a story. But what I just narrated is a cruel reality that happened in Noida, New Delhi where a 14 year old girl was brutally murdered by her dad for reasons that itself remains as a black mark to humanity and society. I was initially happy to know that police caught the culprit of the murder case that had created much hip hop and sensation across the nation. But now it might create much more havoc as the culprit is none other than the girl's father, a filicide committed with multiple motives.

I had heard about sacrificing son or daughter to Gods as a present or gift to Gods.Even though the logic was nothing better than nonsense, even this evil practice had a justification.But what happened in Noida is something that doesnt even deserve the word justification.It was nothing new to know that culprit had an extra-marital affair,but its ridiculous that he killed his daughter because she was alleged to be having an affair with the servant.How could he ever expect her to be right when he himself was on the wrong path.I wonder how a father could kill a daughter inorder to satisfy his ego or save his status in the society.It might have a taken him a moment or two to finish her off,but its sad that he never thought of the fourteen years that he had seen of his daughter's. Now I remember the scene from the movie "Armageddon" where Bruce Willis recalls the moments ,that he shared with his daughter ,from the moment she was born to the moment when he left her.Then he presses on the nuclear trigger and the movie just proceeds.

I dont and would never understand the culprit's mentality while he was busy taking the life of her daughter. Why did he raise her up for these many years,to finish her off this way.Well this question might never be answered. But as far I know, humanity is far moving out off humans. We are more machines now and feelings mere words. I hope it would never be too late before we realise that we are far far away from what we are meant to be.

-Varun Krishna