There are so many issues going on during the elections that I really was a kid at a chocolate factory, stuck with too many choices on what to talk about. Since everyone and their grandson is ( hopefully ) bored to death listening about temples and weak Prime Ministers, I thought I’d just have fun with another ‘election incident’ that is so relevant to us all, apparently.
Of course, what started off as fun doesn’t always end that way.
Turns out our very own Munnabhai, Sanjay Dutt is in legal trouble again today for allegedly saying that he would "give jaadu ki jhappi and pappi' (a magical hug and kiss) to the people of Pratapgarh, and to BSP leader Mayawati".The district magistrate obviously found the remarks morally demeaning and so slapped on a notice on ol’ Dutt boy for defiling Mayawati’s purity.
Of course, we’re no strangers to all this.
We’ve slapped cases on Aishwarya and Hrithik in the past for kissing onscreen, saying it was ‘obscene’.We’ve growled and barked like rabid dogs when Richard Gere gave Shilpa a noogie, even as she giggled uncontrollably.We’ve beaten up girls for drinking immorally in pubs.We’ve made villages ‘Muslim-free’.We’ve spit on everything from noodle straps and Valentine cards to couples in bikes and English teaching schools, saying it’s foreign invasion of our pure culture.
PURE CULTURE.
That’s a nice word, isn’t it ? It allows us to stand on a pedestal and dictate morality to the rest of the world because we live in the land of purity where men of honesty and valour lived, traditions were followed, women were pious and of the ‘sati-savitri’ mould.Where the foreigners ( sometimes 10 headed Sri Lankans, sometimes Mughal emperors and sometimes evil Bible wielding nuns ) were the evil ones.
You see, I keep wondering how our nation can consider kissing a willing girl or hugging her a crime ? It’s immoral, it seems. Well, considering we have the second largest population in the world, I think we could use a lot more foreplay ( read as hugging and kissing ) out here rather than release a really horny bull into the matrimonial cowshed. Maybe then we wouldn’t be impregnating women like as if they were salmon !! Maybe then our decades old plan ‘Hum do hamare do’ might actually work.
Of course, I get how we blame foreigners for sexual diseases. After all, they’re the only ones who can get diseases.Those dirty American girls kissing their men in public and walking around in bikinis. Indians don’t get them, do they ? Not us macho manly men with our virgin wives. Those diseases are by the Americans. The best example is of course AIDS, which happened because some American or some other foreigner went and had sex with a monkey, I hear. That shows how sick they were and still are. Not like us pure Indians. Don’t listen to the statistics. What statistics ? Oh, you know, statistics like :
In 2007, People living with HIV/AIDS in INDIA : 2.4 million
People living with HIV/AIDS in USA : 500,000
People living with HIV/AIDS in Europe : 300,000
The fact of the matter is – I never understood how we alone ended up giving so much value to our past moral culture when the fact is – we’ve never really had a glorious past morally. Like every rich culture ( Greek, Egyptian, Roman ), we too have had our great moments but we too have been tremendously ( and I stress, tremendously ) guilty of all the heinous sins of mankind, ranging from betrayal and murder to rape and incest. Even back then, we had the foundation of society which laid down rules. Even back then, the rules were broken when power decreed so.
The truth is – I sometimes think we would have been better off without our rich culture and past. Is it possible that perhaps, then, we’d have been more open to change and keeping up with the rest of the world as it rushes ahead ? I can’t help but wonder. Maybe then we'd accept that we are capable of shameful acts instead of sweeping them under the mat and pretending they never occurred.
I mean, it's one thing to blame foreign TV serials for corrupting today's youth... but you know something ?Atleast, they openly depict what their society is - the deviations, the flaws and the virtues that all coexist together in every society. Unlike us, they don't need to boost their sense of morality by projecting even these fictional TV characters as purely good boys, incapable of a single vice. The fact is, they accept their flaws and continue while we are stuck in the same quagmire simply because we refuse to accept we can be flawed. Simply because we refuse to accept that sometimes CHANGE FROM TRADITION CAN BE A GOOD THING.
Today, once more society exists with rules written in the sheets of law. And once more, rules are broken whenever power demands it. And we watch helplessly. We prefer to find evil in things like religious conversions and cow-meat and immorality in girls wearing smaller dresses and corrupting young honest men.
The fact of the matter is – A sexually frustrated pervert will remain a sexually frustrated pervert. The only thing that changes is how far he’d be willing to go. How far he thinks he can get away with what he does. You could put a chastity belt on women and dress them up thicker than a Christmas tree for all it matters. He’d just get scissors and a blow torch to assist him in satisfying his wanderlust. There’s no need for a bikini as an excuse for that. Scarily enough, sometimes I think society and it’s rules and the fear of punishment and humiliation maybe the only thing that stops the average man from following out his animal instincts and turning truly barbarian.
Sure, we’ve miles to go before we turn Taliban-cuckoo and start shooting people we suspect of affairs or flogging women on the streets. But I can’t shake away the feeling that we’re taking the wrong steps backwards towards that kind of a society either. We’re taking our own morality way too seriously and finding faults where none exist - just like the Taliban do.
If we can bark at romantic cards and beauty pageants calling them foreign invasion, then technically shouldn’t we be riding chariots to work – work being of course tilling the paddy fields and selling the cotton ? Shouldn’t we all be playing dice and supporting Chennai Super King’s chess team rather than the Britisher’s game of cricket ? Shouldn’t we all be attending swayamwaras and having multiple wives ? ( or 5 husbands, if you have a drowsy mother-in-law giving them permission to share you !! )
Get a life.. we’re all morally corrupt. Accept it. It isn’t based on our religion or caste.The line isn’t drawn on a map of the world either.. it isn’t that simple.You see, it’s in each one of our heads. And it's what we decide to do , or more importantly, decide not to do with our perverted mind's thoughts in the end that matter.
It’s what makes a hug a greeting for one person and a sexual advance for another.
Authors word : This post is based on a conversation I had with a friend recently and her own personal trauma with some ‘very educated trust-worthy coworkers’ and how they escaped and left her feeling ashamed and cheap because of unrelated issues like her religion. It reminded me of how morally corrupt we are in reality and how we always hide it under this nonsense facade of Indian piousness. I didn’t have the right words then for her... and I don’t think I have the right words now either.
totally agree man....!!..hypocrites!!
ReplyDeletewhat more to say..you have hit the nail in the head.
ReplyDeleteThe "i am purer than thou" attitude sucks.But some things are too much ingrained in our society.. these elements u are talking of will always be there,raising there ugly head time and again.
There will always be 2 Indias(maybe more),one where people can say and do what they want and another where some groups make people say and do what they want.Lets see which one outlives the other.
Did a little bit of research into your AIDS stats, and I thought on a total population vs infected population ratio, the numbers in India might be lesser. But no, the ratios work out to be 1 in every 400 in India, and 1 in every 600 in the US. This is also a function of the better health care and awareness in the US. Also because the AIDS epidemic hit the US in the eighties, and most of them are probably dead now. Nonetheless, your hearts in the right place, as always :) but I think you might be a little too harsh on us desis. There are self righteous moral police all over the world and all over the world the socio-political space is moving towards a rightist conservative brand of intolerance. Yesterday, I was sitting in a book shop(in Seattle) and overheard two people slamming jews cause they had 'crucified the saviour'. You have scum everywhere, in India just as everywhere else. Just that scum in India sadly, are able to pull of nasty shit more. The irony is our great culture(such a cliche term it even hurts to type it) was always open. The first jews, St Thomas, and the early muslims were allowed to come and assimilate peacefully. Its just this perverted version of it that we have now that has got it so wrong.
ReplyDeleteMy first reaction to your post was that I agree. Disagreed with the statistics and calculated the Ratio to the total Population but sadly the Statistics failed there too.
ReplyDeleteI would not deny whatever you said because it is true, but I would say it is also a one side of the view. The Indian Culture is as much you and me, as much as Mutalik or may be we are more, its just that we are not vocal and violent. The culture comes from masses the peaceful co-existence of people. The problem has not been our culture, I agree we have been discriminatory and obnoxiously orthodox in past and still not out of the shackles. But we have come a long way from when we used to burn our women alive when their husbands died to a position where we have the president and the de-facto prime minister both as women. I don't say the malpractices have stopped things are very rosy. All I say is we are moving towards betterment of the society, towards a more educated, liberal and understanding culture. This progressiveness is the real Indian Culture because deep down its coming from what me and you believe in together with millions of Indian. Interestingly this real Indian Culture is not because of the Mutaliks and Raj Thackrey's of the world, this is despite them.
Our culture has been infected with the virus called politics,or the so called crusaders of our culture.They cry hoarse over issues that are 'culturally sound' to them and ignore the others.
ReplyDeletealways glad to see such strong reaction since it allows for some good discussions...
ReplyDeletefahd and prats, I'll admit I didn't look up the cases to total population ratio. Thanks for looking it up. Its even more disheartening to see that we lost there too... secretly, somewhere I would have hoped I would have been proven wrong atleast there.
Fahd, you hit the bullseye in stating that theres a new brand of intolerance thats come up all over the world. I cant deny it, seeing whats going on all over.. its just sad that we too have fallen in the same rut and are using such irrelevant factors as our 'glorious past' to justify some absurd notions even today.
illeen, what you said is thought-provoking. There indeed are two Indias living side by side.. I would have hoped the sensible half would have won over the bully brigade, but think about it - these latter groups have been here over a decade now.. they've only moved on from strength to strength don't you feel ? they know they're above the law... no law enforcement agency in India dare touch them while they enforce their ways.. silly things like bailable warrants and cases that never reach a courtroom are nothing to them. I really hvae to ask.. how are they different from the Taliban really ?
ReplyDeletePrats, I really wish I were as optimistic as you.. esp the last bits. I cant help feel its the reverse.. that the culture is falling apart inspite of us.. slowly, the nation is falling into the hands of mindless goons.. the educated society doesn not stoop to their level to fight and they know it too, taking full advantage of it.
ReplyDeleteWhat we need is a whole bunch of Zorros and that V for Vendetta guy !!! :)
Gazal, thats true as well.. these politicos if they wanted could take a firm stand right at the beginning and nip these degenerative elements in the bud..
I like the views on the post.....only 10/100 talk on such issues.....lovely post..Really people don't think from their minds ......they listen others....
ReplyDelete