Yesterday was the valentine's day that was marked by pink chaddis, pink saris, moral brigades, love brigades and what not. An innocous western saint and his day has assumed a large proportion in our country- which in itself is not surprising. We are all asked to take sides- should we or should we not celebrate this western festival? Then, long explanations follow why we
should or should not celebrate it.
While we were in college, we had not heard of a Valentine's day. (I graduated in 1988) Many of my college mates would have been only too pleased if they were 'forcibly' married off (for free) by self righteous outfits. And mind you, we had not heard of these outfits too, then. For all I dig into my memory, my first valentine day gift was in 1992 when on 14th Feb, my
beloved husband of one and a half year presented me with a gift paper wrapped 'masala no dabbo', a crucial kitchen item for a Gujju girl which was missing in his parental house. I still use it. So, tell me, is valentine day against our culture?
Of couse, the advertising hype around the day was at its peak at that time. The college where I teach saw two quite bizzare celebrations involving auctioning of chocolates to be gifted to the objects of devotion. Many other days became popular such as rose day and friendship day- again largely unheard of earlier.
Suddenly around at the turn of the millenium, the valentine's Day caught attention of Shiv Sena (other outfits are new kids on the block). I distinctly remember that students in my campus had put up posters about the upcoming valentine's day events and had made a large heart shaped rangoli in the courtyard. The Shivsainiks came, objected, tore the posters, smudged a few
corners of the Rangoli and left. This was enough to scare the authorities. The event was modified as 'the butterfly day' and postponed to a later day. The heart shaped rangoli was changed into a butterfly! The 14th Feb was no longer mentioned. I believe, the students also got tired of this concept. The youngsters today, prefer to go to many hang outs in the city on days that convenient to them rather than celebrate a sedate 'day' in the college. The advertising blitz in the paper no longer had that zing. Shiv Sena no longer cared about this day.
We thought the Valentine's Day was slowly becoming dated when thanks to the fringe outfits, it has again been revived in the public mindscape. The publicity generated has benefitted both the pedlers of valentine's Day merchandise and the outfits who want to oppose this phenemenon.
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Legal or Cultural Issue?
Mangalore Mayor has served a legal notice on the Union minister for women and child development Renuka Chowdhary for issuing statements that "tarnish" city's image. (HT, dated 13 Feb)
To my mind this little news item encapsulates a partly flawed debate relating to the incident in Mangalore where members of one'Shri Ram Sene' stormed a pub and assaulted women. In a democracy, everyone has a right to question. But, if we ask a wrong question, we will get misleading pointers. We will beat the stick at the wrong end. Just as the above mayor has done.
For instance,take a question like this: "Is it against Indian culture to go to pubs?" Maybe it is or maybe it is not. There is no official definition of 'Indian culture' and it is not mandatory to follow it. There are thousands of establishments in our towns and cities that serve all kinds of beverages to whoever will pay. For a certain fringe group to select just one such establishment to launch an attack is to generate publicity and reactions. Nobody had heard of Mr. Muthalik before this, now he is a welknown figure. We see this pattern all the time and yet are fooled by it.
Let's look at another question: "Should they be allowed to take law into their hands?" This attack was not taking law in their hand. It was breaking the law. You take law into your hand when say, you beat up a pickpocket instead of calling the police. The owner and the patrons of the pub were not engaged in any illegal act, therefore, preventing them from doing so was actually illegal and assaulting them was a criminal act.
In many cities people took out morchas to condemn the violence. One placard asked: "Is beating up women a part of Indian culture?" Well, may be it is and may be it is not. However, it is certainly against the law.
I agree that there are several other complex issues involved here as well. Issues such as right wing extremism, repressed behavior of controlling women, class resentment etc. It is evident that most politicians have empathised with the cause of the Sene (ie pub culture is bad), while only mildly denouncing the use of violence. Yet, I feel the nub of the matter is that
the sene members have publically commited violent crime and should be dealt with as a law and order situation. There is an increasing cult of violence and intolerance that gets couched in obsfucating issues and language.
We are a free, liberal democracy. Unless there is a rule of law that protects civilian freedom granted by the constitution, there is no basis for democracy. Unless groups engaged in goondagiri- attacking shops, establishments, theatres, art galleries, places of worship- damaging property and assaulting citizens- unless such acts are not promptly punished (actually
stopped), it is futile to argue about larger issues.
To my mind this little news item encapsulates a partly flawed debate relating to the incident in Mangalore where members of one'Shri Ram Sene' stormed a pub and assaulted women. In a democracy, everyone has a right to question. But, if we ask a wrong question, we will get misleading pointers. We will beat the stick at the wrong end. Just as the above mayor has done.
For instance,take a question like this: "Is it against Indian culture to go to pubs?" Maybe it is or maybe it is not. There is no official definition of 'Indian culture' and it is not mandatory to follow it. There are thousands of establishments in our towns and cities that serve all kinds of beverages to whoever will pay. For a certain fringe group to select just one such establishment to launch an attack is to generate publicity and reactions. Nobody had heard of Mr. Muthalik before this, now he is a welknown figure. We see this pattern all the time and yet are fooled by it.
Let's look at another question: "Should they be allowed to take law into their hands?" This attack was not taking law in their hand. It was breaking the law. You take law into your hand when say, you beat up a pickpocket instead of calling the police. The owner and the patrons of the pub were not engaged in any illegal act, therefore, preventing them from doing so was actually illegal and assaulting them was a criminal act.
In many cities people took out morchas to condemn the violence. One placard asked: "Is beating up women a part of Indian culture?" Well, may be it is and may be it is not. However, it is certainly against the law.
I agree that there are several other complex issues involved here as well. Issues such as right wing extremism, repressed behavior of controlling women, class resentment etc. It is evident that most politicians have empathised with the cause of the Sene (ie pub culture is bad), while only mildly denouncing the use of violence. Yet, I feel the nub of the matter is that
the sene members have publically commited violent crime and should be dealt with as a law and order situation. There is an increasing cult of violence and intolerance that gets couched in obsfucating issues and language.
We are a free, liberal democracy. Unless there is a rule of law that protects civilian freedom granted by the constitution, there is no basis for democracy. Unless groups engaged in goondagiri- attacking shops, establishments, theatres, art galleries, places of worship- damaging property and assaulting citizens- unless such acts are not promptly punished (actually
stopped), it is futile to argue about larger issues.
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