Women's Day or India's Daughter....!!?

WOMEN'S DAY.... OR ... 'INDIA'S DAUGHTER'...?!!

 

Sunday, March 8 is International Women’s Day. Once more will pour in at Facebook and Twitter sites, great holy quotes, words, and chants  on women; Mails and messages will go flying between men and women, women and women on the  ‘greatness of woman / the virtues of woman’ and so on and so on…

At the same time, a man- a lawyer- sits in a Discussion Forum on national television and shouts, “Yes ! Yes ! If my sister or daughter is found with a man, I’ll burn her..!” And Indians that include lawmakers, constitution experts, pious men, teachers, writers, scientists, social workers and so many others sit there listening to him, instead of handing over the man to the police with an FIR as a possible murderer.

In Kolkata, and West Bengal the Supreme Reigning Power is Durga- devotees going to impossible  lengths to pay obeisance to Her. Yet has one person from Bengal- even the fiery Mamata Bannerjee- raised a storm over what one of the defending lawyers for the Dec 16, 2012 rape-accused said about women-

“If you keep sweets on the street then dogs will come and eat them. Why did her parents send her with anyone that late at night?”

The Government have put a ban on Ms Leslee Udwin’s documentary ‘India’s Daughter’. And some regressive men- even one like the self-appointed ‘defender of all right things of India’- Mr Loudmouth Arnab Goswami of Times Now Channel-  shouting out loud how Ms Leslie has brought down the deceased Nirbhaya’s (Ms Jyoti Singh Pandey) unfortunate name with “the ultimate insult” of highlighting one of the rapists’ mind-sets.

 Alas ! Alas! All this, even as the documentary showed no single objectionable  action or intent- even as it highlighted the ugly and blatantly self-applauding, remorseless bent of a brutal rapist, despite the Supreme Court’s ‘death penalty’ dangling upon his head.  The documentary has brought out the unspeakably ugly mind-set, and nauseating  words of a criminal, commenting boorishly upon the horrifically brutalized woman’s dress, her time of going out, her companion, her fight and resistance to the criminals…

More, the documentary has brought out what countless men think of women(and girls - in today’s India- with all the big talk about women-empowerment, women-reservation, women-protection bills and all such- that women with the kind of dresses they wear these days, the kind of freedom they assume these days, the kind of irreverence they show to their assigned traditional-female roles these days, they are bound to be targets of sexual assault, rape and such..! Ministers, political big-wigs, academicians, media-presenters, God-men, law-makers, policemen, lawyers, even judges have been exposed in the debates following  the documentary, “India’s Daughter”, of their narrow, regressive, centuries-old Manu-diktat-mindsets  as they blame women for the terrible sexual assaults upon them…for did not Manu say of woman, “It is the nature of women to seduce men in this world; for that reason the wise are never unguarded in the company of females”, “Wise people should avoid sitting alone with one’s mother, daughter or sister. Since carnal desire is always strong..”, “Men may be lacking virtue, be sexual perverts, immoral and devoid of any good qualities, and yet women must constantly worship and serve their husbands” ?

Today, Friday, March 6, 2015, in India, men will not even want their time and attention disrupted, for today is a World Cup cricket match in Perth, Australia. Today their main concern will be how many runs will Virat Kohli make ? Rapes and such will always be going on as long as ‘boys will be boys…and will be upto mischief now and then….’ Match over, there is the zooming sensex- so share-and-stock-trading needs working at…come evening, there is the club to go to, relax at, have a drink… Or stay home, get glued to the computer or television, watch Discovery or News or BBC Channels, and…with the usual everyday must-dos, retire for the day. All that fuss over a rape …?! Of course laws need to be brought against such crimes, but what can anyone do ? They have to take their own time…only Governments can deal with such issues…

 Ms Leslie’s documentary has suddenly laid bare the everyday-thinking of many men in India today..

Do people really understand- can they actually conceive- how a woman after rape gets shattered…almost never ever really free of the horror of it…never really allowing herself the luxury of happily, freely bringing up her children or partnering her husband, or even running a home, managing her career with verve and pride ? Even if every case is not as unimaginably horrifying as Ms Nirbhaya’s, ending in death, every affected woman becomes a tortured island unto herself in the society she lives in…

What  are the administrators, the great policy-makers, the sociologists, the journalistic experts- what are they really doing about the menace of rape and the precarious status of women the moment they step out of their  homes ? The nation said nothing, even when they came to know that an admired leader himself had walked out on his wife…to chase his career. They even compared him to Siddhartha walking out of his home on his Buddha-journey… Just like the men in the Ramayana times applauded Rama for being a people-abiding king, who unflinchingly let his pregnant wife be left in the jungle…for it was unacceptable for the people of Ayodhya to have a king whose queen had beenliving for some time in another man’s precincts…

For all her big talk, what is the Union Human Resources Minister, Ms Smriti Irani doing about the entire ugly rape-and-women’s insecurity issue ? What is stopping her from taking strong steps against those who destroy their women under the guise of ‘honour’ ? Has Ms Irani made martial-art teaching for girls in schools compulsory ? Has she taught girls and women to keep with them pepper-sprayers, taught them how to use them ? Are schools teaching in clear, but clean language all about human bodies, of taking healthy care of the bodies, of sex, of procreation, and of the great dangers of not understanding the body-functions , of the great evils of wrong pursuance of arbitrary or forced sex ?

So many- so very many – issues have come into limelight thanks to the sharp documentary, “India’s Daughter”. Like Shobha De says, it must be compulsory viewing for everybody in India (if necessary with some further editing ). Why don’t more men show their anger on the disgusting mindset of men even in high places ? Is there only one Javed Akhtar to rouse people against the blatant  blinker-eyed attitudes  in society ? Why are all our gentlemen-friends not even mentioning the subject (among the entire mailing groups that I know of, only one Col Menon has highlighted articles), and the social ire (chiefly women) at the entire Dec 16^th incident and its follow-up ? Why, as Nirbhaya’s mother says, is punishment still lagging for the gruesome guilty, even as their own daughter perished two and a half years ago ? What is the use of all talk of women’s laws and girls’ safety, if, as Nirbhaya’s father says, there are no girls alive in the homes ? A stark question showing how much this crime - rape- has continued, even increased, in utmost devious forms too, where the imprisoned criminal warns society that henceforth rapists will kill the girls, so that they don't talk anymore of the crime-perpetrators…

Today, everyone in India worth his and her salt needs to take a position- use his/her voice, use his/her pen to make the Government and authorites arrest ‘respectable’ men who speak more unbearably than the criminals, debar authorites who speak of their womenfolk as if they were cattle in their homes, and put the fear of every God and Man- nationwide- into perverts, raise a huge concerted voice in the country that films and documentaries that talk of the different angles of crime are not  to be banned, butencouraged-  that the terrible retro-mindset of many in the country- against women-  has to be by law, overhauled and cleansed…

Then yes, as Nirbhaya’s father said, his daughter Jyoti would have, “In death lit such a torch … whatever darkness there is in this world should be dispelled by this light.”

Let's Make a Public Uproar for Justice !

Scams, revelations, 'big', 'clean' names getting touched by the taint-brush, India is going through a kind of upheaval-time even as its crops, industry and economy are stabler than many a world nation. While the year-old recession hit powerful nations hard, India's domestic markets kept our economy going and the recession at a minimum level, even attracting, into our markets, much foreign investment..

But we do need to resolve 2 or 3 issues urgently. The best way to do it is through sound parliamentary procedures, but without some constitutional changes our parliamentary system too is getting fragmented- and if the "people's representatives" are the parliament, then who will bring the required constitutional changes ?

So we have to seek other methods- but first, what are the major crises in the country today ?

One- Corruption- at the highest and lowest levels is eating away into society, burning away Indians' faith in governments, in the army, in corporates, in themselves ! With the huge A Raja-2G-Radia scam burning up our skies like some high-power explosives, the time has come when the action of justice has to happen decisively.

Second- why is Afzal Guru's hanging still kept pending ? Why can't his removal as well as Ajmal Kasab's be done expeditiously, for the government to earn credibility, and believability ?

Three- a lot of ugly mail is taking place regarding Ms Sonia Gandhi's and her family's improper involvement in many a financial matter of India; why does she not clarify matters, and put all rising suspicion to rest ?

The Indian media, though often on an overdrive, has indeed shown high involvement in the current scam-revelations and leads. And we need to make use of that media to attain results. (Wasn't the Jessica murder offenders punished by the courts mainly based on the media on-slaught driven by public uproar ?) So we, as an involved public have got to play our roles, and clamour for justice, for punishing offenders, however "poweful" they may be ! Our clamour, anger, uproar, all of it may be channelised through the media by writng to them, blogging, petitioning to them, blogging on their channels etc.

For in today's world- both good and bad are unstoppable; so let us try and halt the bad !

Jai Hind !

Surekha Tenneti Venugopal

COME ON iNDIA, SHOW AN ERRING COUNTRY ITS PLACE, DEMAND CORRECTIVE ACTION !

Within a span of 5 months Doc MMS, Prime Minister of India and the most powerful Barak Obama, US Prez meet again across the table, at the same platform, talking of extremely vital issues as far as India is concerned.

Prez Obama has given the same assurance that he did months ago of persuading Pakistan to bring the 26/11 criminals to book, even as in the meantime, the US aid to Pakistan has conveniently and abundantly gone up.

As a common but intensely patriotic citizen of India, this entire process- of India continually whining to Pakistan that they don’t apprehend Hafeez Sayeed / Lakhvi, Pakistan giving all kinds of convoluted out-of-focus replies without really moving a little finger towards apprehending the India-attack criminals, India complaining to the US, the Us nodding its head wisely saying that they will persuade Pakistan to do the needful…after all this, what happens ? Nothing.

The erstwhile Pakistani ambassador to USA, Maliha Lodhi also has the gall to insinuate that India is levering sympathy using 26/11, and is not talking of “composite issues “.

What composite issues ?

Frankly, is there no other way, India can put the fear of God into a country which, cannot answer for its own accountability, but dares to posture and make big talk ?
Is it a problem with the Congress party at the centre ? Or is it the problem of any party that comes to power in India ? Why is there no will to issue the kind of warning to an erring country that’ll make the countries of the world sit up, and even speak for a strong no-nonsense India ?

Surekha

WHAT IS "OUTRAGEOUS ?"

There is now a fresh mail that is doing the rounds that says "OUTRAGEOUS"- yes, indeed, once more about the hounded artist, MFHussain.

I am not sure how many have read the article, in the TOI of 16/03/10 "Why Should We Shut Up ?" by Gautam Adhikari, an eminent ex-executive editor of TOI, who says, "when an artist of Hussain's calibre is forced to renounce his citizenship, it is time to ask why.."

Also, At the India Today Conclave- as at the 'Indian of the Year' held by both NDTV and CNN/IBN - where assemble the biggest and sharpest talents and brains of India and abroad (they are not any vote-seeking or 'Sonia Gandhi anti-Hindu people' ! ) why did the whole audience en masse, clap and applaud Salman Rushdie and other speakers who sided with MFH of his art-expression and denounced all those who denounced him, driving him out of the country ?

Are they / people like me ( who am myself an artist of some measure, and one who entirely understands the meanderings and imaginations of an artist's mind) are we not respectful- greatly, greatly respectful- of our Gods and Goddesses ?

However, speaking of the new mail , there is a line-

"If MF Hussain draws paintings depicting Hindu Gods and Goddesses in sexual positions (which relations are not borne out by ancient texts at all )...."

I am not sure who the author of the mail is, but all that he / she needs to do to find out that "ancient texts' (and Hindu culture-symbols) indeed bear out Hindu Gods and Goddesses in sexual positions, is to merely browse the internet which has actual reproductions of the same.

But leaving aside an artist's freedom to imagine, his art-expression, and above all his foolishness to think society won't be able to perceive his art as he thinks of it, I wish to ask Hindu society- what is 'outrageous" ?

Yesterday, we were shown on television, a 'sadhu-baba' getting upon a helplessly prostrate woman on the ground, thumping her with his feet, and uttering mantras-- is that not outrageous ?

We were also shown another Hindu 'Godman'- on another occasion- stepping upon small babies- one by one, thumping them with his feet,uttering mantras, even as the infants screamed--- (my 10-year-old grandson watching that screamed too, and ran to me hiding his face in my lap, ...)is that not outrageous ?

Again, Various 'Godmen' constantly being exposed for their unstoppable sexual indescretions, zeal and escapades-- is that not outrageous ?
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Time and again the VHP, the Sena-thugs, the so-called Ram-sainiks and the lot have attacked women brutally- pulling them by the hair, beating them, kicking them, horribly abusing them - is that not outageous ?

While the country reels with hungry millions, a woman politican is honoured by her cohorts with a 5-crore-rupee-garland of Thousand -rupee notes.. is that not outrageous ?

A young girl is left alone in a house with male servants, by parents who go partying in the night, only to find, on their return, the girl murdered-------- is that not outrageous ?

A professor is beaten up and klled by so-called 'student-representatives'...is that not outrageous ?

Why do Indians / Hindus not make any hue and cry about those ?

Will someone tell me, What really is outrageous ?
Surekha

WHERE ARE YOU, DOC ?

Where Are You, Doc ?

Where, does anyone know, is Doc MMS ?

States in India are burning with one or other problems, police and teacher-student atrocities raging, parties like MNS and Shiv Sena make their own rules bullying any number of Indians, Pakistan gloats that India after all the big "no talking" declarations is afterall coming to the talking floor, streets of Lahore openly declare Jehad on India, and say a 2nd 3rd, and more Bombays (of 26/11) will be unleashed.... As for social consciousness, a Telugu filmstar- NTR's grandson- is reported to be offered and given a dowry of-- hold your breath- Rs 500 crores, where dowry is supposedly illegal.

Where amidst all this mayhem is the respectable Doc MMS, Prime Minister of India ? I know this question may bring much criticism of the good man, but honestly, i wonder if he is lying low, preparing Mr Rahul Gandhi for the top post. With Ms SG too silent, BJP not yet resolved its various issues, the Third Front dessimated, India really has touched rock-bottom in leadership issues.. And no marks for guessing, the Chinese are watching too....slyly ?!

Surekha

AH, SEPARATISTS...!

Ah, Separatists ... have they not read the story of the bundle of sticks that couldn't be broken when bound together, when one by one, separated, they went c-r-a-c-k, c-r-a-c-k, c-r-a-c-k ?

"Separate states, separate societies, separate families, separate genders, separate all that is together.." seems to be their desperate cry.

God, so much bitter anti-philosophy..

Is it the selfish greed of a handful for engulfing power in smaller groups, or just the creation of a hostile clime, so that none takes another for granted, and every disgruntled man is on his toes ? Why ..? Why do the separatists clamour for lovelessness ? And worse, much worse, dear God, why does the good man stay away from them, uninvolved, indifferent.. so that unopposed, the separatist mounts the ugly roar of his own voice, and thinks he is a victor ?


The Telengana separatists are riding a dangerous tiger... the greedy politician promises the young idealist the world after the Telugu-speaking state is divided into two; after the creation of "Telangana". The young one believes him, takes to the separatist roar, not understanding there is another politician waiting to play other games. Nobody understands mere high-decibel clamour has no bone or muscle..meanwhile the young, that gets disillusioned quickly takes to high drama..pours kerosene upon himself, lights a match. The terrible human fire has engulfed a young son of India, a family has lost a body of loved energy, of an envisioned future of hope and light...


Work for togetherness, O Young One ! Time and the world are yours for the asking... if your region is backward, clamour for its enhancement..educate the uneducated, find and develop industry, teach the farmer better methods of farming, harness the waters of the rivers that flow in your land, enrich thy brown earth, be proud to belong..to belong together, build, reap, go from strength to strength.

Surekha Tenneti Venugopal