Against Indian Culture

How often have we heard or read these words. From what or whom are we trying to "protect" our fragile Indian culture? And are we really protecting the accurate form/s of Indian culture? Let's retrospect.
First of all, is our Indian culture (whichever form) so fragile that it needs protection in the first place? The best part about culture is that it can and should evolve and expand to capture the sensibilities of the current/living generation. Just as our understanding of the universe has progressed over generations so has our understanding of human emotion and psyche. That's what has led to the abolition of slavery, sati, child marriages, child labour etc. Our culture has evolved to accept that these acts were wrong and against humanity. So the protection of culture could be termed an oxymoron, as protection is against the very definition of a culture.
Now that we know that culture shouldn't be protected but allowed to grow let's question whether the culture that most Indians claim to be protecting are really indicative of Indian culture. On the forefront of the so called protectionists are Indian women and their behaviour in society. It is claimed that, according to Indian culture, women are supposed to be suppressed and have less freedom than Indian men. This includes draping their body with "decent" attire, no drinking or smoking in public and worst of all blaming the rape of a woman on the woman's indecency. We need to understand that the root of the inequality towards women stems from the archaic thought that men are superior to women and now that our present generation has (or have they?) learnt that that's wrong it's time our culture evolved into accepting equality for women. When these protectionists tell women to dress better to prevent being raped, I say tell the men to stop raping!! Maybe our culture should evolve to abhor rapists and punish them for the animals they are, that would make more sense as a culture.
The most widely used phrase by the so called protectionists is "westernization". Apparently our Indian culture is so fragile that a breeze from the west is enough to shake its foundations. Valentine's day, night clubs, divorce, nuclear families are the some of the few victims of westernization claims. Again, westernization is being mistaken for an evolution of culture that is growing to accept changes in human behaviour. Unfortunately for India, we started on the back foot of a history of deep rooted cultural and religious beliefs which pushed the inevitable evolution of our culture behind. And now that our culture has finally begun to evolve we are being criticized of aping the west, whose culture has had the luxury of evolving much earlier.
On a more positive note, although it will take a while for most Indians to adjust to this evolution of culture, I believe the transition will happen and no more will we, the progressive Indians, be accused of operating AGAINST THE INDIAN CULTURE.

....... Blame the dogs?

Garbage bags strewn all over the lane, torn apart to display their smelly, disgusting contents. And who do people blame. The dogs. A society so distorted, think so highly of street dogs that we expect them to have civic sense!
Why do people keep their houses spotless but not think twice about dumping their garbage at the closest vacant spot they find? Can this sort of civic sense be taught or is the lack of it a disorder that has a more psychological root?
My thoughts are that civic sense, especially with regards to garbage, has to be taught AND practiced at schools. The harmful effects of dumping plastic waste as opposed to recycling, although evident, has to be drilled into our kids just like maths or science. The very act not to litter should be second nature to us like washing our hands before eating.
Small communities should work together to at least ensure there are no open dumpsites in their neighbourhood. For lack of space, common dumpsites can be identified. An enclosed structure for dry plastic wastes and a mud pit for all wet garbage. This would be a big help for the local panchayat or corporation and you'll find the garbage collectors more helpful and responsive.
A clean neighbourhood is a right to those living there just like water and electricity. So let's respect others rights and do our bit.  As long as we look at our neighbourhood, our city and state as an extension of our home and understand the ill effects of dumping garbage, not doing it will be second nature to us.

Leave the labour to the mother

The phrase child labour brings images of a sweatshops in South-east asia or garbage dumps in India or even red light areas in parts of Asia. Are these the only situations that qualify as unlawful child labour? Let's have a closer look at the country we live in. Children working in tea shops, canteens, garbage dumps, construction sites or working as maids, babysitters, caretakers. The list is endless. Our eyes have grown used to the the sight of over burdened children doing the job of one or sometimes two grown adults. The large divide between the haves and have-nots in India make the haves indifferent to the perils of child labour around us. Most people feel that a child earning his daily bread, sometimes for his family as well, is noble and that education is overrated. How far would he go with basic education as compared to the skills he picks up working in a tea shop? The child could spend the rest of his life working in a tea shop, or someday own a tea shop, but he will live his life not knowing what his life couldv'e been had he gone to school. He could finish his 10th std education and then work in a tea shop but he would have with him the gift of opportunity to turn his life around if he wanted to.
Apart from being unlawful, child labour is inhumane. Forcing a child to work in conditions a grown adult would avoid or using children to increase productivity for the sole purpose of a profit is a selfish deed and is analogous to man using animals to his benefit. The person adopting child labour may not be responsible for the child's education but is unquestionably responsible for the child losing an opportunity for a better future. And that is as bad as confining an animal in a cage or a human in prison. Everytime we decide to hire a child as a maid or a cook, take a moment to consider the harm you're placing on that child's future. Apart from hampering the child's education we also obstruct him from having the one thing every child should have, friends.
As World child labour day, 12 June, approaches, lets make an attempt to condemn this social evil when we see it and more importantly not fall into it ourselves. Every child, no matter how low in the social strata, deserves to live like a child.

Misplaced patriotism and then some

"If patriotism and love for our country is a crime, then we shall committ the crime repeatedly". Talk about wearing the indian flag on your sleeve, an orange sleeve i might add. Could this statement (spoken by our very own Balasaheb) be a mere publicity stunt or suggest a deep rooted sense of patriotism? If there weren't so many glaring contradictions i would think the latter. Patriotism would seem to be the love for one's country, its people and resources albeit the differences in race, religion or caste. So how does crime against your own countrymen promote patriotism. Is it me or is this a contorted view of so called patriotism. It surprises me how most groups (Sena and the Maoists..to name a few) seek to protect their so called "ideals" with violence. The whole purpose of democracy is freedom to let your voice be heard without letting you hand be felt. How different is George Bush' war against terror as opposed to the Maoists war against the bourgeois or the Sena's war against non-maharashtrians. Slaughter the innocent to prove a point, after all it's all a means to an end. The end in most cases being political supremity!
The leaders of these groups are content with letting their "men" fight their battles while they sit comfortably promoting their propoganda to the masses. Ironically if the leaders do bite the bullet they would be considered martyrs and start a revolution, in most cases bigger and more dangerous than the ones they promoted.
The only way to bring these radicals to a halt would be to first to choke the very "ideals" they stand for and then bring the people involved to justice for the crimes they've committed. Use the weapon of true patriotism against those that use it as a weapon for personal gain. I belong to the world first and then my country and my state. Global to local and not the other way around.

Greed supersedes Need

"Pregnant woman thrashed, paraded naked in Uttar Pradesh", screamed the big bold headline as i contemplated whether i should dare scroll down and read the article. I did, out of curiosity to know what reprehensible act did this woman commit to receive such inhuman treatment. And wonder of wonders, all the poor woman did was to protest when a group of locals attempted to encroach on land that belonged to her husband.
What could drive a bunch of locals to behave like their age old, apelike ancestors? I'm sure these ancestors were far more sensitive than we are nowadays. Comfortably numb is what we've become. The age old saying goes, " Teach a man to fish and he can feed himself forever", i guess we could rephrase that to "Teach a man to fish and he'll kill you to be the only one that can fish".
There seems to be a large divergence in today's society. The gap between the haves and have-nots is being stretched to limits which drive people to such violent acts. Of course i'm not attempting to condone the act, but if we don't realize why this has happened, i guess it won't be long before we read something similar again. At the risk of sounding altruistic, we need to bridge the gap between the affluent and destitute. Greed has reached an all time high, where we just dont satisfy it at the expense of others greed but now at the expense of others lives! More More More ....... we've crossed the line of satisfying our needs so long ago that now our greed is our new need. You might not be aware of how your greed affects people you might never meet in your life. It's all supply and demand. The more you demand, with the supply being as it is, the higher the cost. The cost of a house/land is so steep that the average family cannot even dream of owning a house anymore. And thats when we start protecting the little that we have (the poor pregnant woman) or begin putting our hands into other people's bowls (the barbaric locals).
We don't need to start being benevolent, charitable or even altruistic, all we need is to be prudent in separating our needs from our greed. When we know and understand that distinction, only then can we make the choice ...... Need or Greed?

A Cleft Thought

"Mum, you know we don't believe in that”, were the consistent words Yatish uttered to his mother day in and day out. But this time was different, she had never been so relentless before. "Beta, if Anita and you want a healthy boy-", "or girl" interrupted Yatish, "yes yes, or girl, then please listen to me this once." And he heard the stubborn click of the phone as his mother left him to his thoughts. That old woman and her superstitions, thought Yatish and he slid into bed with a satisfying grin.

Screams of "Yatish Yatish" woke him up. It was Anita, could this be it. He looked at his watch, it was 6 in the morning. "Yatish, i think i'm in labour we need to get to a hospital", yelled Anita in discomfort. Driving in haste along Rabindranath Tagore road, along the banks of the River Ganga, he took a peek at the sky through his windshield and saw the moon slowly passing over the sun as a python slowly devours it's victim, slowly yet surely. He immediately remembered his mother words last night. Brushing away those thoughts he looked at his wife and held her hand reassuringly as she was breathing heavily bearing the pangs of labour pains in her womb.

Pacing in the corridor outside the maternity ward of the V S Mehta hospital, Yatish was starting to get anxious. "Why is it taking so long", he murmured to himself. Across the hallway he saw the man in white emerge from behind the white curtains. As Yatish rushed past him he heard the doctor congratulate him, "congratulations on a baby boy Mr. Saxena". Without stopping he burst into the ward and could see his son nestled in the arms of the nurse, who looked up at him, smiled and slowly entrusted his son into his outstretched arms. He looked down at his son and he suddenly felt sick in his stomach, like the wind was knocked out of him. Tears started rolling down his cheeks, he turned toward his wife who was sleeping calmly. Turning back to his son who was snuggled in his arms, his eyes shut tight, his nostrils moving ever so slightly as he took short gasps of breathe, and then as Yatish's eyes fell on the fissure on his son's upper lip, he had to close his eyes and the tears flowed again.

“July 22 2029, it’s been 20 years since that inauspicious day”, thought Yatish as he sat in his living room, in the dark, alone. Not able to live with the guilt that he carried all these years, Anita left him. 20 years of living as an outcast, Ketu grew into a bitter, alienated man. The guilt in Yatish had grown into a dull numbness, allowing his mind to be taken over by mindless superstitions, the kind that his mother always warned him about. Intoxicated, Yatish indulged in the thought that, what if he had done the corrective surgery the doctor advised him to do, would that have saved his family 20 years of pain and agony?

Synopsis: Our lives are laden with misfortunes and sometimes it is easier to blame these afflictions on superstitions. But ironically it is these superstitions that do not allow us to overcome these inflictions, to rise above misfortunes, to build our own destinies.
Just as in Yatish’s case, the tragedy of his son’s impairment led him to believe in superstitions, which then led him to ignore the possibility of corrective surgery.
In this age of rationality let us not get impeded by false beliefs and unfounded fears. But let rationality lead the way to true progress and eventually our destiny.

Adieus Section 377

"Delhi High Court legalizes homosexuality" scream headlines all over the country, a historical judgement. This is more than historical, this is ground-breaking, it's a message to Indians and the world that we don't just preach democracy but we practice it. This is a message to all those weak but violent attempts to shove the "indian culture" down our throats. And the message is we are preserving the true indian culture, democracy and freedom.
But as always we have a few misguided blokes who still believe that homosexuality should be a crime, that homosexuality is comparable to paedophilia, that it is unnatural. Well if you ask me i feel arranged marriages are unnatural, expecting a man and woman to spend their lives together when they are not even in love is unnatural. And so indian society walks down that hypocritical road once again. Speaking against something they don't really understand. Another weak attempt at protecting their view of the indian culture.
"It's pretty definitive that biological factors play a role in determining a person's sexual orientation." says Brian Mustanski who studies the genetics of homosexuality at the University of Illinois, Chicago. Yes, society also has a role, but that role only leads to the individual discovering his sexual orientation earlier than puberty, which is when a homosexual would normally realize he/she is a homosexual.
Now what about religion, all religions clearly mention that homosexual is immoral and agaisnt religious belief. So is atheism, but you don't hear of a code that penalises non-believers. Or, for the christians, a law that could arrest an individual for using a condom. Bottom-line is the law cannot and should not draw it's codes and rules from religion but from a more social perspective. If your religion compels you to punish a homosexual, then go ahead, within the bounds of your religion AND the law. The law makers are not here to aid religious honchos enforce their religious beliefs.
I hope today is remembered for the victory of democracy over suppression , freedom over discrimination and most importantly a day of celebration for homosexuals all over India.