Kiss of Love & The fight against Moral Policing

Recently, Kerala my home-state grabbed interests both in national as well as international news reports. The reason being was a protest campaign held here at Kochi which advocated a first-of-its-kind protest model in Kerala’s cultural and political history. The protesters kissed each other!

Well, I know its not much of an issue when it comes to kissing in public in all of the Americas,Europe and most of Asia and Africa. But when it comes to kissing in public in India, its still somewhat a taboo. The real issue here was the grave danger of moral policing. But somehow, the social taboo of kissing had found the headlines. Nevertheless the fight against moral policing is a commendable one and its worthwhile noting that this particular movement had grabbed international attention, which is no less a feat in itself!

Moral policing has been a social evil ever persistent in our society. The thing being it was omnipresent in different forms across different times. About a 100 years ago, the lower caste people in Kerala were by law prohibited to come near the higher caste people. They were expected to maintain a distance of 10 feet(if I’m not mistaken). Women (especially lower caste if I’m to believe) were not allowed to cover their breasts and this was considered “Moral” by the society which existed back then! Its hard to look back at our past and find any sort of greatness in such things especially when we’re living in a such a free age( or rather we believe it is a free age!). The morality of our present society deems such things of the past as derogatory. But at the same time, our morality or rather the fake morality considers kissing in public as a sexual act( Love is out of the question here! ). Well, there isn’t any written law that states kissing in public is prohibited thanks to India being a democracy. But there come’s the issue of the so called Moral Policing.

The extremists are often the one engaged in such acts. They want to keep their control over people(mostly through religion and caste) and thus are simply afraid by any expression of freedom of the people. Truth is, Moral Policing is thus a desperate act trying to assert control over the masses. Many fall victim to it, convinced that such acts of freedom( kissing in public an example ) are not part of our agreed Morality. But then again, what is morality ?! The things we consider immoral as per today’s standard of morality might be a common thing of place tomorrow, who knows!

As always, we will have a balancing in the society. For all its extremists, society will always have free thinkers and liberals who think that all such acts of extremity should be dealt with severely. Freedom of expression is always the right of people. And it is not up to some petty minded idiots to decide what is moral and what is obscene. We have the law of the land and we’re a democracy. No body should live their lives afraid of others. The system should check for such atrocities. But is that what we have in our country?

Ours is a country which in the face of things show pride in our great ancestral heritage and culture but turn a blind against issues like moral policing. And another astonishing thing is we’re so hypocrite that we can’t accept a protest of such kind even if we somewhat admit to the cause being noble. Why not shout out that we’re openly in support of Moral Policing!

Women are the worst affected by this fake morality. Women are merely commodities who are meant to be kept at home. It’s not manly if you can’t control the women in your house. Such has been the conscience of the Indian society for a desperately long time now. No wonder India is not a safe haven for women! Divorce rates alarm us, but not dowry related deaths. As long arranged marriage guarantees you the comfort of a women, most men in India are satisfied. Had it not been such a case, most of us would die off without even getting close to a girl! So where does the root of all evil lie. Sex !

India is a sex deprived nation! As paradoxical as it sounds( hello, 1.2 billion population ! ) its the issue. We have such a taboo around the word Sex that even when we’re proud of our ancestors having contributed the sex-bible ‘Kamasutra’ we’re still ashamed to see a kissing scene in a movie! Having watched a lot of porn movies have made us think of kissing as part of foreplay. Basis of all these things is purely the inability of the India male to get laid when he’s young!( I know I’m making a great generalisation here, but sadly its the root of all problems here). In fact, all this sexual frustration has led to great deal of crimes being committed(rape, moral policing to be cited as examples).Of course kissing is a great way to start off things but would the free thinkers around the world think of kissing as just foreplay( gimme a high five if you think not! ).

It’s not that the young Indians don’t do things like youth in other parts of the world. We sure have a party culture and most of us love to go clubbing and pubbing and those sort of things.I don’t think its such a big issue that of your partner not a virgin among the Indian youth these days ( I don’t know, may be its just my my view of things). But then again, the flip side of things. There is another youth that doesn’t belong to the glitz and glamour of the cities. The one’s who are easily fallen victims to the propagandas of the extremists. There will always be such people mistake me not, for society thrives on opposites. But the thing is we should never let them have control over the society. That’s the youth that take up on Moral Policing. They are the ones who are being sent into our streets to watch over the “morality” in our society. They can’t tolerate a girl and boy walking together, holding hands let alone kissing! They don’t even care if the girl is out with her father in the middle of the night! The feel entitled to question any such activities within the society. As responsible citizens of this great nation, we shouldn’t let such forces dictate us. And kiss of love was the first among many steps in such a cause.

The fact that there were more onlookers than the protesters at Kochi shows the fake morality of our society. A vast majority turned up to see a ‘sexual act in public’ !! Its a kind of xenophobia I think; I’m no psychologist but kissing is somewhat an alien thing to typical Kerala society. So there comes in the shock and inability to digest seeing such a thing in public.

Maybe,  in a 100 years kissing in public will be a common thing in India. Dating won’t be a taboo, and women might be able to come home safely after a drinks party at 3 in the morning! There are forces in our society who are against all of the above said things. Let’s stand united to keep such forces at bay. After all, development without widening our narrow mindsets would result in a hollow society. As of now, all such things exist in an Utopian Indian society of near future. I’m hoping that I live to be a part of such a society.

Make Love, Not War! Peace out!! 🙂

courtesy:Manoramaonline

Criticism: An Indian’s view point.

This is one of those off-my-personal-life posts. So beware, if you’re looking for some usual masala(which I’m sure you guys have had enough of)! For the lot who come and take a view at this blog of mine from the other sides of the globe, a quick reminder; I’m from India.I’m an Indian.

You know, it’s quite a statement to make in the present conditions.Why? Any normal Indian would find this question kinda silly, ‘cos our lives have been in this constant process of turning-into-a-nightmare kinda thing and I’m not exaggerating while saying this. Everyone who reads this blog knows one thing. I’m not an expert in handling mess while I’ve elaborated my self-made mess here for quite a while. Also, I’m not much of an expert in politics,although I had this bad habit of reading newspapers(which now I consider as a bad habit, ‘cos anything that’s news ain’t always good).Apart from that I was dumb. Just doing my stuff. Going around here and there, wasting my dad’s money,living;that kinda stuff. As I’ve grown old with new problems(self-made,as always) I found this new hobby of criticizing the government for its actions. Actually, if one can blame that as laziness on my part, the government ain’t doing any good that deserves some appreciation. To state a fact; daily life in this country is becoming really hard with each passing day.

The Western world often has this image of India that majorly comprised of slums and poverty(not to mention the poor old snake charmers!) which disturbed me for a very long time,actually. I thought of it as the evil motive of the western media to portray India as a bad place and then there are reports of the Indian media that goes on saying about 9pc GDP growth,Sensex hitting highs,F1 in India,World Cup in India,Comm.Wealth Games. etc etc. Mostly its all synonyms and abbreviations that put a glamorous image of India,yet somehow I felt India still had that bad image in the West. I’m not of the opinion that making a point to the West is the supreme factor in this world. But still it showed how we were perceived by the developed audience. Something had to be done.So our government invests a lot of money into something like the Common Wealth Games(argh,i’m ashamed to take that name anymore!) and proclaim that India has arrived!(frankly where were we all this time;Mars?!).And then after basking in the glory for sometime(months,actually) the Chinese organize an Asian Games that proves to be much more bigger than the CWG. So there goes the big elephant(India). And give some time, and we see a HUGE scam behind all this! Frankly, it took me some time to grasp the amount of money involved in the scam(the zeros were too overwhelming!)!! So my question to the Western Media-Do you buggers still think India is poor?! I guess not!

Then there are the likes of Julian Assange who come out now and then(respect him for the work he did as a fellow half-engineer) to throw insights into this “corruption” details The amounts of money involved, who all has them where and how, etc etc. A prominent Indian-Political family(democracy we are though, family always gets its priorities in politics) had the bank deposits in form of numbers which,frankly, until then been unheard of to me! Thanks to them, the common-man of India had the luck to hear of such numbers! There were many sms’s that circulated during the time that showed how difficult it would to just count this much of money! And add to that, we’re being governed by a puppet Prime Minister who is supposed to be under the control of this family. Now I’m scared, ‘cos Assange now tells me that the Govt. has its “eyes” on people who go on gaga about the govt(Terrorists,kinda). Slowly, this place is turning into some Eastern Extension of the United States. We’d be more than gratified if some day, India was recognized as an Independent American State by the US Congress! Thanks a lot PM(Indian,ie) for going in this right path! We like you, will not be have a back-bone in the future!

Then there is back-stabbing on the people by Govt. at monthly intervals. Fuel price hike! It’s like,it’s not news anymore! There ain’t any surprise upon hearing a fuel price hike these days. But we’re only bothered on whether this thing will beat the International oil price!

I know. What I’m doing now is utter rubbish and this will go down along with the millions of similar posts as Internet-junk.The successful ones among us might manage to get some comments and views. I mean that’s what we bloggers thrive on right! But the facts are never gonna be denied. While we all dream of that one day,when our country too joins the list of so called Superpowers, I pray that India remains India on that occasion. Not merely an ally of the west. I grew up reading in history textbooks about glorious stories of the past.The freedom fighters,Mahatma Gandhi and his non-violence,Bhagat Singh’s heroics,and post-Independence, the strong position India took during the cold war period of Non-Alliance.Now I see a common thing that gave us such a glorious past. We surely had strong leaders back then. It was one man/woman and the rest of the country. Sadly, post the liberation period(since the time I was born),although, we had several notable politicians,good ones among the whole bad lot; we missed out on having a strong leader. Leadership is essential in any team-game,let alone a country for I know that much. And frankly, as the citizen of this country, I don’t think much of the people governing me. This is where Democracy falls short. We have the power and all yes.But that’s an old preach. Once we’ve elected these idiots,we never get to see them. We only seem them on T.V afterwards,when they come out to make some of the above said anti-human decisions;fuel,commodity price hike, for an example. Sometimes, I often wonder,on the pathetic situation of this country. I mean, how could we elect the baddest people among the whole lot to represent us and form the government. Strange! I’m amazed at our misfortunes!

Now,I’m a guy who takes pride on being referred to as an Indian. But the last few years,our lives have become so much more harder,many a thanks to our government; I’m thinking anything but escaping from this country. Pride can be taken along with me in being recognized as an Indian,elsewhere;but certainly not here. I’ve lost hope on seeing this country get better as a result of some bill introduced in the parliament or a law passed. We’ve come a far way from all that. If it’s corruption we’re talking about, it’s like this one big virus that has spread all across the system,from the grass-roots level. Maybe our Indian football/hockey associations(forgot,Hockey here has two associations!) could learn a thing or two from the way corruption had grown in this country-from the grass-roots level!! Well, having said that, we can’t deny the once in a while golden stars that come along to spark a smile across our otherwise gloomy faces. The likes of Sachin Tendulkar, who inspire generations to strive forward with determination and hard work are faces of the glowing India. But the underbelly of this country is still grappled with age-old problems like poverty,sickness,along with newly-FOUND problems like corruption. Even though, many come out making proclamations that give us more insights into these matters, it is up-to us finally, to recognize the hollow ones among the lot.

As always,leaving the hope part to the almighty, for he is the only one who can clear out all the mess(which I know it’s impossible). Still,hoping that things would get better. Just hoping.

Living the Dream….

WHAT could you do with a bat and a ball? Ask this question to any average American,they’d say you can play Baseball.But ask the same to anyone from the Indian Subcontinent and they’d likely say,you could play cricket.Perhaps,you could write history with the same bat and ball! And yes, they did. We did! Team India wrote history not more than a few hours ago. Achieving the pinnacle in Cricketing glory. Their names etched in history forever.The hopes and prayers of a billion takes birth at last! We Won!!

Like any average Indian,I grew up watching and enjoying Cricket as our favorite past-time. I idolized men like Sachin Tendulkar, who is none less than a god for most of us here in India. Whatever heights the game had,he stood there and managed to create a few more to himself. People like him are rarely born. They are born for a purpose. Not for bloodshed,not for money. They are there to bring joy and hope to the common mass. Yes,he was born to play this game of bat and ball. After 21 long years of International Cricket, cricket finally comes to reckon his achievements in the form of that ICC World Cup Trophy. A befitting gesture by the game for a true master and ambassador of the game.

A few hours ago history was written and our players had brought us the final ecstasy of reclaiming that cup after 28 years. I really feel lucky to have lived in these times to witness such moments which come rarely in life. These are truly one of those rare moments in life, when you can truly feel the sense of nationalism in every single person you come across on the road. Frankly, I never ever dreamed that I would live to see my nation lifting a major sporting trophy until they did it in 2007. And for a nation which truly loved the game deep in heart,this comes as a well deserved honor from the gods above!

True, we might not be such a force in other sporting events.But it really was a shame that we couldn’t excel in one thing that we loved so much. And finally we did it.Salute to Dhoni and Co. for the effort they’ve taken, the hard work they’ve done and now at what they’ve achieved. Now, we are talking about 11 human beings who had managed to bring joy and pride to a one-billion plus population. Why wage wars,gentlemen??

The game they played today(yesterday,infact;now its Sunday) was really a test to the maximum of their skills. Sri Lanka was in no means a team any body could beat on a given day. India really had to sweat it out and keep their nerve throughout the game to emerge out of it victorious. And they did, on the wings of its Captain,MS Dhoni. As they say,when the going gets tough,the tough gets going! Not being a kind-hearted winner, but truly giving credit to Lankans for the way they’ve played their game today. We were just better on the day.

I would certainly remember this day in my entire life. We certainly do hope that this is not the end of things but the sign of good things to come. This day, I watched the final along with my friend Deepak and Rahul at Deepak’s home along with his dad. Since I had a fair share of superstitions, I stepped out of the living room, choosing not to watch,cos’ I believed,whenever I watched, India lost somehow. Didn’t even take the slightest of chances and chose not to watch until it was safe and clear. But I was there when Dhoni hit the last ball for a six to take us home. I was there when history was being made.

Yes,History was being made; right in front of my eyes. Thank you god, for having given me this opportunity to be present, alive at this particular moment of time and instance to have witnessed the joy and celebration of an entire nation come alive! Thank you god, for having given me the opportunity to live in the times of greats like Sachin Tendulkar. Thank you god, for this win!

Kudos!!! Enjoy!! 🙂

A few hours ago history was written