The news channels on the TV are full of the images of the mindless violence on innocent girls in a pub in Mangalore. My niece, Sneha condemns the use of the words:"brutal attack on girls", because the animals have better sense and kindness than the humans. This is absolutely true.
There have been many debates and discussions about "Pub Culture" and how we Indians must react to this. Voices have been raised as to whether this is going to erode the values of the traditional Indian culture or not. There are spokesmen in both the major political parties, Congress and the B.J.P. who have expressed their opinions on the subject. Some of them support the view that 'pub culture' should not be encouraged, while others have opposed this.
I would like to know if this is such an important matter and if young men and women go to the pubs, will the Indian culture be ruined. Only the hypocrites will say that the traditional values of Indian culture still exist. Those values have disappeared. Indians used to respect their parents, their teachers, their doctors and their lawyers. It is no more the case. While elderly parents are neglected and sent away to "Senior Citizens Homes", because their children just do not care for them, many of the present teachers, the doctors and the lawyers have betrayed the confidence we had placed on them. They have turned out to be utterly selfish. Evils such as child abuse ( by even the members of the same family) , child marriages, dowry deaths, discrimination against women, eve teasing, untouchability, linguistic and regional chauvinism have multiplied during the previous decades. These have been mainly due to the politicians, who have neglected the essential factors and have focussed on collecting vote banks. Frankly, I am ashamed to talk about "Indian Culture". It has become a nasty cesspool. We do not have to go deep down into the cesspool to know that it stinks.
Now many "senas" have come out into the open. The Sri Ram Sena is responsible for the Mangalore pub attack. Raj Thackeray's M.N.S. has been creating violence against the North Indians and others. There are many more such organizations involved in violence against other groups, as had happened in Orissa and elsewhere. There is a method in all these programmes. What they want is publicity. Many other people are attracted to these perverse ideologies and these "senas" are becoming more and more powerful. We had not heard about the Sri Ram Sena before, but now I am afraid that this particular outfit will benefit by the publicity it has got and the membership of this one will swell in the near future. The state and the central govenments, who must maintain law and order in the country, are tongue-tied and incapable of strict and timely action against these organizations. They are looking for more vote banks in the coming elections.
6 comments:
I do not know much about Indian culture, but the situation is real all over the world. Traditional values are getting lost.In North America, there has not been any joint family system like that in India, but generally the younger members of the family still look up to their elders and respect them. In my own family, my grandmother, my parents and we children all live together. As long as there are alcoholic drinks - and they have been since time immemorial - people will have them. Some of them may drink more and become alcoholic, but you just cannot enforce prohibition. What a disastrous thing prohibition was in the U.S. during the early decades of last century! Bootlegging became big business and along with it came the Chicago gangsters and the Mafia. There is healthy pub culture in Britain and in most of Europe. India, becoming a modern nation will not be damaged if a few youngsters go to pubs.
Snoopy is absolutely right. The traditional Indian values have gone down the drain. Only a stink is left now. Snoopy has left out such things like "selective female foeticide", female child killings in Tamil Nadu, animal sacrifice, even human sacrifice sometimes, the existence of countless charlatans preaching religion, the wasteful expenditure for births, weddings and deaths, the conspicuous and vulgar display of wealth and the all-pervading corruption among the officials, business people and the politicians. A few girls going to pubs is not going to upset the Indian culture already in tatters.
Indian women have climbed Mount Everest; they have conquered the high seas (Arthi Saha crossed the English Channel way back in the 1950); they are flying jet airliners; they are in the Armed Forces of India. India has a woman president, Indira Gandhi as prime minister was admired all over the world. There are many women chief ministers in various states. Indian women have become CEOs of big companies and banks. They have excelled in the fields of science,medicine and engineering. Indian women athletes have brought in more gold medals than their male counterparts.
Now, a motley crowd of self-appointed moralists are trying to Talibanise India with their obsolete ideologies. They should first reform themselves and try to prevent such evils like female foeticide, female infanticide, child marriages, eve teasing, demands for dowry, dowry deaths and trying to confine within the walls of their kitchens before dictating what a woman should wear and where she must not go. There is a religious background for all this and many people are attracted to these perverse ideas and support them. It is a shame that there are even women in the National Commission for Women, who support these cranks.
These people do not have the right to dictate terms to women: what to wear and where not to go. In Shillong at least such things cannot happen. We remember what happened to a celebrated writer - a woman at that- last year. All regressive ideologies must be thrown out. It is sad that the governments in the states and in the centre are not taking effective steps to nip in the bud such outfits.
Being a neurosurgeon and also a psychologist, I know that many of the perverse ideas and tastes like homosexuality, excessive religiosity and even schizophrenia are caused by different chemicals secreted by the brain. It is also true that many people are attracted by such ideas, especially if they have a religious origin. If the law enforcing authorities find that these are disturbing the peace and do not allow freedom to the society at large, they must nip them in the bud.
I had written in my previous blog about the possibilities of misuse by criminals on account of the recently amended Cr.P.C.Bill. Now it has come true.
From The Hindu of Feb 4, 2009:
New Delhi: Union Women and Child Development Ministry will enquire whether the recent amendments to the Cr.PC had helped the Mangalore pub culprits get bail easily.
"It is a fact that granting bail depends on the Sections under which the arrest has been made and there is inherent porosity in the law but it also needs to be seen whether the recent amendments made it easier for the culprits to get bail," Minister of State (Independent charge) for Women and Child Development, Renuka Chowdhary said at the All India Editors Conference on Social Issues, organised by the press Information Bureau (PIB)
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