I
have seen public stand as mute spectators when people fight or quarrel (as if
they thoroughly enjoy the act), but when two people kiss or show any kind of
affection, we cannot stand it. I never could understand this cynical attitude
of Indian society. I feel it is not merely intolerance towards any display of
affection in public, this is just a pathetic and insensitive attitude of our
society.Are we a society which, despise
love? Or are we a jealous society that cannot stand others happiness? There is
no dearth for hate campaigns like haux ‘love jihad’(for inter-religious
marriages/love affairs) by right wing groups to discourage a relation between
Hindu girls and Muslim boys.
I am concerned about the moral policing,
certain people with the backing of religious fanatics think that they are the
self appointed guardians of ‘Indian culture and morality’. I do not have any
idea what those ‘jeans-clad’ youth did mean by Indian culture? Our culture is
not only Vedas and Upanishads,but also oppression
of women and lower caste people, practice of untouchability etc.We had a
culture where women are forced to jump into the pyre of men, lower caste people
were treated as insects, women had to
fight for the right to even cover their breast around 150 years. All this has
changed, and change is part of any society or culture.
Again those ‘guardians’ of Indian
culture, do not have any shame to threaten the girls who participate in the
‘Kiss of Love’ campaign with rape and other obscene activities. Is that also
part of Indian culture? I wonder. What is saddening is that our whole system
is sort of conditioned to believe that
love or kiss is ‘immoral’, even the Universities that are supposed to enlighten
the students act like a bunch cowards.What kind of generation these
institutions produce?
There is a clear gender discrimination
in moral policing as well. Indians tend to believe that morality is only for
women. Unfortunately moral policing
could be an act of jealous men who
couldn’t find a friend from opposite sex, or it could be an outward expression
of their sexual frustration, whatever it
is , it reflects the hypocrisy of a society where rape and all forms of
exploitation of women is rampant.
I have experienced enough, the jealousy of
men in India and Kerala(where the kiss
of love campaign had begun after Hindu rights group vandalized a café) despite
her high education and human development index is perhaps one of the most regressive
societies in India. Perhaps an ideal place to begin a campaign like ‘kiss of
love.’
