ARE WE READY TO (SLUT)WALK THE TALK ??

First things first.It ticks most of the boxes correctly.                                                                  Imported idea.Check.                                 
Foreign certificate.Check.
Sounds sumptuous.Check.
Whips up a shindig.Check ; but will the Indian edition of slut walk really be the strong expression of intent and interest its made out to be or just another case of desperate, farcical feminism,riding dangerously on a moral high horse? Excuse me,what's it called?What?Did you say S#%t,right?Right,it means Slut.Alright. "What's in a name?",someone asked. "A lot," answered the proponents of the march.Its an attempt to turn the patriarchal vocabulary on its head,I am told.Not a bad idea,but how many of us would encourage our girls to march in the Morcha (Besharmi Morcha-the 'toned down' Indian incarnation),being fully aware of the undesired voyeurism the march promises to generate,with its celebrated cause long lost in rhetoric?
                                                  Agreed, victimization and objectification of women is detestable and thoroughly dangerous to an inclusive democracy,but doesn't the borrowed wisdom of Slutwalk India promises just that?Rather than making women the subjects of discussion,it makes them the objects of ogling.Forgive me for having these unfortunate visions,but I can sadly foresee a busy CP thoroughfare inundated with scores of 'sluts' being jeered,ogled and pestered by hordes of Delhi men,notorious for the incredible ways they objectify women like no other on this planet could.Slutwalk is not sexual liberation,as some put it,neither is it going to foster the authentic sexual autonomy,nor will it stop sexual violence. 
                                                   Whether we blame victims ,calling them 'sluts'(who thus asked to be raped,as some see it) or victimise them ,calling them 'frigid' (who thus secretly want to be overpowered),the problem is that we are victimizing them,and asking them to be even more 'sluttish' to redeem the word itself from the clutches of patriarchal dictionary and chauvinist vocabulary is no solution.Women need to stand up,but not for the right to be called 'slut' or whatever with similar insinuations.To any of the women reading this ,would you be jumping with joy at being addressed with such deplorable allusions?The catch is to fight these allusions and not to redeem,accept and imbibe them as evident media of salutation.Your dress doesn't give you the right to be raped.Personal dignity is my personal propriety and is independent of me working in a bank or a brothel.In a free world,we are all entitled to chose,and none of my choices of religion,language,clothing,culture,country,career,caste,sexual orientation gives anyone an iota of right to call me names,more so that define social moribund.Agreed,we live in a hyperventilating,hypocrite society where our convenience decides our norms,but that doesn't give me the right to call my Dad names because that is what is convenient to me.Profanity is not dignity,and trust me,its not even patriarchal. Its just that-profane.So while putting the professional chastity of a nun and a sex worker in same order of dignity might come naturally to me,I obviously can't call a sex worker a nun and/or vice-versa.Now that doesn't mean i am discriminating, I am only being real,avoiding the bait of blinkered,misplaced enthusiasm.
                                                              Being 'chaste' or provocative' is subject to our respective individual perspectives,and they,by the way cannot and should not dictate or decide how you and me must approach a girl.In a country where Didi,Amma,Madamji and Behenji shape national politics while paradoxically the Women Reservation Bill stays in limbo,the idea of a Slutwalk appears preposterous and intricately flawed.Move on ladies,and gentlemen.






PS : On a chilling January 24,2011,Constable Michael Sanguinetti discovered the fire within,"Women should avoid dressing like sluts in order not to be victimised".Tch,tch...

THE INSENSITIVE SYNDICATE CALLED INDIAN MEDIA

"So how do you feel?",asked a hungry,mumbling reporter.
"Um mm,bad.Horrible.Disgusting.Angry",said a bemused,harried and obviously distraught voice.
'The average Mumbaikar is angry",concluded the reporter,and the latest gem just unearthed is emblazoned across television screens.Breaking news.
                                    Elsewhere on national television,the debate rages on,covering simultaneously the 'anger' of the 'average Mumbaikar' and the efficiency and relevance of R&AW,IB, NIA and so forth.On some other channel,another overzealous evangelist of breaking news syndrome was heard asking this novelty,"So what did you see through smoke and blood? Were there any injured? What was your reaction?How do you feel?" I'll tell you what I feel:appalled,disgusted and ashamed of your journalistic ethos and efficacy Mr Reporter.By the way, we aren't talking about the famed 'spirit' and 'resilience' of the 'average, angry, Mumbaikar' yet,nor are we discussing,for now, the reality TV,cum astrology, cum daily soaps, cum treasure hunts, cum extra terrestrial obsessed Hindi news channels.
                                                             A few days back when the Kalka Express derailed,the deranged media smacked their parched lips in narcissistic glee and shot off insane reporters with their insane questionnaire at the site of the mishap.Empathy?Sympathy?Grief sharing?Move on.One of the many clueless young things,masquerading as a journalist and ostensibly indoctrinated by the numerous pros of the breaking news syndrome,found a grievously injured victim of the gory accident in a murky,rickety hospital ward,and claimed victoriously, "Here's the last passenger to be saved alive!". Breaking News.Once through with the self congratulatory rant,he asked the poor,mangled fellow with utmost insensitivity,"How do you feel?".Having given a good account of his journalistic wisdom,he proceeded to ask this classic,"What were your first thoughts when the train derailed?",and the questionnaire-an in your face insensitive bye-product of breaking news syndrome went berserk.The injured,writhing in pain,managed to mumble something ,as the cameras recorded every inch of his bleeding flesh and charred skin.If soulless,heartless,directionless,purposeless,zero dignity meets zero credibility voyeuristic reportage needed a case study,this one, by far was a thesis.
                                                             One wonders if the charter of corporate sponsored mercenary media anywhere mentions the oft abused and forgotten pariah called 'national interest'.One wonders in times of 'dheela' character celebrated by a pelvic punishing notorious Munni and personified by a seductive young Sheila, Laila, Razia, Jalebi et el, does media find succor in readily relegating itself to mere movie promotions and flashing the not so  path breaking 'breaking news'?In times when an expletive laden rant, feigning as the voice of youth qualifies to be called cinema and goes on to become a runaway hit,one expects the media to bring in the increasingly uncommon entity called common sense to the masses.Far from its duties of helping to build an inclusive ,secular,egalitarian,democratic republic,broadcast media today represents a diabolic ,mercenary merchant out to wallop anything and everything,at the behest of its corporate sponsorship that has armed it with filthy,bestial powers of manipulation and sensationalism.So while their celebrated editors might debate every night on prime time TV over national policies and apparently national interest,the driving force of these self congratulatory media houses continue to be sensationalism,manipulation,voyeurism and insensitivity ; the very foundation on which the neoliberal edifice of this popular profit making syndicate rests itself.






                                                                                                                                                                      
PS: The Supreme Court of India in March 2011 said of the lethargic investigations in Hasan Ali money laundering case,"What the hell is going on in this country?".Ah!If only the 'average,angry' people of this country knew.