Nurturing Optimism-Krishna answers :-): October 2009

TO WHOMSOEVER IT MAY CONCERN

I had been waiting to publish this article for some time. Let me share with you about what I have observed. I have observed two sets of people. A conservative, worried, always tensed generation belonging to the age group of above 30 (born before 1980 era) and another is a hopeless stupid breed of so called cool dudes (born in 1985-86 along with me). I regard the present day younger generation of India in the age of 14-24 as hopeless souls, hooligans with wrong attitude, lack of character and originality. Well, of course not all, but majority of them have no intelligence.

Now let me narrate a real life incident. I was traveling to NIIT Nungambakkam to get some of my documents verified. It was a hotday in September. I was traveling in 29C and I boarded the bus at Adyar signal. I took my seat near the window. My bus stopped at Stella Mary’s bus stop. I could observe a lot of girls. I looked at their dressing style. I felt a bit shy on behalf of them. I could only pray to God to give them more dress. There was no secret! Read the line twice! There was no secret. The present day generation is so infatuated by the money thrown by IT/BPO industries the younger generation has failed to realize the harm in following Western culture especially in a repressed culture like India where men are desperately hungry to taste the forbidden fruit. I know they were only inviting trouble by dressing like this but I won't advice them because in their opinion I am a villager. And nowadays the present day girls love the attention they get from men. And this encourages men a lot, ultimately ending in eve-teasing. And moreover, the present day generation is a bit kiddish. They require people only those who can be cheap. Definitely, I won't be a part of it. Maybe I would get along with them, but I won't follow their footsteps. But I would be laughing inside.

Save the girl child!

Now let me narrate the bus journey. There were a bunch of useless college students in the back. These guys think that they become professionals if they join a B.E or B.Com course. No one is a professional. Even a guy in the I.T industry or a Project Leader is not a professional. People become true professionals when they know how to treat another human being in a humane manner. I doubt whether these guys of present era come anyway near it. People might ask then what I am? Well, it's your opinion and again everyone is entitled for their own opinion. Let me describe their appearance. Piercing in ears and in the chin, handkerchief over the head, t-shirt without collar with the divine F word written multiple times, shaded jeans. I was laughing inside. The words often used in conversations were "mama", "mamu", "machi", and "gethu". I can also type a few more, but my sisters would be reading this. I would rather stop here.

In that gang of five people, two of them were brothers. But they were addressing each others as "machan". In Tamil, machan means co-brother. One of them should have married the other person’s sister. I wonder how it could be possible when both of them are brothers. I wonder how such a relationship could be possible when both are related by blood. I clearly heard them talking and I was sure that these guys were siblings. LOL! I couldn’t help myself laughing. I was laughing inside. Well, that’s what future India is about.

As the bus stopped at Stella Marys the college girls got in. One of them couldn’t control his excitement and immediately told to his brother-machan(???) "Machi, Super figure da". His brother-machan was too elated and couldn’t help whistling. The girl noticed and you should have watched her reaction. Man! She was happy! I turned my face and looked out of the window and I was laughing inside. I was thinking of former President Abdul Kalam and his statement requesting youngsters to dream. The youngsters were indeed dreaming!

After I got some of my documents verified I started my journey back. I was to board 29C again. I came to the bus stop and was waiting there. 29 C came and I boarded it. As the bus crossed Stella Mary’s a girl boarded the bus. Immediately, the entire gang started shouting raising double meaning slogans. The poor girl got a bit afraid and sat in the front itself and didn’t even come to purchase the tickets. Then these guys were planning to approach her. The girl got a bit fed up and she got down fearing embarrassment.

Maybe after a few years, if China invades India, all these boys should be conscripted and should be posted in the border to defend every inch of Indian soil. If they retreat from the border, they should be shot by Generals. It requires more courage to retreat than advance. At that time, they would realize how tough life could be if one is in the suffering end. Just because there are 10 percent of girls who dress improperly and behave in a sub-standard lifestyle, the entire women population is taken for granted and is being preyed by hungry men. I know I can’t do anything. I won't react to this, but I have the right to portray them here. I am not Anniyan, but I am a human. I could only wish the Soviets were around and they wouldn’t have allowed this to happen.

Too bad the USSR doesn’t exist. Humans have two options in life. Humans can live as Hindus, Christians and Muslims and follow their respective rituals co-exist with other religions and enjoy the variety of human civilization. If cheap acts continue, they may need to live in conditions similar to the USSR where regular life would be monitored. I think that’s a better system for these hooligans.

What exactly is the pay off that these eve teasers get? According to some, it is something they do "just for fun". Accumulation of wealth generates a bossy attitude and generally leads to evil in the long run. People change with money and increase in comfort. Others have said, "Women enjoy the attention and we enjoy watching their reactions". Few believe that the aggressive expressions of love that one sees in the movies are the motivational force. However, according to some psychologists the root cause of eve teasing is the patriarchal mindset of the Indian male. They like to believe that they have power over the women society. They thrive on the fact that even today a large number of women still prefer to ignore rather than to confront.

If the Soviets were around, they wouldn't let this happen.

Men think that women enjoy eve-teasing. Now how does this happen and take shape? As indicated earlier in my article about Tamil cinema, I blame all this on the cine industry. The cine industry has spoiled the younger generation. I am not a great supporter of Communism but seriously, there should be some censorship in the media. Immediately, all the so called "cool modern dudes" of Chennai would consider me as too conservative or too leftists following the footsteps of Lenin or RSS or Shiv Sena. I don’t care, but I am laughing inside whenever I watch the present day generation getting infatuated by small things. I wish Lenin was around, he wouldn’t let this happen.

There is no woman who is spared from molestation or eve-teasing. Right from aunties till 10 year old child women are victimized. I would even go a step-further. Even a child in the womb is killed if it is a girl child. So there is no safety for the girl child. Statistics shows around 65 percent of the evil-doers are students. Even during my school life and colleg life, I have observed students putting kadalai. LOL! The problem is that these students grew up listening to crap songs in Radio and stupid Tamizh films which projects as if heroine is succumbing to hero’s advances. All these bloody films have projected women as a sexual object and hence the cine industry has created a "Frankenstein" in the younger generation. The worst is that even the present day girls would love to get such an attention from their opposite sex and this is where things go out of control and men dare to take that extra step to touch.

During my school life I have observed that girls who are dark in color are bullied a lot and girls having fair skin are portrayed as Goddess. During that age, children in the Soviet Union grew up learning science and literature. I am not embracing communism or socialism or doing any sort of propaganda. But human society fails if crimes can't be prevented. Majority of the films portray heroes passing sarcastic comments on dark skinned women and even passing remarks on women who are fat. There is also a sarcastic portrayal of eunuchs. I wonder how the Government gives permission to publish such scenes. The governement has failed in its purpose to protect its citizens. Such things shouldn’t be portrayed in media.

I seriously wonder what the sensor board is doing. And immediately, critics might argue saying that there is a right to practice freedom of speech. Is that a freedom of speech or freedom to insult a human being? If such things are to be practiced let the Preamble of the Indian Constitution be changed. Why should India be declared as a socialist, secular, democratic republic? Let it be an ordinary democratic republic. There is no bloody socialism over here. I only see that there are ethnic jokes like Sardarji jokes, Anti-Brahmin jokes and ethic violence. There is no secularism. I see more of communal violence and inter-caste violence. And I would like to reserve my comments about democracy in India.

Another reason that keeps women from taking action is fear. They are afraid that this will breed further enmity, which will prove to be dangerous. Now the million-dollar question is will law alone be able to stop eve teasing and protect women? The answer is an absolute no. The only way it can be stopped is by encouraging women to retaliate against eve teasers fearlessly. This will only be possible when she gets wholehearted support from the community.

-Krishna Kumar.S