India's Starved Sensibilities

That India is a country of people with starved sensibilities got established once again during Hina Rabbani Khar’s recent visit. Turning this crucial Pakistan foreign minister’s visit into a spectacle for frivolous fashion talks clearly tells a lot about the Indian mindset in dealing with females. Her youth, her intelligence, her capabilities, her intentions, all got blurred in the background and what remained in the never-flickering focus were her good looks, her Birkins, her Roberto Cavallis, her pearls, her dresses, her style sense, etc. etc. i.e. every thing that could define her feminity. For every Indian – effectively captured and presented to satisfy the Indian palate by the equally swayed Indian media – she was a female first and nothing beyond that. The sexist attitude of India towards her got more deplorable when many demented Indian minds resorted to describing her as Pakistan’s ploy, sent as a WMD – Woman of Mass Distraction! - to deflect from real political-foreign policies issues. As it is a well know fact about the infamous Indian mindset being the core of The Great Indian Hypocrisy, this malaise manifests in every aspect – facet – of life, in every corner of this great country of ours which prides itself on being worshipper of female Gods i.e. Goddesses.

You have to be a woman to understand it fully – “experience” is the operative term here. Ask any man – a male, I mean; India cannot boast of many “real” men – and he will flatly deny the existence of any such basal trait in “their half” of the population. If you too have any doubts about India’s sufferings, just take a walk around in any public place in any city/town of our so-called cultured country and the happenings will hit you full on.

It is a pretty common scene in any public place in India: lots of people, from all social backgrounds, with varied upbringings, with unequal levels of literacy – education still eludes many – and different economic status, lots of chaos, filth in equal proportion all around, extremely noisy and smelly. There would be more men than women, men again of all types but the “typical” ones dominating the space. By “typical ones” I mean those with “vacant look”, getting accentuated by yellowness of their eyes and brownness of their skin tone, their very ordinary faces bordering on ugliness with hairy skin making them seem absolutely avoidable, smelly body which you could almost “see”, wandering aimlessly till they spot a female – an average, decently dressed one, and not the “inviting” ones – the most self-suited explanation invented by human beings! You witness an instant transformation in their personality: from looking bored and depressed - from “empty eyes” to “hungry eyes” - they start smiling - that lecherous smile which makes you wish death for them. Then they start following her like a dog - their salivating pariah dog like appearance is so pathetic that if law was on your side you could shoot them pointblank. With their now all-active senses they start passing lewd remarks at her and loudly. If words fail them, they take help of film songs, the same songs which have been composed to celebrate something as crude as “eve-teasing” – India’s gift to the world culture! … And not even a single person – I told you in the beginning itself that India is severely deficient in real men – objects to this obscene harassment by men with leech-like attitude and avoids that situation with utter muteness and acquired blindness. The girl tries to run away from the place as fast as she could. And this is not an isolated incident; at the same place at any given point of time, almost all females present there would be facing the same humiliation.

Picture is almost same everywhere; from ordinary places to so called high places. The attitude is same in males representing the entire spectrum of India – well, exception are there but they are in “minority”; gentlemen are a “rarity” in India.

To tell you something interesting: a female wearing sunglasses is a “sight” for Indian males as for them it is a thing of “style” and not for “protection of eyes against harsh sunrays” and for some strange reason they feel extremely excited about it. And believe me, from a person on bitumen – roads – to a male in a BMW, they all behave the same!

But, ask any Indian male and he will deny it flatly. His argument will be – is always – that if India was so bad or unsafe, you wouldn’t be seeing females walking around unescorted. To all such males I have to say only one thing: go home and ask your mother, sister, wife, daughter, whosoever who have in family and you will know the truth. Because being the cynosure of your own mother’s hypocritical vision while growing up, you may have failed to notice that females are not seen around in any place after sunset in order protect herself from predatory behavior of ubiquitously present nocturnal creatures with deep animal instincts. And this has got confirmed by the shameless distinction of India getting rated as the 4^th most dangerous place for women in the world!

Ok, I agree that behavior will vary in degrees depending on a male’s background, but essentially almost all of them remain mentally glued to females around in their environment. The fact that an average Indian male cannot think beyond females is evident from their sex-laced talks; politics and sports come much later if time permits to think “beyond”! It is a different matter that in their entire quest for becoming “attracted to opposite sex”, they have not at all worked on improving their own “attractiveness quotient”. Almost the entire population of Indian males remains as undesirable as ever. I always wonder: how can the “male ego” permit such bizarre behavior that you spend your entire life ogling at female brigade and never ever get to enjoy even a chance glance from the so desired opposite sex? No hurt ego, guys?

This uniquely Indian male behavior stems from the societal belief in male’s superiority in the existential ladder. India wouldn’t be suffering the grossly skewed male:female ratio otherwise. An average Indian doesn’t feel any pain or a sense of sin by indulging into brutal female foeticide. And, even in this 21^st century, India is yet to legislate a criminal penal code for this all-prevalent heinous act.

This belief in male supremacy gets manifested in Indian males’ behavior. It is so deeply entrenched that irrespective of their own living status, they exercise “equality” in their “right to entertainment” through their “object of desire” i.e. females always. He could be a beggar but he will not deny himself his “birth-right” to seriously fantasize about a Bollywood female star!

Nothing can be more ugly than a lecherous Indian male’s face, and more dirty than his mind! And you get to witness these things even while abroad. Their excitement on seeing you, a fellow Indian female, is so palpable that it borders on obnoxiousness. Even in a foreign land you do not feel safe sighting an Indian male. Because for him an Indian female becomes an outlet for connecting to “familiar” and an outpouring for his frustrations of being treated like a “non-entity” by the “superior” whites – foreigners. Their indecent proposals are all visible in their otherwise blank expressions!

Ask any female tourist post her India visit and she will narrate horrifying tales of her harassments, with a “promise” never to return to our great land ever! (Indian Government’s “Atithi Devo Bhavo” ads reflect the same nauseating Indian males’ mindset; I doubt if Aamir Khan has been able to drive home his point in even a single unashamed Indian male’s mind.)

I repeat: all you average Indian males, if you so desire the opposite sex’s attention, first work upon yourself to become “desirable”; otherwise your despicably offensive behavior will keep you in the “unwanted” section forever – and you “appreciating beauty” – yes, Indian females are considered beautiful by all unlike their male counterparts! - with starved sensibilities evident all over your face and in your being!

I wish my fellow Indian males could understand that the cycle of life completes when both man and woman complement each other equally…

Tumhara naam kya hai, Kalmadi?

Tumhara naam kya hai, Kalmadi?

Don’t laugh! This is no Sholay hangover. How else do I call a person who decides to suffer from “dementia”? But I believe him when he proclaims his illness. Now does this mean that from now on he will start behaving in a certain manner befitting his state of mind – brain, I mean?

Will Suresh Kalmadi – I remember his name! – forget that he is a human being? And start behaving like an animal? Will he start using all his four limbs for locomotion? Will he start eating – carnivorous or omnivorous or a vegetarian? – and drinking – will depend on the species he chooses for himself – and sleeping like a lesser evolved creature of the animal kingdom? Also, will he wear only his integument from now on? Clothes may not find any use on him hereafter.

Should Suresh Kalmadi be kept out of his home in his present state of being? Tell me, how can humans cohabit with a non-human? How will he remember his relationships? What if he starts behaving with animal instincts? Can anybody be safe with him around? And, will not putting him within the walls of a home amount to cruelty to animal? Who is going to be ready to bear the brunt ofManeka Gandhi’s ire?

What will he do if he manages to set himself free from Tihar? Which work will be deemed suitable for him? Forget about IOA’s office, even the Parliamentdoesn’t allow any animal inside. Then, can you trust him with a cart, howsoever bullish his attitude may seem to be? Zoo? Not a bad idea! India’s future children may have the fortune to examine an extinct species from such close quarters. He will also be harmful being behind the barbs.

I have another fear. What if he forgets that he had promised to sue Times Nowfor exposing his misdeeds in organizing Common Wealth Games? And decides to hug Arnab Goswami? (Sorry, Arnab; but according to me there is a strong possibility of this happening looking into his current state of existence. So, take care.)

Now, tell me, Mr. Kalmadi, did you too have these thoughts and thus you decided to forget all about your self-inflicted selective-at-will dementia? Try some other trick next time to stay out of Tihar jail.

Wait a minute; I hear him singing loud:

“What’s my name? What’s my name? … My name is Kalmadi, Kalmadi ki jubani …”

May God Bless his soul for entertaining India’s starved sensibilities … :)

My brother Rahul,

My brother Rahul,

You may not know but my sister is a great fan of yours! To me, you are my brother by virtue of being Rajiv uncle’s son. And, therefore, both of us – like millions all across the country, and the world – wish a lot for you! And, expect a lot from you – and rightly so.

Thus, when my sister made a comment on my previous piece “Why is India incredibly helpless, always?” on the recent Bombay serial blasts and in reference to your reaction in same regard that “Rahul should know better what that 1% failure of the government means in tackling terrorism as he has himself suffered a lot because of this 1% lapse in security by losing his father”, I thought you must pay attention to her and amend the things required to be at your end at the earliest.

Rahul, you are destined to become the next prime minister of the country if the Congress / UPA manages to retain power at the Center, which it will in all likelihood. And prime ministership, as you too know well – is not a position; it is a responsibility – lots of that, in fact! Those monumental responsibilities – coupled with accountability – will be towards the country and its citizens and also towards your own party and coalition. As you know, Prime Minister is The Leader of a country, and the “buck stops with him/her”.

Now, Rahul, imagine that you have become the prime minister and are faced with a similar – may be worse – situation of terror attacks on India. (No one believes that 13/7 was the last in sequence of attempts of terrorists.) Even then will you try to defend intelligence failure by making such remarks? And will that not amount to admitting the failure of your government in utilizing the mammoth infrastructure built to deal with all such eventualities? Moreover, do you believe that only admittance will suffice and exonerate you of your accountability towards maintaining peace and security in the nation? And, will the world not wonder at you and your government’s credibility to govern?

On the contrary, Rahul, I am sure that you will beforehand itself ensure that an effective anti-terror mechanism is functional and India is safe and secure and peaceful. Because, you very well realize that tackling terror is a “zero-error” and zero-tolerance” business.

So, Rahul, would you now care to “clarify” your statement in the press and let people know that you did not mean to disrespect the victims and their families and certainly did not try to defend the indefensible intelligence and administrative failure of the government in preventing the always-anticipated terror attacks?... Do it; you will benefit immensely in the long run by regaining whatever respect you have lost in public eyes, and hearts.

Rahul, as I said, India has lot of expectations from you – and rightly so. You have the fortune of inheriting the political gene pool of Nehru-Gandhi families and are all set to become the next prime minister of the country, as important in the global arena as India. But for this almost certain dream to come true, you will have to demonstrate to the nation and the world that you truly deserve the top post. Not that you have not already done so; however, you need to do more – much more.

You should start, Rahul, by strengthening Congress’ foundation in the political field and regaining its national party identity. Congress’ national base has got eroded badly. Reclaiming it would be a huge challenge. To make it happen you have to have dedicated politicians with high degree of integrity and support at state headquarters who would in turn work at the grassroots level and organize the party and make it strong enough to stand – and win – on its own. Congress cannot claim to be a national party by walking on coalition crutches – and being in coalition clutches, therefore! “Coalition compulsions” will otherwise keep pulling down the Congress and it will never be able to reclaim its foothold in the national political landscape.

Rahul, for this huge task, you need credible and able people – politicians. Politicians who are young, educated, clean, and have a dream and ambition for India – and not for their own self. As you too know, India is at the cusp of great things in the world. Being touted as one of the major powers of the world is a great responsibility as well as we will be required to live upto that image. By being seen as an utterly corrupt and chaotic country, a country which lacks courage to defend itself is going to be hugely detrimental in the progress of our country, both economically and politically. India will never be regarded as a “developed” and powerful nation – forget about the global leadership role that it envisages for itself - in the foreseeable future and that would be a big setback to all our global aspirations.

At the micro-level, Rahul, i.e., at the public level, the single most important expectation from any government at the helm is good governance. A government which is capable of delivering on its promises and needs of the people and society. A government which is courageous enough to maintain country’s dignity and security amidst growing fundamentalism and extremism. A government which will reverse India’s impression of being a “soft target” and will showcase to the evil elements that India will not tolerate any breach in its safety, security and peace and will not suffer losing even a single life to terrorism. A government which will exhibit “zero-tolerance” towards sinister plans of terror forces and will ensure a “zero-error” anti-terror mechanism to prevent even that 1% attack chance.

Rahul, I don’t have to tell you the obvious things that you are in a position even without being the prime minister today to actualize all the necessary things – for the Congress and the country, and in the process, enhance you worthiness as the future prime ministerial candidate of the country.

India is a young country and a young prime minister like you, Rahul, will do wonders, about which I do not have even 1% doubt! But you need to prepare yourself, sincerely and seriously…Rajiv uncle, and Sonia aunty & Priyanka, of course, besides my sister and I would be very proud of you J

Why is India incredibly helpless, always?

Terror has struck India again, Bombay to be precise. (Bal Thackeray would want to impose his diktat even today that I say Mumbai instead of Bombay!) And the spectacle in India is absolutely on the expected lines: serial blasts, people killed, chaos all around, victims shifted to hospitals, media frenzy, 24x7 coverage, news headlines screaming “Resilient Mumbai” / “Life goes on in Mumbai” / “Mumbai back at work” / “Indomitable Spirit of Mumbai lives on” / etc. etc., condolences expressed by political leaders in the same words as used post every such previous terror attacks, candle light homage by people, anger and frustration of population – Bombayiites in the current case, again – aired on news channels non-stop, press briefing by security agencies, PM’s “stern” statement that “perpetrators of terror should (?!) be brought to justice”, international condemnation – especially by the US and the UN, visit to hospitals and blast sites by top political leaders, criticism of Pakistan and our own country’s Pak-policy by the Opposition, … and the life will go on, as always, till yet another terror attack strikes Bombay or any other part of India…

This is India. Incredible, isn’t it?

The sequence of events post a terror strike is almost same in any other nation on this earth. The difference, however, lies in the fact that elsewhere such attacks is followed by actions by the government - unlike in India.

In India, on the contrary, crores of taxpayers’ money is being spent to protect the biggest terrorist caught on the Indian soil so far. That is Ajmal Kasab for the world, the terrorist whose remorseless acts of massacres on the night of 26/11 in 2008 is still fresh in mind of public, but our esteem judiciary fails to get convinced that the evidence caught on close circuit cameras are adequate to fast track his verdict and his hanging. It is shocking to see that instead of punishing the perpetrator, our country is hell bent on showcasing its “top of the world” criminal justice system to the world by protecting a terrorist! So what if in the process India has managed to throw away its responsibilities towards protection of its citizens and delivering justice to victims’ families? So what if in the process India has succeeded in sending a strong signal to terrorists all across the world the it is okay to target the country at will because our nation lacks courage to safeguard itself?

This is India. Incredible, isn’t it?

What perplexes me the most is India’s utter helplessness in all such situations!

Why cannot we act tough? Why cannot we tell the terrorists that “enough is enough” and that they stay clear of India? Why cannot we crackdown on terror outfits, within our boundaries and beyond if need be? Why cannot we let our neighbors – Pakistan and other surrounding nations - know that they “behave”? Why cannot we bolster our intelligence systems further? Why cannot we use “actionable” intelligence to fend off any probable attack? Why cannot we work in a coordinated manner to safeguard India? Why cannot we put a functional anti-terror mechanism in place? Why cannot we put adequate pressure on the US to stop supporting – using - Pakistan to suit its narrow global aspirations and in turn turn almost a blind eye to its terror activities? Why cannot we tell the US to stop funding Pakistan till it aborts its terror exports? Why cannot we relook at our foreign policies and forge strong alliances with other important nations and take their support on issues concerning global terrorism, affecting India the most? Why cannot we use the UN platform to put our case strongly in front of the world? Why …???

The swiftness we exhibit in naming all such attack dates as 26/11, 13/7 now – obviously inspired by 9/11 – and then conveniently forgetting about it a few days later to everybody’s bliss is the most disgusting aspect of our dealing with terror attacks.

There are numerous “whys” but before we get answers to all these and more, we will have to demonstrate to the world – and terrorists in particular – that we value an Indian’s life! That we will not tolerate loss of even a single life in hands of a terrorist! That if any terrorist tries to act funny, we will crush the entire terror infrastructure! That we will not permit any breach of our security and safety and peace and that anybody indulging into it will face severe consequences!

But most importantly, we will have to show to the world – and the terrorists in particular – that we will not hide behind the “resilience” curtains anymore! That we will act and act tough!

Ok, all these sound pretty politically patriotic rhetoric; and that is precisely what we have to avoid. We have to act!

By the way, what are all these talks of “resilience” and “spirit of Mumbai”? What do we expect the Mumbaikars to do the day after? Sit at home and watch endless coverage on television? For how long? Is there any other option than going to work the next day? Wouldn’t all of us if caught in a similar situation do the same? Have we not witnessed a similar response in other Indian cities as well? Or, seen people reacting in similar fashion in terror-struck international cities for that matter?

Let us stop indulging into such mindless discussions and even thoughts of “resilience” and “spirit”.

Let us not act victim anymore; instead, let us show courage and act tough against terrorism.

Let us start by hanging Ajmal Kasab and Afzal Guru immediately. I am sure that if the government is trying to play minority appeasement political card here by putting both of these hardcore terrorists in death “row” - and that is what the GOI is doing exactly - then the Supreme Court should intervene. It is high time. India needs to see justice delivered; and, a closure to 26/11.

I hate seeing India act “helpless” …