The tale of a once-upon-a-time-Goddess
Published by amrit on Sunday, November 20, 2005 at 4:10 AM
A Mumbai girl from a Muslim background became an actress so famous in
And then one day this year, came a twist in the tale. The Goddess said something in a Magazine survey that made people go mad; made her fans hide their faces. She said it was alright for a girl to loose her virginity before marriage if she took safety measures to avoid AIDS.
Who said this? Khushboo? Khusboo: the Goddess? How can a Goddess say something so insulting to the Tamil Community? A Goddess? NO, she is a Muslim slut from Mumbai and we should drive her away form our sacred state of Tamil Nadu.
Someone had to do something. Where were her enemies? TheDPI (read Dalit Panthers of India)! They needed nothing else but such an apt opportunity to wage their attack. Khushboo had once supported some Association which had made one Dalit Film Producer say sorry in full media coverage for his shady comments on Tamil Actresses. The time for the Dalits to strike back had come now. And there they started their campaign: demonstrations by the women members of the DPI, more than 25 defamation suits against the actress and so many different forms of attack on the her.
We will show her what it takes to teach our children about pre-marital sex. Our children are foolish enough to start believing in whatever their Goddess speaks. They cannot think on their own. We cannot teach them anything useful. And since we cannot teach our children anything, let’s do something. Let’s at least teach her something. To do hell with the Goddess! Where is the broom and has anyone seen that bag full of rotten tomatoes?
Another icon in the form of Sania Mirza was heard supporting the actress a few days back. But then she took back her words as well (and that too within one day!). An already issued Fatwa against her (because someone did not like her small skirts) was enough for her to deal with. And so it was smart to keep her name off in other such ‘hot’ issues.
Does this Indian society even allow us to say what we feel like? Is there anything that can still be called ‘freedom of speech’? A personal opinion of a female becomes such an issue. Such an attitude sucks!
I think this is what India was till now. But it's changing. And incidents like these hint towards the resistance to this change.
It's time for the hypocrites to grow up!
And finally what is the need to follow someone..to change yourself ? If they can make others to follow, why cant you??
If culture never changes for someone even tough they have infinite holes there...whats the need to change HERE...we are the best....n believe in the best!
Does that necessarily mean no change is needed? In fact I would ask this: can anything remain unchanged forever?
A change is inevitable. One cannot stop a CHANGE. Our culture might be the best but then the definition of what-is-best itself changes.
Morever, what I wanted to say was this: why make a hue and cry over a personal opinion of an individual? It hardly matters if that was a 'spontaneous' opinion or an influended one. It was neverthless a personal opinion and so when someone says such a statement brings loss of dignity to the whole community of Tamil women, any sane person will get psyched.
I often wonder about cultural changes in India and things have indeed changed a lot, for good or bad I'm not sure.
As for me I come from IT background and I lived in Chennai for some time and thought, inspite of being a metro, it still competes with a village when it comes to the outlook towards life.
I dare to disagree when people say westernization is a major cause in increased women abuses as I think it had always been there and now women have started coming out openly on this. I have been in the US for 2 yrs now and I still feel much safer staying on my own than I ever did in India.
The most unfortunate part is some of the new generation guys also believe that women are responsible for the problems in our society and they ask for it by dressing up in a certain way or by being more outgoing.
If a guy looses his virginity its something to be proud about and he wouldn't stop boasting about it..but if a woman does the same she will have to try and hide it for the rest of her life.
I feel its us who promote such mentality and if we can not change it we have no right to blame any one else.
You are mostly right in whatever you have said. Yes, narrow mindedness does suck!
I also agree with you on the dress-yourself-properly-or-we-will-you-know-what attitude of guys towards the fairer sex that doesn't really have any sound basis.
As far as 'outlook towards life' is concerned, I think it should be left as a personal choice.
Thanks for your opinions Vinti.