Remembering Nirbhaya in the times of Gandi Baat !!

December 16,2013

This article was written on the first anniversary of the tragic rape. There was a round the clock media hype and hoopla about what had changed in the country in the past one year regarding women and their safety.While debates after debates were being played out on national television, our youth and children were happily singing songs that in my personal opinion have done more dis service to the cause of women safety and respect than some inebriated men !

Today is a solemn day. A day when exactly a year back a young spirited woman was crushed at the brutal hands of the misguided masculinity of our society. That her death awakened an entire nation’s conscience and sparked unprecedented outrage is the stuff history is made of !

Back to reality though. An year later, Dec 16 is being marked as a Reclamation Day ! All across, women and concerned citizens of the society are demanding a woman’s right to live without fear, stigma and societal pressures.

But what has left me dumbfounded is that while on one hand every intellectual worth his salt is debating and asserting women’s safety, we have an entire nation humming and gyrating to the tunes of the latest blockbuster song –  “ab karunga tere saath....Gandi Baat “ . Really ??

Are you trying to tell me that while singing this song somebody is asking my permission to talk dirty to me? Or get dirty with me? Oh sorry...he is not even asking for permission, this song is a very matter of fact proclamation that he can get as dirty with me as he pleases! The guys are singing  it, the girls are swaying to it, toddlers and young children are gleefully mouthing it and shaking their cute bums..... and our prime time TV shows are talking about sensitizing the society !

I know i have raked a big fire. There would be disagreements, denials, some people would call it crazy and being narrow minded. And some would just laugh it off!

But please for a moment stop and think about what the acceptance of such tawdry lyrics means in reality. And for those who are thinking i have some underlying agenda behind running off this song,  i strongly protest a lot of what is being served to us in the name of entertainment. Some samples – the positioning of a popular dance reality show as a platform for showcasing the passion of couples (in my personal opinion even their promos and hoardings could easily be mistaken for condom ads – that its being aired in primetime and a sizeable proportion of the audience is children n impressionable teenagers makes it all the more questionable), the all time crass lyrics of a song that goes like “nikkar waali chhori ne vodka chadha rakhi hai “....its endless! in my limited understanding of the human psyche, the men who have actually grown up with chhoris in nikkars would hardly be bothered if they are clad in nikkar or bikini. However for a vast majority of the Indian youth, spilling out of tier 2 n 3 cities, growing up with conservative mindsets and traditional family values where co-existence of both the genders is still a far-fetched thought – the mere thought of a chhori in nikkar drives their hormones up the walls ! blame it on our digital revolution that has put smart phones and internet connection in the hands of people whose minds are not even prepared to handle the onslaught of information and influence that internet brings. And would it really be fair to blame them? We all learned so long ago that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing! And this is exactly what is ailing our society. We have given a potent weapon in the form of easy accessibility to people who are just not equipped mentally and emotionally to deal with all that they see and hear.

And this is where societal accountability comes in picture. We are all liberal, free minded and free spirited citizens. We can enjoy adult entertainment too. In any case sexual banters and sexually laced content has been part of our culture and folklore since time immemorial. We are the land of kamasutra and khajuraho. Nautankis have been there forever. But what was different back then was no broadcasting technology...no mass audience. With the advent of technology the lines blurred.

Its become all the more important now to exercise our discretion and logic. Knowing the times we live in and the perils of technology, how can such stuff be written, sung, produced and broadcast ? And if it has to be done – though freedom of speech and art shouldn’t be confused with vulgarity – what about some discretion? What happened to censorship, A-certificate, late night slots ?

What fails me is how can we commoditize women and accept slang and vulgar, demeaning words for women in the name of popular culture and entertainment and then talk about sensitizing the society ? How can it be okay to dance to insulting lyrics and then cry hoarse about safety on streets ? and how can channels support and promote Women causes and then broadcast such content, songs and dances , even the language that’s being spoken on reality shows – i distinctly remember a judge using the word “kinky” on a dance reality show where again children is a big audience – how can they have a brain freeze when it comes to good sense ?

It’s an issue worth pondering over. Seriously. In all earnest

And for the unaware, i am a dance fanatic and love to party. And i totally believe in the repealing of Article 377. I believe in a liberal society – where the mind is without fear and the head is held high! I want a responsible, educated and mature society.

And if anyone dares doing “gandi baat” with me, Lord Forgive me,  I’ll beat the living daylights out of them !

RIP Nirbhaya..... Meanwhile, we still have a long way to go!