Thursday, December 15, 2005

What next, Chennai?

First it was The Vagina Monologues, then it was pre-marital sex, now it's condom vending machines.

Can someone please tell me, is there something intrinsically wrong with Chennai*? Is it trapped in some weird neanderthal quicksand that pulls it in deeper the more it struggles to get out?

Does Chennai have a larger-than-normal population of bored housewives? I'm quite sure that no self-respecting, educated, working woman (and I'm not excluding housewives from that list) would actually have the time or the inclination to go out and protest (with slogans, posters, crowds, the works) against anything with a hint of progressiveness about it.

To the protesters in Chennai, if you must protest against something to alleviate your boredom, why, why won't you pick an issue which:-
1) might actually do some good if brought to public attention?
2) does not display to the world what blithering idiots you are?

Let's start with the protest against The Vagina Monologues being performed in your city.

Tell me, what precisely is the issue here? That women have vaginas? Or that some of them actually acknowledged it by mentioning 'the V word'? Are vaginas not part of your definition of 'Indian Culture'? Here's a bit of news for you. Y'know all that lying-prostate-worshipping of the shivalingam that you do? All that reverential pouring of milk and honey? Guess who's one of the main stars in THAT little movie? Yes. That makes protesting a little difficult doesn't it? Taking into account, that you'd have to -
(a) go to a mythical mountain top
(b) protest against a representation of a god, to the god, who obviously had no problem with being represented thus.

Then, the protest against Khushboo.

For voicing her opinion that pre-marital sex was okay, as long as adequate protection was used. Notice that word there? O-P-I-N-I-O-N? An opinion, is a thought that an INDIVIDUAL believes in. Notice, she did not issue a command that pre-marital sex was to be practiced by the population at large. She did NOT say,"Go forth and copulate!" in a clear, commanding voice. But maybe that's what she should have done. Because you seem incapable of independent thought anyway. And you insist on picking on people who can't fight back. Because they voiced an OPINION (oh look! there's that word again!) that did not mirror yours.

Now, condom vending machines.

Chennai has the highest population of HIV positive people in India. See that little piece of statistical information there? H-I-G-H-E-S-T. It is NOT a good thing (for those of you having fond memories of that word being associated with 'first in class' or 'topped so and so exam').

Your beleaguered state government decided to do something about it. Something that would stop you from dying horrible deaths.

So of course, since that would be a sensible, logical course of action, you go the exact opposite way. Claim that condoms promote promiscuity. And not just that, condoms, apparently, do not check the spread of the HIV virus...because only God can do that.

(God? Are you listening? Do you realise what this means? It means, that in your next avatar, you're expected to be a prophylactic. Now THAT'S a pretty picture, innit? The places you'll go, dear, dear lord.)

*To the people of Chennai:
I realise that perhaps *all* of you do not agree with the protesters. But my question to these people, to the people who are dismayed when they see this face of Chennai, is, will not one of you raise your voices against these fools? Will no-one stand up and tell these protesters-against-progress, that what they need to do is, shut the fuck up and get to work?

9 comments:

J. Alfred Prufrock said...

Rocking!

J.A.P.

Chronicus Skepticus said...

*blushing fiercely*

Thank you Mr. Prufrock!

:D

Hawkeye said...

how immature of you to assume that the only root cause of HIV is sex.

your whole post is a sweeping generlization. I dont understand why you keep referring to a political party who protested as "chennai". its like referring to "shiv sena" as mumbai.

maybe you just want to insult chennai and feel superior about it.

Swapna said...

Wow... they have condom vending machines in Chennai??? When did that happen? It's been a really long time since I've been to India for sure...

*note: am not against it*

Well said!

Chronicus Skepticus said...

Hawkeye:
>How immature of you to assume that the only root cause of HIV is sex.

I haven't said that anywhere in my post. I know the many ways in which the HIV virus can spread, but how exactly do you think it has spread in Chennai? Infected needles? Blood transfusions? Really?

>I dont understand why you keep referring to a political party who protested as "chennai". its like referring to "shiv sena" as mumbai.

As far as I remember, the protesters did not claim any political allegiance. That said, I don't remember reading about any counter-protests. Did anyone come out to say that they did want condom vending machines? Or say that Khushboo was entitled to her opinion, for that matter?

Also, you cannot refer to the Shiv Sena as Mumbai, because I think everybody knows that the average mumbaikar does not subscribe to their ideology. It's a question of numbers. If you read about Valentine's day hooliganism by the Shiv Sena one day, you can rest assured that the next one will be full reports of people who will go out and celebrate it just to show the SS that they cannot get away with this.

I have seen nothing on these lines from Chennai.

>Maybe you just want to insult chennai and feel superior about it.

Maybe you're taking this a little too personally? Look, I'm not trying to defame Chennai or anything of that sort, I'm just saying that the city really needs to stop living in denial. Sex exists, the HIV virus exists and human beings with opinions exist.

Swapna:

>Wow... they have condom vending machines in Chennai?

I don't think they actually got around to installing them. The people protested, remember?

And thank you for dropping by. :)

Hawkeye said...

/* I have seen nothing on these lines from Chennai */

the root cause of this is your lack of knowledge about the situation.

The anti-kushboo protestors were restricted to 1 political party called PMK. which is really a minority party like shiv sena. infact their popularity is about 1/10th the popularity of SS in mumbai.

there were many people who spoke for freedom of speech. prominent movie people, to main stream media, to insignifcant bloggers.

chennai was the firt city to implemented automated vending machines and it is still operational and extremely popular.

/*Also, you cannot refer to the Shiv Sena as Mumbai, because I think everybody knows that the average mumbaikar does not subscribe to their ideology. It's a question of numbers */

but you conveniently assumed this was not the case in chennai. this is what I meant when i talked about sweeping generalizations and stereotyping.

/* I have seen nothing on these lines from Chennai */

i have seen nothing along the lines of you can rest assured that the next one will be full reports of people who will go out and celebrate it just to show the SS that they cannot get away with this.

so can I assume that whole of mumbai is SS. it is a simple case of informational bias introduced as a resulting of knowing more about a place you like/live in

Hawkeye said...

i think there were 2 machines in central rialway station in like 1992 or something. I dont know what sort of newspaper ethics happens in rest of india.

i am pretty sure you believe in the kushboo temple story also. u dont need to see it not even a foto of it. you'll just buy it at face value i suppose.

Chronicus Skepticus said...

Hawkeye:

> The anti-kushboo protestors were restricted to 1 political party called PMK, which is really a minority party like shiv sena.

Okay, and what about the crowds that were protesting about the condom vending machines? Or the ones who did not allow The Vagina Monologues to be performed in the city. Which political parties did *they* belong to?

> There were many people who spoke for freedom of speech. prominent movie people, to main stream media, to insignifcant bloggers.

If that is the case (although I maintain that I saw no evidence of it. Maybe the media in Chennai refuses to give coverage to such issues?), then I will acknowledge that perhaps not all of Chennai is so hypocritically prudish. This is also something I said in the last few lines of my post.

> But you conveniently assumed this was not the case in chennai. this is what I meant when i talked about sweeping generalizations and stereotyping.

I believe I am entitled to form opinions on the basis of information I have. This was a free country the last time I checked.

Also, if you check the blog this whole discussion started with (http://www.scottcarneyonline.com/blog/2006/08/sex-work-in-traditional-city.html), you will see that there are many comments from people who have lived in Chennai, and almost all of them are in support of the fact that Chennai is relatively a lot more conservative than other metros.

> I have seen nothing along the lines of "you can rest assured that the next one will be full reports of people who will go out and celebrate it just to show the SS that they cannot get away with this."

I will point you to this link, http://www.ndtv.com/morenews/showmorestory.asp?slug=Mumbai+police+takes+to+moral+policing&id=91136&category=National.

If you will take the time to read through the article, you will see that despite the fact that most people thought the exhibition was completely puerile, they have made it a point to stand up for the right to freedom of expression. And this is just one of many instances.

> I dont know what sort of newspaper ethics happens in rest of india.
I have no idea what you're talking about here.

>I am pretty sure you believe in the kushboo temple story also. u dont need to see it not even a foto of it. you'll just buy it at face value i suppose.

Are you're telling me there isn't one? In which case, I believe what I'm dealing with here, is a clear case of living in denial.

Look, my point is that Chennai is way too conservative for it's own good.

What is yours??

Anonymous said...

OPINION IS GOOD, BUT NOT A OPEN STATEMENT.

MAY BE THE FEMALE MEMEBERS OF YOUR FAMILY ARE DOING THE ACTIVITIES MENTIONED IN YOUR MESSAGE