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I found Varavara Rao's poem poignant and politically charged. It is a 
pity though that middle class women's sexuality is still such a 
convenient target for leftist opposition to middle class culture. (Since this 
is the one thing that unites the left and every other party in India, I 
see no problem in clubbing Varavara Rao with every other leftist 
organisation) 

If one asks why the high visibility of middle class sexuality evokes 
such a response, it will probably be met with a predictable and vulgar 
combination of repressive ideas of what 'good' and 'bad' sexuality are, 
what tradition is, and what the public role of revolutionary women 
should be. The phrase 'cute little girls' is both condescending and 
politically blind. It is a mistake for Varavara Rao to imagine that the female 
anti-reservation activists are unable to hold their own political views 
because they are so attentive to their appearance. It is disappointing 
that a writer and activist whose life and work are much respected, 
cannot find other means of criticism beyond 'chiffon saris and punjabi 
dresses and breasts carrying ...stethoscopes'. 

 		
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