[Reader-list] The Pink Condom Campaign

[Kshmendra Kaul]

Dear Rakesh

1. Do enjoy your postings. You are a thinking person. Do not always agree with what you say but that is unimportant. I like the attitude with which you approach topics.

2. I think, campaigns like 'Pink Chaddi' and 'Pink Condom'  are delightfully nonsensical. At least they do not harm anyone. They are elitist of course. Certainly the impoverished, poor or struggling to make ends meet citizenry of India (meaning the overwhelmning majority) cannot afford to spend on such meaningless self-indulgences.

3. On the positive side, such campaigns inject into the economy additional wee bits of transactions.

Kshmendra      




________________________________
From: Rakesh Iyer <rakesh.rnbdj at gmail.com>
To: Aditya Raj Kaul <kauladityaraj at gmail.com>
Cc: sarai list <reader-list at sarai.net>
Sent: Friday, February 13, 2009 7:23:41 PM
Subject: Re: [Reader-list] The Pink Condom Campaign

Dear all

The entire debate which has been centered around the event of Mangalore pub
attack have to be understood critically, before we go ahead with such kind
of protests like 'pink chaddi', 'pink condoms' and now the 'pink sarees'
campaign of Sri Rama Sene (as per Indian Express reports).

First of all, the whole myth of 'Indian culture' has been created. One needs
to understand what Indian culture is. It is nothing, and yet, it is
everything. It is nothing, because when we look at the cultural aspects of
different regions of India (and even Pakistan and Bangladesh as they before
1947, were a part of the Indian 'nation', where 'nation' simply refers to
the territory about which history is taught to us in our schools and
colleges), they had their diversities and differences among them. There were
places and strands which did join them, but only loosely and not rigidly, so
that they could take various forms in various places. This is observed in
many things. For example, Dusshera is celebrated in various forms across
different regions of India. In Gujarat, it is celebrated through 'Garba', in
West Bengal it is 'Durga Puja', and in some other regions, it's something
else. And yet, it is everything which expressed life of the normal people
across different regions of this very Indian 'nation'.

The surprising part is that there is nothing in these which make them
'Indian', the reason simply being that one can't define what being an
'Indian' is, or what is 'Indianness'. Of course, many people may come out
with various definitions after reading this mail, but I don't think any
definition can be quite comprehensive so as to bring out all the diverse
elements of the cultures spread across different regions of the country.
Therefore, it is absolutely wrong in my view to spread a notion that there
is something called 'Indian culture' and moreover, give it a monolithic
view.

Culture, by definition, stands for the way the people live (the manner of
speech and talks, art, literature, anything which expresses the way people
live). And cultures are bound to change. The very Indian culture we talk
about has undergone a lot of transformation in the last 2000 years and more.


Indian culture is not a monolith which will remain static forever, as the
RSS-Sri Rama Sene-Sangh parivar or some of the Muslim
fundamentalist/Christian fundamentalist organizations want them to. The fact
is that cultures change. And therefore, on that account, just because at a
certain point of time, some customs were followed, doesn't mean that we have
to stick with them in the notion of 'remaining true Indians' or 'to stick to
our culture'. This is absolute nonsense. Cultures can change, and this
change due to some interactions or circumstances is unavoidable, as one
realizes later.

The next point arises as to whether, some change should be acceptable or
not. This is a highly contentious question. Indian society has been accepted
as being a communitarian society, prior to the British rule. All the
resources of the villages were be to managed by the community. This has been
something pointed out extensively by Ramchandra Guha and Madhav Gadgil in
their book 'Ecology and Equity' for stating a kind of development paradigm
which is alternative to the current one we keep on hearing about.

Now in a communitarian society, individual rights may not be easily
accepted. And in different societies across different regions of India,
different customs may not be acceptable. What's more, some customs may be
acceptable in some societies, but not in others. For example, probably Ashok
Gehlot or Yeduyurappa may feel that women should not be allowed to drink,
but if one visits tribal communities in different parts of this very
country, one would find tribal women also drinking at the tribal festivals.
One example is this : http://www.orissa-tourism.com/trifes.htm

So now, going by this kind of study, drinking may not be acceptable to some,
and yet acceptable to others. Then who decides what is acceptable and what
is not?

Democracy has certainly in some way provided that answer. The individual
should alone decide what to do and what not to do, provided he/she is above
18 yrs of age, in this case of drinking in pubs.

The act of Ram Sene was totally despicable, and this was not what they
should have done. Although on the aspect of rationality, people may laugh at
this, but the Constitution of India does provide the chance to Sene
activists, to actually protest Valentine's Day and all such so-called
Western civilizational attacks on Indian culture, in a non-violent manner,
through dharnas and rallies being taken out in a peaceful manner. Being
emotional towards one's customs and traditions is one thing; trying to
change the society through violence is quite another. The first is
understandable, the second is certainly not.

Also comes the question of women. Yes it's a fact that women have been
turned into the pack of 'honor' which has to be maintained for all families.
It's this which women dislike. And they certainly have a right to do so. For
years, they have been treated to the whims and fancies of men only. And now
that they have got a chance to attain equality, these acts only take us back
to days of women victimization as done earlier. This is certainly something
to be heavily criticized.

Now I come to the campaigns finally. The kind of campaigns which finally
came up, are a totally rubbish. Instead of going through proper debates and
making the Ram Sene activists understand why they are wrong, this is a
completely new way of confrontation. So now, we have chaddis, condoms,
sarees and what not to give. Probably, tomorrow, this way we may be sending
bluefilms as well for protest. Is this how the problem can be solved?

I had initially thought that the chaddis campaign is good for it will
embarass the Hindutva activists to mend their ways, but looking at the
results, I think in all probability that such kind of campaigns are only
generating confrontation amongst sections of the society. And this will
never lead to proper understanding amongst those who feel women can go to
pubs, and those who feel they can't. And I am ashamed that I even thought in
the first place that the 'chaddi' campaign was right.

What we need is a proper debate and a sympathetic understanding of each
other. If the Rama Sene really thinks that the women they beat up were their
'sisters', then they should have debated with them the 'ills' of Western
civilization. And the women, in order to get their due, should have called
for a debate as well to show to the Rama Sene activists how irrational they
are in their faith, and what is wrong with their thought. But both sides
have failed.

I don't mean to say Mangalore was right. But if Mumbai attacks could start a
debate on terrorism, shouldn't Mangalore pub attacks start a debate on
'Indian culture' and so called destruction of Indian society by 'Western
festivals and civilization'? And do the 'chaddi, saree, condom' campaigns
allow that? Or do they further spread the politics of confrontation and
making mockery of each other?

Regards

Rakesh
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