[Reader-list] Fwd: HIV and male circumcision

[Taha Mehmood]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Sanjay Kak <kaksanjay at gmail.com>
Date: Wed, Jul 29, 2009 at 1:49 PM
Subject: [Reader-list] HIV and male circumcision
To: 2tahamehmood at googlemail.com
Cc: reader-list at sarai.net


Dear Taha
Your many posts on the future of our digital identities has always
drawn my silent admiration: for their alert doggedness, their range
and their perspicacity.
But this one on the truly fragile nature of our blood and skin (and
foreskin) identities was a real jewel: I found myself laughing and in
tears at the same time!
Many thanks
Sanjay Kak

ps Cant seem to put this on the Sarai list for some reason?

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Taha Mehmood <2tahamehmood at googlemail.com>
Date: Wed, Jul 29, 2009 at 6:04 PM
Subject: Re: [Reader-list] HIV and male circumcision
To: Pawan Durani <pawan.durani at gmail.com>
Cc: Sarai Reader-list <reader-list at sarai.net>, Tapas Ray <tapasrayx at gmail.com>


Dear Tapas, Dear Pawan and Dear All

I think we just have to wait for a year before hopefully we will all
have our UID numbers then perhaps rioters too will become more
sophisticated. If these days RSS and VHP and BJP and SS goons go
around an area carrying voter lists, as evidenced by systematic
butchering of Mussalmaaans in Gujarat then later perhaps, they could
be more precise by zoning in on fingerprints, area codes and what not.
They might just ask for your thumb print and tally it on a machine
before driving that sword down your throat. After all multi-purposes
will have other benefits too.

But to complicate the this argument let me tell you guys a real story.

A cousin of mine from Ahmedabad once told his story of being a victim
of riots. This happened during the Advani rath yatra time. He was
traveling from Delhi to Ahmedabad that day.

Just when he left the rail way station he realized that riots are
happening in the city. There were no taxis or auto-rickshaws, so he
started walking in the hope that he might come across some people be
it Hindus or Muslims and they might give me a lift to his place.  He,
by the way, didn't look 'Muslim' at all. He was clean shaven with
urban looks and all. He could pass off as anyone. He was smart and
suave and confident.

By and by he crossed an area where came across a group of men who were
hiding behind the entrance of a gully.

They accosted him but he couldn't make out who they were either. For
they were too, like him, clean shaven and without any visible mark of
identification. So they asked him what his name was, so he said that
his name was Ramesh, thinking that they were Hindus.

Hearing this one of them drew a sword, 'Hindu hai sala'! They were
Muslims. He thanked God and told them he was a brother like them too.
They asked him to open his pants and show them his circumcision mark.
Now here's the interesting bit because my cousin had never cared to go
for a circumcision.

He opened his pants, people saw his uncircumcised penis and thrust a
sword in his belly with a nara-e-takbir accompanying the action. He
let out a scream Ya Allah! That somehow made them realize that he was
a Muslim. People do not wear any mask when they are in danger of their
lives, it seems.

They asked his name again and he told them that it was Arif. They took
him to a hospital where the doctor initially refuse to treat him after
getting to know that his name was Arif, it was only after examining
his uncircumcised penis that the doctor was convinced that he was
indeed Ramesh and treated him.

What happened to Arif was unfortunate but it was also terribly funny
too, in a way. The madness and social nervousness around identity was
all apparent.  I think with the coming up of ID cards there must be
systematic and equitable distribution of personal information amongst
both Muslim and Hindu rioters. For it would be depressing to come
across an Arif like case again. On the other hand I think as long as
we in India are going to make a big fuss about who we are then there's
definitely going to be someone who will be laughing all the way to a
bank somewhere.

Warm regards

Taha
_________________________________________
reader-list: an open discussion list on media and the city.
Critiques & Collaborations
To subscribe: send an email to reader-list-request at sarai.net with
subscribe in the subject header.
To unsubscribe: https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/reader-list
List archive: &lt;https://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/>