On one hand, there are political parties that have threatened to go into cafes and restaurants on V-Day and force couples to get married on the spot or at the police station. On the other, these cafes and restaurants are all set to celebrate V-Day, add more pink and red hearts, tinsel and whip out their spanking new (and over-expensive) Valentine's day drinks.
To protest against this so-called moral policing is: The Pink Chaddi campaign.
"The Pink Chaddi Campaign kicked off on 5 February 2009 to oppose the Sri Ram Sena. The campaign is growing exponentially (4,500 at this point in the life of our Consortium of Pub-going, Loose and Forward Women) and that is not surprising. Most women in this country have enough curbs on their lives without a whole new franchise cashing in with their bully-boy tactics. Of course, a lot of men have joined the group as well."
What happened: The Sri Ram Sena was shown (on prime time news TV) to have physically assaulted girls in pubs and discos causing them to flee while I dont know how many channels videotaped the whole thing as it happened. Such stunts often happen only with the help of these camerapersons who in their own way assist in such assaults. The moral of their story: girls "should not" drink in pubs and go to discos, which is against "Indian culture". These people probably dont mind if men throng these pubs and discos (didnt see men getting beaten up in the video).
What's with the Valentine? Why do political parties go on the moral rampage only on V-Day? They dont mind Archies stocking heaps of V-Day cards that crowd out all other cards: especially birthday cards. They dont raise an eyebrow at special Valentine's day drinks and food menu at popular student hangouts and restaurants. They dont seem to appear when couples visit the cafes, pubs etc. on usual days. Why V-Day? Just because V-Day is not in our "culture"? But beating innocent girls and women, threatening them against such activities promotes Indian culture? Or do certain people get to decide what's right and wrong, and use force to get their message across?
Too many questions...not enough answers.
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5 comments:
This is an absolutely fascinating post. Wow.
I can't comment too much, as I don't know enough about Indian culture, but the campaign is a wonderful, creative, idea.
It must be a bit scary to live with that level of intrusive moral policing. And it's amazing how vocal and powerful a group can get when they're supported, even tacitly, by the media.
More power to the Pink Chaddi Group!!!
I can see the wonder in Leah's comment....the concept of moral policing itself is so alien:-D.
@Leah: have u figured out the meaning of chaddi yet;-P????
Hi Leah...It's usually political parties who take on the role of moral policemen and usually target youngsters who participate in activities considered to be against Indian culture. Which in itself is a question mark. These guys decide things for common citizens and get away with it, in some way supported by the media who give them due publicity.
I agree, its made such a difference once the media gave the Pink Chaddi group a voice that can be heard by the nation. Hope this is enough to see the end of moral policing in any form.
Reflections: :-) yeah i missed saying that the Pink Chaddi campaign is basically send your pink underwear to make Ram Sena's valentine's day a more memorable one :)
I had figured out what "chaddi" meant--rather, I looked it up as I was reading your post : )
thanks for the further comments here too, it is very interesting really. And I'm glad the media has picked up on the group!
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