January 22, 2025

Picture courtesy: bustle.com

Culture Minister painting India in dull colours
Is the minister for culture, Mahesh Sharma, not living in India? Has he not seen that more and more Indian girls prefer to wear skirts? Times are changing and women, irrespective of age, are adopting clothes that are comfortable to wear, stylish or they feel comfortable in. Even 10 years ago, age was a factor for women in their sartorial choices. Not anymore. It is usual to see both saas and bahu go shopping in western wear. Salwar-suits, kurtis combined with leggings or jeggings and jeans with kurtis or tops are the preferred choices for all women while teenagers can be quite quirky and can go with anything that catches their fancy, including skirts. Hence, Sharma’s advice to foreign women coming to India to avoid skirts is reprehensible and should be condemned. His other advice for them to remain indoors at night is also equally bad. Even as India tries to adopt a night life and more and more Indians are partying till the wee hours in cities and towns, Sharma is trying to create an impression that all is dull and drab in the country after the cows come home to roost.

Work hard and party harder is the mantra of young India
A young India believes in the mantra work hard and party harder. It is not unusual to see the trendy set to be in office till 10 pm and then hit the floors of the nearest part haunt to relieve the stress. Politicians, not willing to expose themselves to public scrutiny, can nurse their own, equally relished, pegs in the privacy of their homes but will continue to deny simple pleasures to the young by citing Indian ethos. Comments like Sharma’s are likely to provide ammunition to the self-appointed guardians of morality to crackdown on late-night revelers and those who they think are ‘inappropriately’ dressed. Women’s safety, already threatened in all cities and towns, will be further in peril. Empowerment takes a backseat when criticism, admonishment and restrictions rule the day.

Sanskar lectures have become frequent
Sharma’s comments can be seen as an extension of this government’s habit of trying to lecture the country on what it thinks comprises Indian culture. We have had people lecturing us on what to wear, what to eat, how to behave in certain circumstances and denying rights to singles, homosexuals and live-ins even when the judiciary has supported their rights. Recently, Sushma Swaraj lectured us on Indian cultural ethos while presenting the Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill. It is good to remember our sanskars, but being sanskari does not mean that one should live in the dark ages. Sanskar are not defined by strait jackets. They are not inflexible. What was good sanskar 50 years ago might not be so now. Cultural ethos keeps changing every few decades and it can change faster in a multi-cultural society like India’s. Further, why is it that when sanskars are talked about, it is women and other marginalized sections that bear the brunt? All restrictions are for women and marginalized sections only and men and those who conform to the dictates of moral guardians can do whatever pleases them.

Why impose a particular view?
A closed society is a sure recipe for a doomed society. Any society that does not move ahead with the times will remain dormant and face extinction sooner than later. Any society that tramples upon, or even ignores, the rights of any deviant minority within that society, is guilty of gross discrimination. Hindu society has never frowned upon deviant behavior. Our mythological texts refer to people who chose not to marry, were transgenders and there were references that alluded to surrogacy. Yet, we are now told that it is not in our sanskars to remain single, show deviant sexual behavior or wish to have a surrogate child if we are not married for five years and cannot have one of our own. Hence the current set of moral guardians should not try to interpret social customs as per their wish and impose their own views on the people.