The Tossed Salad

India took a giant step towards broad mindedness, when the Delhi High Court delivered a historic judgment to amend a 149 year old colonial era law and decriminalized private consensual sex between adults of the same gender. But are we liberal enough to accept homosexuals in our society just yet? Perhaps not. How else does one justify the murder of 55 years old, Hiralal Valecha who was found dead in his house, Ahmedabad, his throat slit with a sharp weapon?  “I still don’t know if I can come out as gay, I still don’t feel safe,” said 34 years old, Nagesh Mathur, software engineer, Mumbai.

India is a young nation in all the various aspects of growth and democracy. It is yet involving in the fields of journalism, economics as well as its social outlook. India still suffers from the age-old malaise of illegal prostitution. Women take to prostitution often, not by choice but per force. Yet, legalizing prostitution seems to be a distant dream. “My family won’t accept me, I won’t get a job, I can’t marry, and I have no way out. I was only 15 when I was pushed into a brothel. I wish I had some kind of hope,” said a young Reshma, who has now spent 4 years in a brothel in Budhwar Peth, Pune. She now works with the NGO Saheli in helping others of her kind. But she still feels nothing can be done since people’s attitude towards sex workers seems governed by traditional societal norms. This, since approximately a dozen sex workers were molested and then beaten up on the outskirts of Sasaram town. “Sex workers all over the nation are abused and often by the officials themselves,” said Ms. Sarika Patil, Project head of the NGO Saheli that deals with the upliftment of sex workers.

India is progressing at breakneck speed, with spiralling GDP figures and other positive indices reflective of the same. Yet, among other issues, birth control and family planning seem to be two major issues India finds itself grappling with. The 1970s witnessed a forced sterilisation program by Sanjay Gandhi. Many young men, men with two children and several others were known to have been sterilized per force. The program backfired and Sanjay Gandhi came under severe flak for having hampered the family planning policy in India.

A similar coercive method was instituted in China as well. Its’ “One Child policy” that was implemented as a temporary measure, now continues for a quarter century after its establishment. China being a communist nation, forced this policy on the Han community living in the urban areas of China. The rural areas however, are free from the policy of family planning. The end result? About 40 million births went unreported in the census following the policy’s implementation.

In India, the visual medium has always served as the most explicit of all media to convey socially relevant messages. Films form an essential part of such conveyance. Yet, it’s not just about churning out box-office hits. The likes of Nine months, Salaam Namaste, throw light on a very narrow aspect that constitutes the subject. While live-in relationships as a concept is still nubile, its arrival has mostly been concentrated to a very narrow section of society. Yet there are the likes of My Brother Nikhil and Phir Milenge, which make the audience sit up and take notice of issues that go deeper than we know them to be.

The Censor board still remains close to the portrayal of nudity and sex, since the mindset of the average Indian is what it primarily takes into consideration, not to mention the influence of regionally chauvinistic political parties that wreak havoc when such films hit theaters.

Yes, the Indian mindset still remains archaic, governed by rules and customs that only a small percentage of people have come out of. The rest remain shackled by myths and stigma that promise to bind it for time immemorial, should adequate information systems not be put into place to pull them out of such murky waters.

Sanyukta Iyer

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[image courtesy: http://wikipedia.com]

Author: Sanyukta Iyer
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