Sitting here in my hostel room, and watching all that's is happening in my country, I am ashamed to see how badly we are struck between the two extreme identities – a modern citizen of a global family or an orthodox Indian who always carries with himself the misinterpretation of his religion.
Today - 14th of February, the day for Love turned violent in India, thanks to men wearing saffron clothes and calling themselves "moral police", and taking it as their responsibility to teach the modern Indians, the true Indian culture.
Bajrang Dal activists harassed siblings at Vikram University, Ujjain assuming them to be couples. Here in Pune, Shiv Sainiks have forcibly married off two couples near Khadakvasla Dam right opposite the National Defense Academy.
In Bhopal, police rounded up Bajrang Dal activists for causing trouble for couples celebrating Valentine's Day. The saffron brigade was threatening to marry off lovers found in public places. Thirty Shiv Sainiks were arrested in Gwalior, for creating a ruckus in a park with couples.
The worst was the incident where a Sub-Inspector dragged a girl (along with her boyfriend) by her hair to the police station. Jind Superintendent of Police B Satheesh Balan said "SI Moola Ram has been suspended and a departmental enquiry will be conducted by the DSP. The enquiry is suo-moto and the complaint has been filed by the SHO. Abuse of power and misbehaviour with the woman are the charges. The couple is ok and have been sent home. The inspector has committed a grave mistake and will have to face the music. This is an isolated case where a police official was involved and for that he will have to face the music,".
These are just some of the incidents that I got to know through news channels, so not sure how many more innocent people were tortured and harassed just for loving another fellow human being.
When I was trying to find out the root cause of all these incidents, all I could think off are the videos I saw in National Geographic about Taliban and how women are ill-treated in Afghanistan and parts of Pakistan, but then suddenly something struck in my mind and I happened to recollect a famous incident in one the greatest epic of Hindu religion – The Ramayana.
It is rather the reason because of which, Shri Ram and Ravan ended up in a war and eventually Ravan was killed. The incident goes like this –
"Shri Ram, Sita and Laskhman had spent close to 10 years in the Panchavati forests during their exile, but one day Surpanaka (Ravana's younger sister) disguised herself as a beautiful woman and proposed Shri Ram to marry her. Shri Ram called himself happily married and asked her to approach his brother, Lakshman.
Surpanaka went towards Lakshman and made the same proposal. Lakshman said - "I am merely his servant and remain under him. Marrying me, you too will have to be under him. So you have no chance here but you can marry my elder brother since he is a king and a king can have many wives."
She again went back to Shri Ram but was again sent back to Lakshman. Lakshman became irritated and said only such a man could marry her who has abandoned shame. This got her furious and Shri Ram signalled Lakshman who acting quickly severed her ears and nose."
So here are our own Hindu scriptures telling us about the treatment given to lovers and people who propose love to one another.
I was so dumbstruck to note that such an incident quoted in an epic which is one of the foundations of my religion. And now, we have people foolishly following only this part of the story and not all the morals that the story teaches us.
In the technology era, we needn't get driven by our scriptures. With increased interaction and information through various sources, we all get to know what is right and what is wrong. In this free world, one can chose what they want to do in their life; if someone is going directionless, then it should be the responsibility of their parent, friends and relatives and to the max the police force to get a person on right track. Its an individual's choice whether they consume alcohol or not; no one has right to stop him/her as long as he is not creating trouble. We don't need moral police in our country, that too taking violent steps against people who are committing no crime. There are so many criminal and terrorist activities which are happening in our country, violence can be used against them and to stop further damage and bring back peace. What is important as an individual is that, each one of us should understand our duty and be accountable for all our actions. Rest of the things would just follow...
4 comments:
Hey, I would like to agree with you partially. Yes there are two extreme identities – a modern citizen of a global family & an orthodox Indian who always carries with himself the misinterpretation of his/her religion. But according to me the first identity is mere a dream, second one is the reality which we all are just not ready to accept. I feel just by changing our attire or by following some festivals of world we can’t become modern. For become modern citizen of a global we really need to change our mindset, which none of us are ready.
14th of February-“Valentine Day”, the day for Love, We need specials date to express for feeling/love to someone whom we all call some one special !!
But have we ever asked our mother/father do they ever need any particular date for express their feeling to us, express their love to us, show how much they care for us, how many night and days they can spent without sleeping and without taking rest. No body in this world can love & care which a mother gives to a child, be it newly born bay or 80 year old person for a mother/father everyone is his son/daughter. I am sure those boys and girl who are the part of this so called modern citizen of a global family will ever need any specific date to express they love and affection to their child whenever they will become father/ mother
21st of January-“Mother’s Day”
14th of February-“Valentine Day”
8th of May- “Parent’s Day”
19th of June- “Father’s Day”
5th of August- “Sister’s Day”
17th of December- “Brother’s Day”
You can keep adding number of as such date. And you always find number of people in support & opponent of each such day. You will hardly find anyone who can really tell the reason behind any of any such date. People are supporting & opposing Valentine Day but doesn’t know who was Saint Valentine.
I honestly want to ask you all do you really need such days to express our feeling & love. I am neither against nor the support of Valentine day but still, want to ask all do we really need
14th of February-“Valentine Day”
to express our love/feeling to someone whom we call so special to us.
People are just celebrating it and opposing. I am just against the stupidity on the name of Valentine day. We have always rich culture and tradition in which the true lovers were always supported and given due respect, which now a days is being diminished by moral police or seasoned love birds.
When you really understand each other well, respect each other feelings, support when you your partner need even if whole world is against him/her.
Believe me in this manner you can really celebrate Valentine day in it true manner. If you start doing so both of you can make any day “Valentine day” for you both. There will not be any moral police to stop you from celebrating.
The problem what I feel is that we have become mechanical. In name of support & opposition modern culture which were never part of our rich culture and tradition. The moral policing & cheapness by so called seasoned love birds, which you can see on different valentine day of each year with different partners, can be stopped. All mythological scriptures be it Hindu, Muslim, or any one has the story of telling us that the true lovers never need any specific date for propose love to one another and they always has been due respect too. The moral police could never stop the true lovers in past too can never be able to do in our so called modern citizen of a global family.
So I request to all including moral police too believe in true love so make the Saint Valentine including us proud on his death 14th of February in true sense. Stop this moral policing & cheapness too on the name of Valentine day.
Regarding having a specific day for celebrating a relation - its just a way to make things special. Just how u celebrate your birthdays, anniversaries etc. its just another way to express love and gratitude by dedicating an entire day to the person; it doesn't mean that the same cannot be done on other days.
And these are not just randomly decided, every day had its own significance and is in memory of some noble person or incident. I do agree that both media and the marketing tactics of organizations have created a hype and publicize them more to exploit sales opportunities but we should be sensible enough to understand where to draw the line.
You know what? These people neither understand love, nor understand marriage. Somehow these are the same people who will boo marriage between different communities, castes and all that shit. Can they guarantee that the people that they forcibly got married will stay together after marriage? I'm sure these guys stll believe that marriage is the all and end all of life.
And hats off to those who got married also... some self esteem they have to let hooligans decide their life...
Yes,I agree with your view that making a specific date is a good way for expressing the things.But in year how many times do we celebrate our Birthday or Anniversary.We do it only on some specific date,that too once in a year.Again I am repeating the same point do u really need any such dates even if it being named after a noble persons.Because i feel by doing all this thing we just doing marketing of few things and giving some news for media, which they show on their respective channels.After repeating times without number that we are mature enough to draw the line,we are unable to make the difference between the privacy and publicity.These dates on the name of some noble persons are more being used as a publicity than to express personal feelings.
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