Chennai Vibrations ...
Several of you must have heard about the atrocious clampdown on personal freedom in Chennai during the past few days. Several kilobytes have been written about the incidents by Chenthil and Nilu, two extremely talented and passionate bloggers.
For the impatient, here is a synopis ....
There was a private party at "The Park", one of the top luxury hotels in the South Indian city of Chennai. At this party, there were several women drinking and several couples "making out". A photographer from a popular local newspaper (the equivalent of the National Enquirer/Sun) gate crashed and took several photgraphs of couples kissing and women drinking. These were splashed all over the front page of this rag.
This motivated the Police Commissioner of the city to arrest the managers of the hotel and issuing arrest warrants for the people whose photographs appeared in the newspaper.
Of course, considering that this was a private party, the photographer had no business being there and the police should have no problem with them considering that they were not disturbing the public peace.
The commissioner and the judge before whom the case was heard declared that this sort of "party culture" went against the roots of the 2000-yr old Tamil Culture and that women should not drink/kiss in public. In other words, men could, but women shouldnt. Double standards/chauvinism at their very worst.
I am disgusted by the police action. Modifying the words of Voltaire, "I may not share the moral outlook of the party-goers, but I will fight unto death for their right to live by their moral code".
Several causative factors have been discussed as being reasons for these actions including political gain, sheer narrow mindedness and others.
However, I believe that two reasons have been ignored.
1. Economics
In India, with the growing disparity between the rich and the poor, we have been waiting for the social upheaval that is almost unavoidable.
Is this it ?
Not one person who has ever set foot in the Park as a paying customer is likely to have an income of less than 5 lakhs per annum (Which is quite big). A drink at the Park costs Rs. 500 or so (a weeks salary for a bus driver).
Is the reaction of feminist and religious groups that purports to be moralistic, actually jealousy, with the political parties fanning it up to use the British philosophy of divide and conquer ?
Certainly, it is the poor around the world that are more "religious".
2. North vs South
The South (especially Tamil Nadu) has been the site of several anti-North, anti-Brahmin and anti-Hindi struggles in the past, leading to and resulting from the formation of the Dravidian parties (ADMK, DMK and off-shoots). I personally know that a disproportionate number of party-goers in the Chennai have North Indian roots.
Are Tamilians afraid that their culture is being spoilt by "aliens" from the North ?
For the impatient, here is a synopis ....
There was a private party at "The Park", one of the top luxury hotels in the South Indian city of Chennai. At this party, there were several women drinking and several couples "making out". A photographer from a popular local newspaper (the equivalent of the National Enquirer/Sun) gate crashed and took several photgraphs of couples kissing and women drinking. These were splashed all over the front page of this rag.
This motivated the Police Commissioner of the city to arrest the managers of the hotel and issuing arrest warrants for the people whose photographs appeared in the newspaper.
Of course, considering that this was a private party, the photographer had no business being there and the police should have no problem with them considering that they were not disturbing the public peace.
The commissioner and the judge before whom the case was heard declared that this sort of "party culture" went against the roots of the 2000-yr old Tamil Culture and that women should not drink/kiss in public. In other words, men could, but women shouldnt. Double standards/chauvinism at their very worst.
I am disgusted by the police action. Modifying the words of Voltaire, "I may not share the moral outlook of the party-goers, but I will fight unto death for their right to live by their moral code".
Several causative factors have been discussed as being reasons for these actions including political gain, sheer narrow mindedness and others.
However, I believe that two reasons have been ignored.
1. Economics
In India, with the growing disparity between the rich and the poor, we have been waiting for the social upheaval that is almost unavoidable.
Is this it ?
Not one person who has ever set foot in the Park as a paying customer is likely to have an income of less than 5 lakhs per annum (Which is quite big). A drink at the Park costs Rs. 500 or so (a weeks salary for a bus driver).
Is the reaction of feminist and religious groups that purports to be moralistic, actually jealousy, with the political parties fanning it up to use the British philosophy of divide and conquer ?
Certainly, it is the poor around the world that are more "religious".
2. North vs South
The South (especially Tamil Nadu) has been the site of several anti-North, anti-Brahmin and anti-Hindi struggles in the past, leading to and resulting from the formation of the Dravidian parties (ADMK, DMK and off-shoots). I personally know that a disproportionate number of party-goers in the Chennai have North Indian roots.
Are Tamilians afraid that their culture is being spoilt by "aliens" from the North ?
Comments
Certainly, it is the poor around the world that are more "religious"
I doubt this. In India it is the middleclass which is more religious. The poor are too busy trying to earn a decent meal than to be religious. In the US, it is the rich who are religious as they have ample of everything and then they lean towards religion.
"Both ppl never get along with the others habits/cilture...."
I have a lot of friends from southern part of India and we get along just fine. If one is determined to find differences, then one will find them, no matter what. We should look at the things we share and not the other way around. And trust me, we have more things in common than not. There are slight differences in the habits...but you would differences in Punjabis and Bengalis also, which in your eyes are both North Indian. And finally, there is no problem between Aryans and Dravidians...it is all made up and same is told to me by my Chennai friends this is all politics. Please keep an open mind and make some friends from North India, you would what I mean.
-Alpa
This is what I suspected - But, its good to hear it from the mouth of a North Indian - that this perceived divide between North and South Indians is only politically motivated and not one of personal choice ...