"Exploit a country long enough & watch as the people make slaves, barbarians of themselves & eachother" #
Women are 'Suppressed'. Men are 'Repressed'. And many matriarchs (mother-in-laws especially) 'Oppress'! This is India, definitely Not ALL of it, but much too much of it. I can say this, categorically, being a native of the land, who has spoken, seen & heard, fresh & first-hand, from the curry-bowl.
#
The issue of sexual violence/dominance/penury (even
prudishness) in India is vast, complex & deeply ingrained in the national psyche – a psyche, nonetheless,
that NEEDS to be viewed against the backdrop of 1000 years or more of external
interference, forceful invasions, brutal foreign control & despotic administrations,
Persian/Central-Asian usurpation, Mongolian marauding, colonial subjugation, to
name but a few, the last of which stratified (even further) the existing &
most abhorrent class & caste-system. All this turbulent activity of 'ransoms, rape
& pillage', divisions of power, domination, humiliation… to varying
degrees, helped shape, compromise, some may even say, damage India's
collective conscience.
++
The
fabric of a society, its sense of self, identity, liberation from subservience/conformity,
its unifying pride, gender roles, sexual politics &, inadvertently, the
sexual impulse itself are all deeply rooted (no Australian pun intended!) in
the notion of FREEDOM. Where freedom & justice are perverted over several
generations the personal & social ramifications have far, far reaching
consequences, & nearly always found to be deeply disturbing &
devastating for generations to come. (One must remember too, India only attained
Independence 65 years ago, after centuries of foreign rule, followed by a
sustained period of hectic, ungoverned lawlessness.)
++
“For some days, people
thought that India was shaking. But there are always tremors when a great tree
falls.”
– Rajiv Gandhi
I
have pondered long & deep, ached even, over this land that I love with its litany
of striking contradictions & harsh
cruelties that present so clearly to even the casual observer - too many to
list, too shameful to utter - & like others, I remain ever skimming the
surface. I never, however, divert my gaze, & feel it is incumbent upon us
to try & understand 'WHY' people do the things they do & how they came
to be (no matter how harrowing the detail)…with sufficient context & an
adequate accounting of the struggles fought, valleys climbed & deepest
oceans crossed. In asking the questions, I’m not in any way absolving the
crime, but simply searching for a humane way in which to face the ‘monster’, the
evil, the abominable soul of man…call it what you will.
#
While
history can assist in explaining some things, other contributing factors give
rise to present-day (real & perceived) problems in India: globalisation
& the ‘sordid’ Internet; a meteorically rising middle class; a shift from
relative religious tolerance to deeply nationalistic overtones of intolerance
(with subsequent demonising & loss
of opportunities for minorities); the assertion of liberated, free-thinking, modern
Indian women (agents of their own sexy desires & the most confronting &
direct break with tradition); a nefarious veil of INTOLERANCE, spilling out
into all areas & aspects of life; exploitation of power & position at
the highest level; a largely corrupt police force; & a struggling,
illiterate, rural population of 'the poorest of the poor'. This great divide, the growing resentments & simmering
discontents they engender, could NOT be any greater at anytime, anywhere in
the world (except, perhaps, America, which, I must say, India tries its
darnedest to ‘LOOK’ like) & sadly, finds its greatest, most pitiful
expression, in vile acts towards the vulnerable.
++
The
balance required for an ancient land, with its multitude of complex beliefs
& traditions, growing golden-wealth alongside persistent, pernicious poverty, sexual
conflicts, confusion & frustrations, heavy political burdens, colonial
legacies - emasculated men, highly susceptible women - & somewhat misguided
aspirations, is without doubt…Herculean & all, significantly,
symptomatic of a loss & reclaiming of CONTROL, however distorted.
***
That
Indians (and India) were missionised, marginalised, demoralised, proselytised, polarised & essentially 'burglarised'
for centuries has served to arrest & undermine her ‘development’ – socially,
economically, psychologically, but interestingly enough, not spiritually. For
what else does a nation do, who has herself been continuously raped & plundered, but worship & idolise benevolent gods in the hope of a better,
more equitable life.
++
Of
the horrors of today – where the oppressed have now become the oppressor, where
freedom has become a ‘free for all’ without consequence, where women are in
some ways even more commoditised (in the case of in-laws with growing material
cupidity), where children are violated as a consequence of taboo & warped
ideas surrounding sex – we condemn & denounce loudly, wildly & without
hesitation. We support & commend
where liberation & justice are sought &, if connected in any way to
this soil, we wait with patience, hope & understanding for the ‘Mother’ to find her steady feet,
reach her 'majority' (sexual maturity), defend her 'minorities' (the struggling
disenfranchised), break the cycle of domination, censure & brutality &
walk forward, unashamedly, with the rest of the world.
++
"We end today a
period of ill fortune, and India discovers herself again. The achievement we
celebrate is but a step, an opening of opportunity, to the greater triumphs and
achievements that await us. Are we brave enough and wise enough to grasp this
opportunity and accept the challenge of the future?" - Independence Day, Jawaharlal Nehru
A quote as relevant today, as it was 65 years ago.
**IMPORTANT CAVEATS**
1)
While gender inequality in India existed before Imperialism, so too did it
exist in much of the world up to relatively recent times. Some might say the
fight still continues in even the most progressive cultures. But the conditions
in India, discussed in this essay, further exacerbated & lengthened that
struggle for many Indian women in a nation that is desperately trying to catch
up.
2) While an extensive rail network & other modern infrastructures were brought about under occupation (seen as positives for India & justifications by the west), the lungs & resources of the nation were utterly destroyed & largely plundered for the purpose of FIRST industrializing the western world.
One need only see the wealth of the west versus the poor & filth of the east to figure this out. So in passing, next time you pull up your 'cotton' boxers or sprinkle 'pepper' over your eggs benedict, give a little ‘holla’ for the homeland that laboured to provide it!
Thank you for making space in your day to read my post
**************************************************
#All Writing by Rani.C (Char)
#Photos by Rani.Cee: Student Painting 'Gandhi & his people' - Sabarmati Ashram, Gujarat.
#Stone relief, 'Slave Girl' - Kalna Temples, West Bengal.
#'Mughal Wall-Mural' - Shantiniketan, Artist Village, West Bengal.
++Stock-Photos of Kolkata, 1942. Via Postcards from the Indian Museum (Personal Copies)
***Photo by Raghu Rai from, 'India - A Retrospective' Asahi Shimbun (Personal Copy)
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