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Shabana Azmi in Miranda House

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On 21st March, Shabana Azmi, the acclaimed Bollywood actress and famous activist visited Miranda House and held a discussion with young boys and girls about pressing issues like gender sensitization and women empowerment. The event was organized by the joint efforts of the Women Development Cell of Miranda House, Parivartan Gender forum of Kirori Mal College and NSS of Hindu College. As was expected, quite a large crowd turned up for the event.Although the boys were fewer in number, they participated in the talk and asked insightful questions.

The actress was late, as is usually the case with celebrities and the program which was scheduled to begin at 2, began at 3:20. The crowd cheered and clapped as Shabana Azmi made her way to the stage, clad in a white Anarkali suit and looking magnetic as she always does. She began by apologizing for making the crowd wait, defending herself by stating that she has come directly from the airport, without having even a sip of water and so she was hungry-to hear young minds speak. Her views about the recent rape case and equality of women impressed us all. She made it clear that ‘equal’ doesn’t mean ‘same’, equal means equality of opportunities, which is clearly lacking in Indian society and the change has to begin at home.

She also related many of her experiences that she had had in other countries as well as in India. She stresses on improving the attitude of the police and providing security to the victims so that they are spared the embarrassment and also to ensure that women can travel whenever they want, wearing whatever they want. Her comment on ‘item numbers’, that a song’s lyrics are no invitation to rape was another which received a loud applause. I was particularly affected by her observation about a course book of third graders, which says “where is the father? In the office. Where is the mother? In the kitchen.” She concluded that our society is taught this way, and change cannot be brought about in this generation, but that means that we have to keep working for it and raise our voice without giving up.

This was Delhi University’s efforts to fight violence against women. And I must say, Miranda house with all other organizers did a brilliant job in making it a successful one.

 

Aishwarya Chaurasia
[email protected]

Picture credits- Swadha Singh

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Campus Central

One billion rising movement at Miranda House

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There couldn’t have been a better time to talk about feminism. The entire country is angry towards the brutal gang rape incident, and for a change, women issues are being looked at without the prism of patriarchy. There has been a conscious effort on the part of the youth to change the misogynist setup that we have been living in since ages.

Today, Miranda House was host to one such event that was organized under the banner of ‘One Billion rising-South Asia’. The One billion rising movement aims to empower women across the nation to stand up against the world’s complete indifference towards the other half of the population of the world. This event attracted eminent panelists like Eve Ensler (The creator of “The Vagina monologue”), Kamala Bhasin (From the NGO Jago ri) , Mallika Sarabhai (The noted bharatnatyam and kuchipudi dancer and social activist) and Abhijit Das (noted actor). Eve Ensler performed two of her monologues that she had recently written, one titled “Rising” and the other titled “I am an emotional creature”. Kamala Bhasin highlighted issues pertaining to woman by the medium of slogans. Mallika Sarabhai gave a dance recital revolving around Vishnu and Indra that left everyone mesmerized. The venue was reverberating with the positive energy that the guests had brought along with them.

Amidst the huge crowd that had gathered, only 5-6 odd men could be spotted, one of whom spoke up in a discussion, claiming that alcoholism is the main cause of rape. Needless to say, the crowd booed him out. At the end of the event, everyone agreed that it was high time we stop tolerating violence and discrimination against women and give a serious thought to the power relations in the society.

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DUB Speak

Dancing to the beats of Yo Yo Honey Singh

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2012 was a year that saw movies and music take an experimental and innovative twist in India. From Barfi’s subtle approach towards our society’s outlook on disability, to the recognition of many more bands and upcoming artists, last year seemed to be a ray of hope in an industry mostly monopolised by lewd item songs that consisted of women gyrating to pulsating beats. Despite these differences, the scenario doesn’t seem to have changed much, as the hero is still the policeman or roadside Romeo who thinks it is his birthright to pester and bully the girl of his dreams till she unwittingly falls in love with him.

The biggest sensation that emerged last year was the Punjabi rapper Yo Yo Honey Singh. From an underground artist who was barely recognised for his work, to producing chartbusters like Angreji Beat and Mai Sharabi, this self-proclaimed ‘international villager’ has taken the bollywood music industry as well as its dhol-loving audience by storm. His song ‘Brown Rang’, which refers to the tantalizing beauty of a chocolate-skinned woman that trumps the charms of a typical blue-eyed blond, was the most trending article on YouTube by Indian viewers. Honey Singh has also been one of the most searched artists in India, following Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif. Very little is left to discussion when the three most searched celebrities on the internet are those that promote brainless violence, sexual item songs and misogynist lyrics covered up by feet-tapping beats.

Honey Singh’s songs are, without doubt, highly contagious. When played at parties, very few people will be able to admit to the fact that they sat in a corner while everyone around them swayed to songs like ‘Dope shope’ and ‘High heels’. However, when we dig deep into the colourful rapper’s past, some of his earliest works consist of despicable and filthy lyrics on how to objectivise a woman during sex, including some highly violent references to please his insatiable lust.

As India is a democracy, Honey Singh’s licence to sing is a matter that cannot really be questioned. However, there do exist some disturbing realities that may not directly relate to his work, but hit on the internalization of certain beliefs over the years. Honey Singh might just be one exceptionally obvious case, yet so many others exist in the form of movie scenes and ads. Starting from Fair and lovely and Axe deodorants, even movies like Agneepath and Tees Maar Khan seem to have no use of a woman except to showcase them in sexually charged numbers like ‘Chikni Chameli’ and ‘Sheila Ki Jawani’. As toned and beautiful as the woman look, the leering men that surround them and the crude lyrics that make up the songs don’t do much to show a woman’s independence, no matter how vehemently the actresses and a majority of the audience claim that they portray this. The reality, despite its lack of materialisation into spoken words, invariably focus on what the masses seem to enjoy the most; cheap sexual thrills and an ability to gape at a woman’s body without being ostracized by the society.

Even though politicians and like-minded people seem to have woken up from their beauty sleep after the recent horrific rape case, trying to ban Honey Singh from producing more music is far from what this country needs. Just as his fans believe that he has moved from producing sexually violent songs to dance floor scorchers, blaming one man for his past isn’t going to help a society that is steeped in following practices that marginalise its women.

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DUB Speak

What, me feminist?

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Ignorance is quite captivating sometimes, its implications often deserve adequate ruminations regardless of whether they happen to be blissful or not. Of all the not so recent news in the North Indian world, what has recently got my goat is the blatant idiocy in the guise of tradition and honour. Now, harmless idiocy is harmless enough but the victimized women in these cases would surely testify it is anything but that. I wouldn’t call myself a feminist but I do agree with their fundamental belief, i.e. all women and men are equal, and their primary cause, to make this true in practise. Call me an idiot but there is no thing as a better sex, just better individuals if you must. For every Medha Patkar there is a Mayawati, and for every Manmohan Singh there is an Advani. Anyhow, lets come back to those two particularly fascinating headlines directly quoted from a couple of priggish village elders. One was regarding what you might now call ancient news, the Noida gang rape case; the geriatric bugger’s view of the grim situation was remarkably simple, “She was just raped, so what?” For a minute, the optimist in me pondered if it could be an error in translation, but then I had to rule out the possibility since the words were too crisp to seem inaccurate; there was no corrigendum over the week. This view was allegedly shared by most of the village; in their opinion, their boys had done no wrong, and they just might be right on this one. The throes of passion notwithstanding are these boys really to blame, having been brought up in such a society where the concept of the modesty of a woman is entirely foreign? Or take the recent Francis Gomes case. Even insanity tends to have a purpose and rationale, however crazy it might be. One could argue that all he did was take the notions of honour and security to an extremely obsessive and somewhat paranoiac level, right?

Then there was the other headline, “Only whores choose their partners”, this one coming from the Chaudhary of a Khap Panchayat. I would hate to contest his wisdom of years, but isn’t it the other way round? Either way, the point is clear, that with such regressive values ingrained in our society we cannot hope to easily overcome these atrocities that are doled out in alarming frequency. Protesting at Jantar Mantar might sound like a noble thing to do but the end result? At the most, you’ll get your picture printed in the next day’s newspaper complete with a profound placard in hand. Condemning such happenings from the comfort of our safe homes is easy, as this article itself might testify. However, if you happen to take it to a further activist level by actually going to these red zones and trying to change things around, may the Gods save your life and might they also punish you for your utter foolishness. These unreasonable and uncivilized practises have been going on and they would go on, and the only plausible way to counter them is, yes, you know it, education! Will Durant said, “Education is a progressive discovery of our ignorance”. It is this self-realization, which then leads to the acquisition of a reasonable temperament and consequently an atmosphere of change.

As the most fundamental principle of Economics goes, resources are limited but wants are not; we must make some compromises, particularly for being a developing nation. Instead of specializations and higher education, the focus must be inclined more towards improving quality of basic education for the masses. We are already producing enough engineers, doctors, lawyers and intellectuals; and yet the female half of the population continues to live in jeopardy even in areas that come under the label of ‘National Capital Region’. Come to think of it, we cannot even afford to employ such retrogressive methods on either side, for it would only further dampen our growth. Maybe we don’t need all those bulletproof planes and precision missiles that could pierce a baby’s bottom from three hundred miles away, or wait, maybe we do not need to make these compromises after all! Our netas are supposedly on an austerity drive, they wouldn’t be flying first class except in ‘certain’ cases. I guess austerity like everything else is relative, isn’t it?

“India Shining”

“Sir, yes, sir!”

“Incredible India”

“Sir, yes, sir!”

“Your ass may belong to Levis, but your soul belongs here”

“Sir, yes, sir!”

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