I am all for precocity ... that only children display ... the time and degree of the display however, needs consideration.
Recently I thought to subject myself to the 'Kelwinator (that's written to be consonant with the failure to phonetically discriminate 'v' from 'w') GR8!' award ceremony. Here was an award ceremony for all the right reasons ... to felicitate Indian women who through their deeds were leaving an indelible mark on history. I too felicitate them. Kudos!
Many a moment was great!
That there is the will and wherewithal to even recognize such singular contributions and accomplishments was hands down commendable!
The Aviation Minister's assertion (not verbatim) that 'a number of high-powered women notwithstanding, Indian society had a long way to evolve to grant women an equal footing with men' (as does just about any other place on the planet) ... first steps first - such acknowledgement a pre-requisite for an evolutionary path ... the brutal truth of the ignominy of inequity abraded me worse than the fiercest summer sandstorm.
The inviting on stage of yet another non-entity (aka 'stars') to present the award could not detract from the genuine goodness of all those gorgeous (yes, without a trace of impeccable maquillage, slick coiffures, or blindingly glittering designer saris), inimitably courageous women who march on in the face of heartbreaking social ills.
Many a moment was on the continuum of the risible to the chafing!
I will never become accustomed to the sub-continental predilection for - what I characterize as - speaking Hindustani in English! There was plenty of that to be had. One must be necessarily tolerant of the peddler of 'beauty-ware' wearing the grotesque year-round Halloween Elvira look, sure to spook even the most unflinching ( I wouldn't want to run into Shahnaz Hussain in a dark alley). One tolerates too the alleged 'groundbreaking' example of the beauty queens - Sushmita Sen being lauded for her adopting of not one but two girls (de rigeur, I think, for someone with her enormous resources. Her jeans/shirt/vertiginously high-heels a fashion faux pas of horrific proportions, given the solemnity of the occasion). Had the committee but known of my young friend M. (I'm sure there are many, many, such equally deserving others) who on her meager teacher's salary, as a single mother, raises her adopted child and provides her with the best education and opportunities to broaden her horizons - even as they travel 3rd class on the Indian Railways (undaunted by the chastising by a well-heeled older brother that she can ill-afford to waste her money thus)! 'Mahi' asking of Shabana the significance of 'marriage' for a woman (without which, a woman must feel hopelessly incomplete and insignificant ... of course).
Many a moment grated!
There was one that stood out like an especially sore thumb. The result of an insatiable appetite for entertainment. No, I do not begrudge the guests their share of levity. The years of back breaking industry surely warrants that. So, bring on that popular music, those gyrating hips, those seemingly concupiscent dancers (made modest with body stockings to tone-down overt sensuality), the psychedelically colored costumes, the baring of male chests ... ad nauseum. But, here's where I plant my feet firmly down - the using of young children as entertainers at such award ceremonies. Veritable babes (there was one who had barely learned to distinguish her arms from her legs), dragged out well past their bed-times to dance to the lilting melodies and words that have 'adults only' stamped all over them. Tutored into swaying their young bodies in a manner that is vulgarity magnified 100 fold! I wonder if voices from amongst the awardees should have been heard in protest. Just like the time I heard Javed Jaafri on Boogie-Woogie speak out about the impropriety of children being subjected to dancing of this kind.
This sort of exploitation is only marginally better than TV programs shown in this country such as 'Toddlers and Tiaras' where mothers unashamedly tutor and encourage their female infants, toddlers, and pre-teens to flaunt their completely absent physical assets in the manner of the future beauty queens and starlets they will be!
In both cases, I fully sanction the reinstituting of spanking ... of the parents!
Seher Hone Ko Hai
CID
