Celebrating Jayanthi is a part of official
traditions observed in the state of Karnataka. With due respect to visionaries,
missionaries, saints, sages and champions of social empowerment, we celebrate
the birth anniversaries of great men with honour and consider it as an occasion
to delve on the philosophies and contributions of great men. As part of discharge
of official duties when we observed the Jayanthi of a 16th century
social reformer very recently, the following incident happened.
The events for the day began from 0900
hours IST. There was a procession, participated by the students representing
various schools in the town. This was followed by a stage show to cast the
artists of the day. The show began. A respected dignitary, invited as a guest
for the occasion and seated on the dais pointed fingers to show a teacher (of
course, a lady teacher) who seemed to doze off sitting in the chair (down the
stage, monitoring the students) and remarked shamelessly in Kannada.. “looks like
this female has worked hard last night..”
Taken by shock, calmed by sense of duty and
controlled by self-discipline (I discover lately that there is some sense of discipline
and decorum left within me latently), I prevented myself from beating this
respectable dog on the dais. I wish SDMs under some section of Criminal
Procedure Code enjoyed the power to order the doctor present at the spot to cut
off tongues or castrate such dogs on the spot. Anything can happen in our
country. And let me record in black and white, hopelessly, if You are a woman, You are certainly a subject of embarrassment,
shame and violence.
Our country has innumerable dogs. Dogs are
dogs whatever position they occupy. And dogs of the Indian breed are Ugly,
Unfaithful and are of the worst order. Our great country is full of Dogs: dogs
who seek ex-girlfriend’s time after a year’s wedded life, facebooking parenthood on having a kid; to dogs who take gold biscuits for an act called marriage and preach on lofty ideals such as equality and justice; to dogs
who get bailed for committing rape; to dogs who are protected by dog-like dads;
to dogs who are assured of uncalled for wishes such as eliminating anyone to
protect a son who is a DOG..
Empowerment in our country is a mere joke..
