Sometimes I wonder whether ‘God created Man or Man created God’. I guess both are true, but the second one always overpowers and makes the rules of the society.
One such example is the recent incident in Bangalore, where a 21-year old Australian, Matthew Gordon, was threatened in public for his tattoo of a Hindu goddess, on his feet. Matthew and his girlfriend, Emily, were surrounded and harassed by the mob in a local restaurant. He was threatened that his leg will be ‘skinned’ for the display of the face of Goddess Yellamma on his shin. They were really angry on his audacious act and made him ‘pay for it’. A BJP leader, Ramesh Yadav was also seen supporting the crowd. Matthew was taken to the police station, detained for hours and made to write an apology letter, which was published in the newspaper.
Well, this incident has many shades. In a democracy like India, people are free to pounce on others, a nation, which is unable to stop injustice to women, a country, who is still suffering from the foul play of communism, where few people benefits, and a society, which is still lingering in the darkness of prejudices. We are more concerned about who and where people are making tattoos rather than correcting things in our own society. Our sentiments are so driven by religion and customs, that we have become so intolerant about someone else’s personal space.
Where I choose to do tattoos on my body is my free will? There is something called bodily rights. Actually, I guess the problem was the fact, that it was visible to the culturally-sensitive bystanders and that too in a country like India, where our entire life is guided by religion, rituals and blind customs.
It is good to be bound by principles of good and bad, but threatening to skin someone just because they have made a tattoo of a symbol they idolize is not quite acceptable and a sign of intolerance. The local MLA joining the crowd to harass tourists isn’t that pleasant either. He could have managed/controlled the situation in a different way.
A society, which kicks a wife, is more concerned about a female Goddess image on the feet. A place, where women are stripped in front of their family, is objecting to display of an image on the skin, a nation, where a little girl is worshipped as a Goddess is not safe for a 2-year old, who is raped and goes without a justice. We, make an immortal woman, a God, a symbol of power and prosperity, but the a mortal woman is shamed, blamed and denied justice.
Well, this is just one side of the story, where we give a religious stamp to a hypocritical mindset. So, you need to understand the situation from a different angle too. In a culturally-strong and religion-based society like ours, you have to really careful about what you do, what you say, what you wear and others. So, foreign tourists need to understand that they can’t just do things, like they do on their land. They have to be Romans, while in Rome. They need to understand that they can hurt the sentiments of God-fearing, staunch religious mentalities, who can ‘kill’ for their beliefs. They need to understand that nobody will protect them (even the law), when it comes to religion.
Just a lingering thought in my mind in the end,
When will we understand that flesh and bones are more important than brick and mortar?
And, when will the world outside understand the implications of being a ‘tourist’ in India?
Both have come a long way, but both still have to go a long way! God knows what to make out of this.
