Still I Rise!!!

“Still I Rise
You may write me down in historyWith your bitter, twisted lies,You may trod me in the very dirtDid you want to see me broken?Bowed head and lowered eyes?Shoulders falling down like teardrops.Weakened by my soulful cries….”
These are excerpts from the poem ‘still I rise’ by black poet Maya Angelou it is an open question targeted at men of all times, places , cultures and religions asking them as to what it is that forces them to hold so deep rooted stereotypes, that they see women inferior to all living and nonliving species. The poem holds true to our Indian society which very recently witnessed gory crime against a group of liberal women in a pub in Mangalore. The perpetuators were not perpetuators you see, they were moral police defending the culture of a complex and rich society which they thought was getting corroborated because some women with liberal thought were spending time with their friends. The perpetuators, oops! Sorry the moral soldiers targeted (no, the word molested cannot be used as it is against our moral, cultural and traditional values) these women on various grounds.
One, they were in a pub; two, they were in a pub at late night; three, they were in a pub at late night wearing clothes that indicated their sexual liberty; four, if all this was not enough they were in a pub at late night wearing provocative clothes with some men. Was all this not enough to agitate a group of people who were surging with ethnocentrism? Well, the so called custodians don’t realize that what they see now or get scared away by are mere modifications and mutations of practices those were prevalent in India even during ancient times and were very much a part of the rich culture we boast of. Did women in ancient India not involve in social drinking that enjoyed social sanctions? And this social drinking occurred on all festivals involving everybody in a community and at late hours. In the very state of Karnataka where the demonstrations occurred, the whole community during the 13th century consumed liquor made of jaggery and worshipped goddess Durga throughout day and night. Now if that has taken a different face in the 21st century, the objective still remains the same, being close to people who matter to you. Now where the issue of women being immoral does comes in? Nowhere, it is just an excuse on the part of fake moral police to exercise their aggression on women because their ‘sassiness upsets them”. Talking about dressing in a revealing manner, take these protagonists (or antagonist, whatever!) to the remotest villages of contemporary India (forget ancient India), where tribal women still live in nudity or semi nudity, not because they want to seduce but because it is a part of their indigenous culture. Ok now that certain Hindutva support groups have this compulsive obsession with traditional roots and values. They have to take this.The Sakas, a Hindu sect of India, have transmitted their traditions of nudity to modem India through the thousands of explicit sculptures that remain on the walls of the city of Khajuraho. Built about 1000 A.D., this temple at Khajuraho communicates its values to the modem visitor with a directness that leaves nothing to the imagination. "Tens of thousands of human and animal figures dance happily over and around the facade of these buildings.... Kings and commoners are depicted in joyous sexual union, completely naked except for beads, bangles, and decoration.
So who all are the new targets of, Oh Holy!! , Oh Pios! Ram Sena, Shiv Sena, Bajrang Dal, will you demolish Ajanta and Ellora as Taliban did to Bamiyan Buddhas?

Even the fanatic Muslim fundamentalists are not free of allegations. Where does in the Holy Quran it is said that the women’s body or women on the whole are so impure , corrupt, and depraved that blessed benedictions will shower from heaven if you throw atrocities on them? Even Christianity is not untouched by the labeling, certain excerpts from the Bible are perfect examples of how women, who dared to think and raise her voice was labeled harlots and it’s Papal (referring to the Pope) version in the dark ages was the Malfecus Malfecarum, which was a handbook to identify liberal women as witches!

The illusion of absolute power is pretty exhilarating and is a serious turn-on, right guys?
The truth is that the reasons the perpetrators give are not reasons they are just excuses to subdue women and keep them locked in the bridal chambers. The motive behind putting up this write-up is not to initiate community mobilization as expected of prospective social workers, but to get rid of these notions in our own mind and modify our own attitude before we talk of ‘social work intervention’.
“….Does my haughtiness offend you?Don't you take it awful hard'Does my sassiness upset you?Why are you beset with gloom?Cause I laugh like I've got gold minesDiggin' in my own back yard.
You may kill me with your hatefulness,But still, like air, I'll rise…….”