Sri Rama Sen(e)ile vs. Mangalore

Suprising, shocking- Talibanisation of Mangalore – the media screamed from all rooftops. For someone who gets to know about the “news” as it breaks, this one got to me a little late but as most Mangaloreans I was outraged by the whole incident.

Just recently I was bragging about how Mangalore was slowly changing from when I was there and how Mangalore had the best hangouts etc. I spoke too soon!

But is this really a shocker to you all? We have a history of putting up with things, we let it grow to this.. We are to blame and some of us even sympathise with them; we did not say anything when they started to tell us what to wear in colleges and who it was appropriate to talk to, in the name of modesty and tradition they were forcing their Taliban regime on young minds. I was asked to let it go by friends and family. I felt betrayed then when I felt that no one cared enough they told me just do what they tell you to do, you go to college to study and not for a fashion show- I was just 16 then and it changed something in me. I felt smothered and I chose to run away, I was 16 I did not have what it took to fight the system. I knew such an atmosphere would not let me grow.

It has gone on for years and no one has cared to raise their voice against it. Many of you were sympathetic towards their cause and believed that the majority needed to be represented/ protected. There were kinds of theories in the air about how Muslim boys seduced young Hindu girls and eloped with them- so we were told don’t go to Saibeen, stay away from Muslims etc. we always sympathized with them! The so called protectors of culture and tradition!

Get my facts right you’ll say- well sure the Sri Ram Sene is a break away faction of the Bajrang Dal. But this is how it started we let them thrive and spread like a disease through our city. Shame on you Mangalore for not doing anything earlier!

Politicians at play

The BJP and the Congress are pointing fingers at each other and trying to gain political mileage from the incident. At this time what they need to do is stop grabbing the lime light from the actual cause! We want our Mangalore back! Arrest the culprits and make sure that something like this never happens again – the BJP and the Bajrang dal were quick to distance themselves from the whole issue. It’s a given that they are not from your party but they think on similar lines – just that intensity and the methods differ. You really need to re-think your hindutva and your take on tradition and culture. You seem to be upholding the very foreign values that you seem to want to protect your culture against this whole issue of a woman’s modesty and being fully covered up comes from what the mughals brought along. The purdah system if you may! It also has a very corseted Victorian tinge to it… our times and what you want to make of it, is similar and these are one of the things that the British left behind and you called it as your own. So is this really Indian culture that you are upholding?

And the congress do something more constructive than wondering how to gain political mileage out of this one- you have been in power too when all this was happening what did you do about it? Zilch! Do something better than bad mouthing the BJP, you have done squat in the many years that you have fucked our country royally. You dividing people on class lines are what’s lead to the other forces gaining power and exploiting the people who felt threatened by your vote bank politics.

No one gets to walk away from this – we demand action; squash these pseudo-culture protecting vermin once and for all.

The Media circus

This incident was ignored by the print media and was ushered into the spotlight only after the sensation hungry broadcast media saw some potential in it for higher TRPs. What ever the reasons behind it I am glad it got picked and I am glad people are angry.

But am compelled to question the footage of attack that I saw- how were the people who caught it on film aware of such an act transpiring? Were they informed about it? If so why did they not go to the Police first? What lengths can the media go for an exclusive? To all the people who say bravo to the people who caught it on film please consider this.

Us and them

All of us have condemned the violence against women. These kind of men who expect women to be “traditional” just want them to be dolls gift wrapped in saris, ones who are barefoot and pregnant and confined to the kitchen someone please sponsor a time machine for these men! The once who think beating up women is a tradition or a part of our culture – no time line would accept such vermin.

It could have been any of us, we could have been those girls!

The aftermath of these attacks will be that no girls will be allowed to frequent the pubs and discs in Mangalore. We will be scared and be forced into our shells, fearing another attack from the Sri Ram Sene. My advice to all women is – Please go to pubs and go on as business as usual; we can’t let them win. By being scared we will do exactly what they wanted – pubs will be male only and the women will be expected to sit pretty at home.

And if they do attack the pub that you are in let them have it – I know there is anger within all of you – use it right, use it in self defence. Break a glass bottle on their heads, pick up a chair and smash it into their spines! That is exactly what I will do if I come across them! Impractical as it may sound this is what I will do! I will not let this ruffians scare me! We will show them exactly how “traditional” we can get when they push us to such limits.

So are you again going to sit at home and say that this doesn’t really concern me? Or that staying out of trouble is the best option? Or that such issues and politics and the likes are for jerks? Then you probably deserve to put up with it – then don’t complain when these ruffians wreck havoc and hold your city to ransom.

It could have been any of us in that pub that day, we could have been those girls!

Its our Mangalore – lets get it back and lets show these vermin that they have no place in a town like ours!

(copy will be edited tomorrow and will be made more coherent)