Are we misogynists?

           

Are we a nation of misogynists? Every time I read news of a woman assaulted, a woman raped, a woman abused, a poor, famished domestic help subjected to harrowing torture by the मालकिन of the house (a case of same gender violence), acid thrown on some, a wife abused and smacked by her husband and in-laws and so on…this question haunts me. (This is not to say though that cases exactly opposite in nature where poor, trusting husbands are taken for a ride and are at the receiving end do not exist!) Leave aside Haryana’s notorious khap panchayats and honour killings in some of our northern states. This malignant virus of misogyny has spread even in our prestigious institutes of higher learning: Our well-known and esteemed Banaras Hindu University (BHU), for example. What a sorry spectacle it presented in the recent past. While the country was gearing up for the Durga ( a female diety, you must note) puja festivities, the BHU had turned into an ugly battle ground. Unable to bear it any more, the girl students had come out in the open to protest against unceasing acts of harassment, eve-teasing, abuse and what not by the male students. Most shocking was the sickening response of the administration and provocative, insensitive statements by the person of the eminence of a Vice-Chancellor of BHU. The police were no help to the hapless women students either. With misogyny running full and fast in their veins, they, as reports suggest, beat up and thrashed the protesters thereby adding fuel to the fire. Not just the famous BHU, most universities in our conservative north are known for gender discrimination, moral policing and the male predatory behaviour in all its ugly manifestations. There are hostel curfews, dress codes, no 'Wifi' facility, no library access after certain hours and so on. Indian daughters can’t dream even and aspire for an exciting new careers suited to their talent and aspirations because it is the exclusive preserve of ‘man’. There are several constraints: it is the elderly male in the family who will decide what career to choose; or the brother suffering from the same syndrome will put his foot down. Then there are fears of harassment, discrimination and exploitation and many other prickly thorns all along the road to making it to the top in our male-obsessed, male-dominant centres of learning.

                                             

    

Having said all this I must however hurry to say that we in Himachal are comparatively lucky. No doubt, the infamous, blood-chilling ‘गुड़िया murder case’ has been a blot on our peaceful state. Incidents of rape, domestic violence, wife-bullying and beating, and other kinds of torture and discrimination do happen and make us hold our heads in shame. In fact I am a sad witness to such  a case right near my own neighbourhood. But by and large, careerwise, the women students do enjoy relative freedom in opting ones of their own choosing. Most of our colleges and universities have an air of equality, mutual camaraderie and bonhomie. They have the freedom to dress as they like, mingle freely, rub shoulders with male students and participate in all events and activities with equal gusto and zeal. At a private university where I lecture a few days a week mainly for my love for teaching (with the additional benefit of students' youthful exuberance that rubs on me!), my heart leaps with joy to find this very kind of a happy, healthy ambience prevailing at the campus. Perhaps that’s the reason that on the educational front  at least, our Himachal is way ahead of some of our neighbouring states writhing under the vice-like grasp of obscurantists, religious zealots, bigots and the illiterate, obstinate, hookah-smoking, turbaned khap men refusing to shed their supermale egos  wrapped in thick folds of medieval, stone-age mind sets.

                                                    

   

                                                               

Well, I don’t want to sound too preachy with a long boring lecture on ‘misogyny in India’.  I only deeply desire my country to let its daughters breathe the free air, move with pride and dignity, dream their dreams and become equal participants in our country’s march towards progress and prosperity. When women in our rich past – recall the bold, vibrant and free-spirited women characters in our great epic the Mahabharat – could bask in the sunshine of equality and freedom, why not our  21^st century भारतीय नारी ??

                                                     

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