Flash pictures of used sanitary napkins - an upcoming protest in Kerala?

Our society is in a stage of transition. Influenced by our own heritage, and also by that of the West, we are being continuously churned. This period is very crucial, for what we adopt is going to stick on for a long time.

It is keeping this in the background that I view the recent forms of protest in Kerala. It was only a month back that the Kerala society, which is usually slow to adopt to changes, witnessed a totally radical way of protest. To oppose the monster of moral policing, a group of youth decided to take to public kissing. Kissing in public per se is something that will raise eyebrows of many Indians, not to say of the conservative Keralites. It was in such a society that this group of youth, either in the quick and less thought decision that they took or influenced too much by Westernization, or with some other intention, gave a call for public kissing.

My views on Kiss of Love can be read here. (1) (2)

When the Malayali society was debating Kiss of Love, people who had favoured it did talk about the pink chaddi protest of 2009 wherein pink colour under-wears were decided to be sent to the extreme right-wing members who protested the celebration of Valentine's Day.

When pink chaddi happened, its supporters praised it as "novel," and when the Kiss of Love happened its supporters said that it was a fitting reply to the extremist ideologues. A gentle alarm that quite a few had voiced - that the society, the youth in particular, would be misled - went unheeded.

Not a month has passed and those who had warned the society have been proven correct.

Weeks back, in a factory in the Cochin Special Economic Zone, women staff were strip searched to find as to who among them was mensturating because the management had found a used sanitary napkin in the toilet. Though the veracity of the claim made by the women that they were strip searched is yet to be proven, the act, if done, is beyond doubt reprehensible.

There was also an incident were a lady was forcibly asked by the conductor and driver to get off a KSRTC bus which was going to Pamba as it was booked by swamis going to Shabarimala. This act too needs to be condemned and those found guilty should be punished.

To protest against these two incidents, a lady currently in Kerala government service and formerly a television journalist with a Malayalam news channel has put a picture of a used sanitary napkin as her profile picture on Facebook. Her intention: "to show what reality was!"

(The name of the lady has been removed from the screenshot)

Journalists do influence the thoughts of common man. More so if they are television journalists. This lady, by keeping such an obscene picture that too to register her protest, has breached even the farthest boundaries of propriety and decency. It is disgusting that such lowly means of protest is adopted by the educated and the responsible. It is hoped that this nasty act does not get replicated by others who also wish to protest.

Meanwhile, I will not be surprised if a group of people would raise their voice in support of this lady's act.

This is just a reminder to what is in store for the Malayali. An unintentional crushing of the social fabric is happening. The earlier we realize it and act, the better.

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Ms. Kavita Krishnan, you owe an unconditional apology to Baba Ramdev and your followers

Ms. Kavita Krishnan, polit bureau member of the CPI(ML), and also the editor of Liberation, is a known face. She voices her strong opinion, especially about women's rights, in television debates and on Twitter. 

On Sunday she committed an error, an error for which she owes an unconditional apology. She tweeted saying that Baba Ramdev was offering "medicine" for "sexy breasts," and shared a link to substantiate her claim. 

In her subsequent tweet, wherein Baba Ramdev was tagged again, she said that small breasts on women weren't a disease and that the website's claim that women wanting people to look at their breasts was "odiously sexist." 

(Thanks to Politwoops for their deleted tweets service.)

What she said was perfectly fine, except for the fact that the link was not of Baba Ramdev's medicines at all! And, therefore, her whole statement criticizing him fell flat. The criticism was made on the basis of mistaken fact.  

Though the website read "Swami Baba Ramdev Medicines" it was not his. It had a disclaimer at the bottom: "This website (Swamibabaramdevmedicines.com) is not official website of Swami Ramdev Ji , Divya pharmacy or Patanjali Ayurved Ltd. swamibabaramdevmedicines.com is a Free Information website."

But, who doesn't commit such mistakes? You and I do; everyone does. What can, and should, be done is to take full responsibility for the mistake, and offer an unconditional apology. 

Instead, Ms. Kavita has conveniently deleted both her tweets, and is continuing to tweet on other issues. My tweet to her asking if she had deleted her tweets went unanswered. She is often seen taking a moral high ground and asking others to apologize for their mistakes. Why does she come down from that height at this instance? Thousands might have read her tweet, and based on that formed, or changed, their opinion on Baba Ramdev. It becomes her duty to amend that by tweeting the fact. 

Ms. Kavita, you may please apologize to Baba Ramdev. If you do not possess that much courage, at least tweet saying that you committed an error and that you have deleted the tweets so that more people are not misguided. If you don't, you are only reducing your stature. I sincerely hope that you will make amends for your mistake. 

Update - After reading this, Ms. Kavita Krishnan took time out of her schedule to block me on Twitter. Wish she had used that time to tweet a small, but significant, apology to Baba Ramdev and her followers. I had sincerely expected her to do so.

The thoughts of Mr. Justice Krishna Iyer shall continue to lead us

Among the deities that were kept in his prayer area, were two books. One was the Bhagavat Gita. And the other was the Constitution of India, to which he gave life as a judge and jurist. As I saw this in his home on December 5, a day after he had left us, I could not help but weep.

It was only about a year back when I started gaining interest in law that I came to hear about Mr. Justice V.R. Krishna Iyer. Though I have still not read even a single judgement delivered by him sitting on the benches of the Honourable High Court of Kerala and the Honourable Supreme Court of India, I could gather from the bits and pieces of writings of his own and on him by others, the man that he was.

Even with a very limited knowledge of him and his works I felt deeply hurt by the loss that his demise had brought to us. I can well imagine what others who knew him closely would have felt upon hearing the news.

It was three days before the day the end happened that I came to know that he was admitted in the hospital and that he was in a critical condition. The Mrityunjaya Mantra, according to the Hindu religion, is recited either for the sufferer to win over the death or, for the God of death, Yemen, to win over the sufferer so that the latter is saved from much pain and sufferings.

I did not know for which of these should I pray in the case of Mr. Justice Iyer. He was really old, a heart patient, and was already, on the hospital bed, undergoing a lot more than what a person of his age could. Without knowing what to pray, I just kept reciting the mantra daily morning and evening.

As late as December 3, a day before he left us, I had asked my friend in Kochi to inquire about Mr. Justice Iyer's health and tell me about it. As I expected his reply about the health condition, I got his message saying that the legend was no more.

I had very much wanted to meet him to get some first hand information about Kamarajar (1903-1975), with whom, though belonging to different political parties, he had been an MLA of the then Madras Assembly in 1952. About Kamarajar, Mr. Justice Iyer had written in his autobiography that he was a 'common man with an uncommon common sense.' I had thought that I will complete the book and in the end go to him to get his views about few events. My wish to meet him will now remain just a wish, forever.

I got the message of his demise while I was in my college in Madras. Soon after the class was over I telephoned my boss and told her that I would want a day's leave to visit Kochi to attend his funeral. She agreed and I set off to Kochi by the night's train.

The city of Kochi did not wear a dreaded look but, I could find quite a few ordinary people on the roads expressing condolence by having his photograph pinned on their pockets along with a black piece of cloth. Even an auto rickshaw union had put up a poster expressing sorrow at the great loss. I was deeply moved when I saw that poster. I have not known of any person, at least in my lifetime, upon whose death sorrow was expressed by as high a person as the President of India and, comparatively, as humble an organization as an ordinary auto rickshaw union. This perhaps best explained the phenomenon that Mr. Justice Iyer was.

From the railway station I straight away went to his home. What I witnessed there moved me even further. Though I was on leave from work that day, I felt that I should write what I witnessed there. A friend of mine told me that I was "lucky" to have been able to pay my tribute to Mr. Justice Iyer on that day. Understanding that I really was lucky to have at least been able to be there for his funeral, I wanted other people to know what it was at his home on that day.  

Following is what I had written for The News Minute.

On Friday, from afternoon, people from all walks of life walked into a small compound located on the famous Mahatma Gandhi Road (M.G. Road) in the Ernakulam district of Kerala.

A black flag and a board that read "Satgamaya" welcomed the people to the home of Mr. Justice V.R. Krishna Iyer, 100, whose soul ascended to heaven on Thursday afternoon.

From Kerala cabinet ministers, High Court judges, senior officials of the state government, to representatives of various social and religious organizations, and the common man, all waited under one shamiana (roof), perhaps representing the maxim of equality before law, in pin-drop silence, to pay their tribute and last respects to the doyen of jurisprudence of our country.

As one steps into the modest, mosaic-tiled house where he had been living for over twenty years, one sees a number of his portraits gifted to him on his 100th birthday.

The week-long celebration of his 100th birthday saw many people re-establish their old connections with Mr. Iyer. This is evident from the many portraits that hung in the hall.

Towards the left is a small room to which a library is attached. A large portrait of his wife, Sharada, hangs on one wall. The wall opposite to it has portraits of the young Krishna Iyer, as a cabinet minister of Kerala, in the first democratically elected Communist government in the world in 1957, with the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.

The library consists of books ranging from spirituality to nuclear science. The wide range of subject matters on which he read stands testimony to the erudition of the administrator, jurist and humanist that he was.

The next room is even more fascinating. Apart from a larger portrait of his wife and many other portraits, in a corner, facing the East, is the prayer area. A garlanded portrait of his wife is in the centre surrounded by portraits of many Gods. Just in front, on a small table, is a lighted lamp in the middle of two books. One the Bhagvat Gita and other, the Constitution of India, to which he gave life as a judge of the High Court of Kerala and later of the Supreme Court of India.

Other rooms have a lot more portraits of the great man with other great men like the former President Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, Mata Amritanandamayi and His Holiness The Dalai Lama.

Among the large group of women and men who had assembled in Satgamaya was, from Dharmashala, Tenzin and his colleagues of the "Friends of Tibet".

"Mr. Iyer was a great proponent of the Tibetian cause and was an amazing friend of His Holiness The Dalai Lama. We have come to pay our last respects to him," Tenzin said.

As the ambulance that carried his body entered the compound, all rose with their hands crossed. Sooner was the body placed on an elevated platform, one-by-one all the people present paid their last respects and walked away in silence.

He was cremated at the Ravipuram crematorium on Friday at 6.30 p.m. Though his mortal remains would leave us, his thoughts, which he has written as books that amount to more than that of his age, will continue to guide and inspire his countrymen.

The greatest tribute that can be given to Mr. Justice V.R. Krishna Iyer, in general, will of course consist in studying what he had preached and practicing it in our own lives. In particular, it should consist in making all out efforts to render justice to the have-nots, a task which he was engaged in until his last breath.

Let us walk in the path that he laid, let us make his soul rest in content.   

Jai Hind!