Nerve Endings Firing Away

Earlier this week I posted an image of Lord Krishna sucking on a cow’s teat citing that I found the image weird (not offensive, mind you). The post generated lot of comments some of which found nothing wrong with the depiction. I understand their perception and thus lack of any feelings of being weirded out but that the same time we all agreed on that it can be a matter of perception and what seems as weird (or offensive) may not be so for the other. We all come from different backgrounds and have seen different things that color our perceptions but nothing is more important than giving the other perspective its due share while civilly advocating yours. After all, we do argue so as to change the other person’s perspective regardless of whether we succeed or not.

In this light, yet another seemingly controversial image [via Indianpad] seems to have irked the prudish sensibilities of the ranting Hindu right. I am not sure if they deserve to represent Hindus when in fact most of these protests emanate from culture shock of changing times. I am a Hindu and am actually quite proud of my religion’s open, tolerant, accepting culture and its willingness to adapt with the times. The issue – The Times of India published an advertisement called ‘Dating Sutra’ on its website promoting a commercial SMS service to facilitate dating. The images are reproduced below:

The protesting Hindu right group – Hindu Janjagruti Samiti – is apparently peeved by this depiction of Lord Krishna and claim that “Gopis are symbolic of boundless devotion”. They are also angry that Lord Krishna is used to promote dating that the group considers a “social vice” and defines it as “obscene behavior indulged by young girls and boys under the pretext of meeting each other”. Now I wholly support their right to protest and express their displeasure at their interpretation of the advertisement as long as they do not indulge in physical harm or destruction of property. I understand they need to raise funds to keep their Samiti running and any publicity even if it paints you as Luddites stuck in the dark ages helps.

However, I do not agree with their interpretation and certainly do not appreciate them claiming to represent “crores of Hindus”. Lord Krishna even in his depiction in our mythology was no saint and was known more for his pranks, devious and sly behavior than for any accomplishments on the battlefield. In fact, he is loved and worshipped often in that form for being natkat and maakhan chor (don’t we all love Govinda).

His interactions with the gopis were certainly not ‘devotional’ and in fact, he was one of the first ‘players’ that we can recall in Indian mythology. He was seen as a prankster who loved to torment them. Maybe they later turned devotional because he showed them something cool. Ram and Lakshman were too stuck-up and pious for their own good. These aren’t my insinuations but mere stating the way mythology depicts them.

Krishna certainly enjoyed his childhood and adolescent years much more than Ram and Lakshman ever did and he even seemed to enjoy it. Remember, he never ever in his later life regretted flirting abashedly with all the ‘gaaon ki gooris‘ and having umpteen wives. And we Hindus are fine with it and that doesn’t even diminish our love and devotion toward him. In fact, we worship him alongside a woman who never even was his wife. Even unrequited loved is worshiped. So why get hot and bothered if he chooses to do it with SMS and cell phones? He might just have done it if he lived in these times. We cheer our Bollywood heroes when they do the same in our movies so why deny our gods that pleasure.

Why I consider the Samiti’s protests more as a cultural shock than being offended on religious grounds is because the way they define dating. I am sure none of the people protesting have gone out on dates. In their minds, when boys and girls meet, they invariably end up having sex which by definition is ‘obscene behavior’. Or wait! Even holding hands by couples is defined as obscene these days. What’s next – protesting against ‘love marriage’ because it is an obscene way of getting married? I can think of responding to this insinuation in a way that they will understand best – tere baap ka kya jaa raha hai (your father what goes…heh). I will never end up using TOI’s ‘dating sutra’ service but that doesn’t stop the Times from exploiting our mythology for commercial gains. Heck, if we can do it for political gain, I say we can do it for anything.