An article most foul

Monday mornings are always dreadful (save for the blissful bank holiday ones) and I epitomise Newton's laws for the better part of the day when the mind refuses to follow even the simplest of instructions and continues to be in the state of the suspended reality of the weekend - no emails to reply, no deadlines to meet (the washing can wait). Bliss. Utter bliss of keeping the commerce of the week day at bay. But on Monday mornings, as I chug along the train to begin the weekly commute, inertia takes over and its a struggle getting back into 'work-mode'.

Oh was an apple worth the curse for mankind having to work to earn a living !

But some Mondays are different. There's something abuzz in the air. Something tickling the grey cells and nudging them to consciousness earlier than usual. Today is one such Monday.

A friend stumbled across this article (http://asianage.com/archive%5Chtmlfiles%5C%5CDelhi%20Age/Murder%20most%20foul.html ) where the writer raised an alleged case of dog eating in the JNU campus and demanded stringent punishment for the arbitrator of the alleged crime. I was intrigued by the passion with which the writer voiced her disgust at the alleged crime and demanded punishment for student in question. Intrigued enough to be nudged out of my stupor earlier than usual.

While I have nothing against animal activists and in fact, admire people who feel passionate enough about a cause to devote time and attention to it, I am sometimes amazed how such passion imprisons one into a miopic vision where one sees nothing but the cause alone. The cause in its singularity.

The writer of this article sweeps a paint brush with the colours of ignorance and illiteracy across the entire North Eastern region of India citing the culture of eating dogs as an example of sub human existentialism prevailing in this country. Such biased thoughts are sadly not isolated among a few ignorant individuals but somewhat common in the rest of the country. The article reeks of prejudice and moral highground, somewhat misplaced by the writer's miopic vision for her chosen cause.

Let me assure people who think like her that the North East is not the land of bizzare customs and rituals. I mean, Shakti Kapoor shouts more 'Aaooo' than any member of the tribal societies in this region. Not everyone sits down to eat dogs at dinner time and when 'Hum Aapke Hain kaun' was screened in Nagaland, people were not looking greedily at the dog, but eating popcorns as in other parts of India. To put it simply, the people in North east are not ogres out of Shrek.

Mizoram, a state of North East India, has one of the highest literacy levels in the country. Meghalaya has a matrilineal society and while female infanticide is a malaise in the rest of India, it is a cause of celebration when a baby girl is born into the family.

If one writes in the national media about an incident and makes sweeping accusations for the people of one region, then it will probably be apt for the people from NE to write about the countless acts of savagery like female infanticide, dowry, caste discrimination, etc that malign the rest of India.

It is amusing how little is reported in the national press about the atrocities committed in this part of the country by the Indian Army, yet the act reported in the article gets the attention of national media. Wish these activists could also take up the causes of several girls from the NE being abused in the capital - afterall Darwin's theory of evolution proved our origins from animals and hence, we too fall under the remit of their cause. A bit convulated perhaps, but still if Ram Gopal Verma can justify the conclusion of Sarkar Raj, then I can also take some liberties.

As OK said in Om Shanti Om, 'Picture abhi baaki hai guru'....for the North East, at least !!



Watch this space !