Saskia Karsenboom, Devesh Soneji, Harikrishnan

Saskia Karsenboom, Devesh Soneji, Harikrishnan are the new policemen for the classical dance world. They tell you what we should like and dislike and they want to glorify the crime of dedicating young girls to temples and also the bhoga mela members. It is fine, guys if only it was out of choice of the girl. Did she have any say in what she was doing? What about her human rights? The upper caste men of the medieval ages made a cosy arrangement for themselves. They married their cousins when they were very young, had several kids by the time the girl was 16 and then they needed entertainment and sex. So they got the temple to supply to them girls who had been married to God and trained in the fine arts. They could be entertained with the finest music and dance and bodily pleasure and since the girls were wedded to the God, had no responsibility towards the children produced by this association. The children went in their mother's name and made do with whatever the father had gifted their mother. Dr.Muthulakshmi Reddy fought this system and got the Devadasi system outlawed. Then the dance was available to the wide world to interpret it and dance it without having to surrender rights of wifehood, motherhood etc.
Balasaraswathi, the crowning glory of the Devadasi line which claimed descent from the Rajarajeswaram of Tanjavur, had the advantage of belonging to a lineage, the revival scene and the Madras Music Academy to back her up. She never was a Devadasi. She was not married to a God and work in a temple. Bob Brown, a great lover of her dance, took her and her brothers to the US where she impacted hugely, the academia while Rukmini Devi Arundale, coming into the dance through the International route, impacted hugely, the practitioners here. The academia in North America finds fault with the nationalist movement, the dance revival, the use of Nataraja on the stage and they question the urban Indian dancer's right to dance and her identity. All of them are not native born to the Balasaraswathi tradition but claim to be the keepers of the tradition. I have not heard and seen such a paradox ever in my life. They dont like the Nataraja figure, they dont like English education, urban girls learning dance (they themselves are very urban and international). The British should not have ruled us, the education system should not have been there, Muthulakshmi Reddy's father should have just kept her mother (like many of his generation had done very respectably and not married her making her give the same rights her paternal cousins had to her maternal cousins) Then the North American academia would have been happy perhaps.

So Sir Devesh, Hari, Saskia madam, shall we revive the system of dedicating young girls to temples, create bhoga melas, bar women of upper caste view these and limit the dance to them? Why then not revive the sati system, child marriage, multiple marriages, untouchability etc also?

Jaswant Singh's book

I just went and bought Jaswant Singh's book on Jinnah. I would probably have ignored it or read it later if the BJP had not expelled him or banned the book. Every ban and controversy only helps a book. There are always many sides to a story. Several angles keep propping up every now and then and truth keeps getting revealed. truth, Gandhi said is dynamic so he never stuck to the same view after he got more information. Sometimes he went back to his earlier position on an issue after examining it in several positions sometimes changed his opinion. He always said take my latest comment as the currently held, it may change later when examined in a better light. So BJP is only helping Jaswant Singh. He must be laughing inside as he laments outside. They are only helping to keep him and his book in the news. He should be thanking the BJP for expelling him and banning the book.

why are we so sensistive?

So now it is Shah Rukh Khan. Why cant we let people do their job and not scream from the roof tops that our egos are hurt when our heroes are searched or questioned in airports? Even Edward Kennedy was not recognised and he was searched. I came home after working with 200 children and with throat sore and switched on the tv for some news. Every Indian news channel had Shah Rukh Khan live talking about why they did not take his thumb print, why they did not do retina photo etc. While he was saying he did not mind being asked questions, a young reporter kept asking him how he felt being detained for one hour when the whole country was celebrating independence day! I am sure she has never asked how some girls are holed up in Kamathipura with no freedom of movement, how there is bonded labour in the country she is hurt that Shah Rukh Khan was denied freedom for one hour!!! she is bonded and has no freedom of intelligence poor girl! Go get some education girl. There was another who asked Salman Khan that he had said he was Kaminey in a film and to explain himself. She kept saying apne kaha.. It was a dialogue that he was made to speak girl. grow up. All it takes for the underworld is to make a film like Munnabhai for its own to be treated like the Mahatma. How sold we are to films as a nation. This is what shames me not airport searches and questionings.

temple entry

As a self respecting Hindu, I feel hurt seeing the sign "Non Hindus not allowed beyond this point" in Hindu temples. Why and where did we get this non Hindus not allowed idea? My feeling is that it came from a British HR and CE officer who wanted to prevent neo converts to Christianity from going back to temples. Why why would we not allow Christians and Muslims into our temples? In Madurai for conference, I went to the Meenakshi temple with a bunch of college students who were volunteering at the conference. They all came up to the sanctum, took the sacred ash etc and gave me their names as we sat down for dinner at a restaurant later. Michael, John, George, Charles! They told me they have been visiting the temple since their childhood and have had no problems. They are devout Christians who attend Church every Sunday. They say only foreigners are prevented and purification done if a known Indian Christian has entered. Meera Jasmin, the Malayali actor had to pay a fine of Rs.10,000 for having entered a temple. Her problem was not being born a Christian but being a recognisable face. If a person wants to enter a temple, there is a purpose to it. Not all Hindus go into the temple to worship. If I can go into a temple so should Meera Jasmine. I have taken some foreigners into temples. These are people who study theology and why cant they enter the temple? Since in any case purification is performed when a celebrity non Hindu has entered a temple (when scores have been entering without the knowledge of others), entry should be opened and once a year major purification can be done for the satisfaction of purists (sic). My friend who is a major donor to a major temple is welcomed into the sanctum each time he goes there. Technically, he should not be allowed. He is a Jain and not a Hindu. If a Jain and Budhdhist can be allowed in, why can we not allow others? I have visited Churches in different parts of the world and Dargas. I have not become a less Hindu nor have the places been polluted by my presence.

National pride

I am still getting circulated mail that NRIs are very hurt that former president Dr.Kalam was frisked by the Continental airlines security. Why? that an airline staff did their job? that too three months after the incidence? If Dr.Kalam had taken offence, he could have easily walked out and into an Air India counter. We are not angry that a woman walking with her husband in Mumbai after a new year party was molested and the arrested molesters were released because they belonged to a political party. We are not angry that girls sitting in a bar in broad day light which was perfectly legal thing to do were beaten up. But we are ashamed that Dr.Kalam was frisked and he did not mind. Many who have forwarded these mails asking for a ban on continental airlines are waiting for their green card or applied for citizenship in the US! and their pride is hurt that a former Indian president was a gentleman!

marriage

Why is the woman the lesser in a marriage? She has to make all sacrifices. Particularly at a wedding it is the girl's family that has to make all arrangements, be on their toes to please the groom's people, take criticism with a cringing smile. Yet it is they who are losing a girl. The boy's family not just gets the girl but also a life long servant maid, a nurse, a cook, a sexual partner for their son and the mother of their dynasty. Why? Why? should the girl's family be subservient to the boy's family. A girl, working as a servant maid in a house, got married recently. The boy's family demanded a motor cycle, TV, fridge and 5 sovereigns of gold along with the girl. The girl's family moved heaven and earth trying to get all these. I am so angry that the girl did not put her foot down and say I dont need this marriage. Why cant the girls ask the man to go to hell? Is marriage so necessary?