Is this NOT anti-feminist?

I was just following up on the elections online... and through a series of clicks (getting digressed on the Internet -- we've all done that!), ended up in this blog quoting the following "shloka"; the article was titled "Is this anti-feminist?" Well, I for one, do think it is... hence, the title for this blog...

Karyeshu dasi, Karaneshu manthri;
Roope cha Lakshmi, Kshamayaa dharitri;
Bhojyeshu mata, Shayaneshu rambha;
Shatkarma yukta, Kuladharma pathni.

A fairly veridical translation would be:

A good worker like a house-maid; a good adviser like a minister;
Beautiful like Goddess Lakshmi; Land of forgiveness;
A caretaker like a mother; Great in bed like Rambha;
One with all these six qualities makes an ideal wife.

Anybody who reads this, in this age and day, without a second thought, would say "WTF"... or any other equivalent expression! A good worker like a maid? Come on now... if you want a maid, go pay someone to do the work for you. Beautiful? What about the "not beautiful" ones? I did not want to use "less fortunate" here... Is beauty everything? All forgiving? yea, whatever the husband does, just forgive... Caretaker like a mother? Get a nurse, buddy... Great in bed? no comments there...

Wow... Come on now, if this is not male chauvinism... what is? If there was a very similar "shloka" for an ideal husband, maybe then I would not be so irked and so vociferous about my thoughts on this... Some people may raise objections, saying that the "shloka" does not actually mean to demean women, it should not be taken in the literal sense! Even if we go by the essence of the "shloka", I would still say that the "shloka" should have talked of "the other partner" in marriage than specifically the "wife". Whatever is expected of the wife, should be expected of the husband as well. This just speaks of the age-old male dominance still prevalent in our society... I get so worked up about these things sometimes that I could just rant on and on...

And I was appalled to read the comments on the blog! I really could not believe it. More than half of the comments were condoning the "shloka"... some even saying "The Sanskrit "shloka" holds for not only women of ancient society, but also to the modern women, because newly married couples are getting divorced within few days of married life." These words coming from the younger generation Indians... I was really shocked that we have so many people who still prefer to stay in the Utopian era. Though things are improving, people like this will just pull us back... not allowing us to move ahead.

I am not a feminist activist... I am more an "equal" rights person. I am not against the ancient Hindu philosophies. In fact, I am devout, God-believing Hindu. I am just saying we should have a sense of what is right and what is not... we should be more open. I am not one of the conservatives... I am a liberal, and proud of it! I do not go bashing up someone just because I do not agree with them. Everyone is free to his own opinion, as long as it does not harm others.

I believe that one should never force one's thoughts on a person, just because of one's convictions and pre-suppositions. Every person has the right to have his/her own views and opinions. "Equality", irrespective of sex, race, religion, language, region, sexuality... should be the aim and people should get over their prejudices and close-mindedness. OMG... do not even get me started on what's happening in Mumbai right now... uff... I guess I am going off in a tangent! Let me end this write-up with a small deliberation that keeps clawing into my mind... is India taking small baby steps forward slowly, while running giant steps backward?

Crash... a collision of "stereotypes"

It has been quite a while... a flurry of changes in life... a move to a new place, new job... I haven't had the volition to write for reasons unknown... or known, for that matter. Anyway, I had a chance to watch the movie "Crash" yesterday... an emotionally intense movie.

"It's the sense of touch. I think we miss that touch so much, that we crash into each other, just so we can feel something." These first few lines of the movie touch a chord, catch the attention, and form the core theme around which the plot is developed.

The movie continually emphasises the fact that things in life are not black and white... there are always shades of gray... each person is the sum total of each and every experience he has had in his life. The characters are just a representation of the different socio-economic segments of the society... each of them evolves as the movie progresses. Throughout the course of the movie, our impression of the characters keeps changing. The movie has several underlying themes - the way that we are all just "connected" with the people we interact with knowingly or unknowingly, though we may never get to know each other at a personal level; the fact that we are the victims of our own prejudices; the misconception among most of us that there is nothing beyond what we know; the hypocrisy when it comes to some of our own misconstrued beliefs, leading to insensitivity... each and every one of these aspects is well depicted, through the events in the lives of the characters within a span of 36 hours.

The beauty of the movie lies in the fact that it accentuates repeatedly on the reason or logic behind an action than the action itself. I personally feel that the movie is well-made... a lot of interpretation of the situations is left to the discretion of the viewer - I feel that this is one of the positive aspects of the movie. The movie could have been subtler, but I have a feeling that this crudeness serves the movie well. There are several situations where the movie actually has subtle messages well portrayed.

Also, I believe that racism was just a way of putting across the message to the viewers... we never know how a minute, miniscule action of ours could affect another person, we should "STOP" (subtly indicated by the several STOP signs shown through the course of the movie - one of the several instances of the ingenuity shown by the makers), think about the morality, logic and consequences of our actions and only then go ahead... we should get out of our pre-conceived notions, our sanctimoniousness, and try to open ourselves to the possibility of the existence of things alien to us, try to understand and co-exist with them despite the diverse perspectives...

Overall, you may eventually like the movie or not, but I can surely vouch that "Crash" is a must-watch for movie aficionados.