Kiss of Love is nothing but a cheap publicity stunt

The event "Kiss of Love" that is scheduled to be organized in Kochi on November 2 is nothing but a publicity stunt. All that the organizers want is attention.

If their protest is, as they claim, against moral policing, they could have thought of enough and more ways to register their protest. Novel ways other than kissing in public do exist and can be put to use.

The fact is that had they thought of some means of protest of that sort; a human chain along the beach or a candle light march for instance, they would not have got the kind of response that they now have got on their Facebook page.  

I have seen the interviews the organizer Mr Rahul has given to different organizations. It is clear from the interviews that he has no concrete justification for the simple question as to why he has chosen public group kissing as a means of protest. The only answer he has is that he is against moral policing. Probing him further is of no use as he repeats the same answer again and again.

One needs to remember that the immediate cause for this proposed protest was the destruction of a cafe in Calicut by the members of Yuva Morcha who acted as moral police. The fact that the protest venue has been conveniently shifted to Kochi itself speaks a lot about their real intention. They know that an event like this will garner more support in Kochi than Calicut.

This is a symbolic protest anyway; then why not give more impetus to the symbolism by protesting in Calicut itslef? After all, Calicut too has a wonderful beach!

The name of the event and its logo is so designed that it catches the attention of people, precisely what the the organizers want. The words "Moral Policing" is conspicuously absent in their logos. This fact only shows how serious the organizers are about the issue that they claim they are protesting against. Their issue, it therefore seems, is not being allowed to kiss in public, and nothing else.  

The organizers remain totally blind and puzzled when they are asked about any untoward incident that may happen on that day. They are not prepared to take any responsibility. The organizer Mr Rahul in an interview made his mind clear when he said that it was upto the police to see that nothing of that sort happened. He, however, forgets that it is the same police and few other officials of the state who have warned them about the very much probable and dire incidents that their "protest" can invite.

The organizers of "Kiss of Love" are simply not bothered. All they are bothered about is to ascertain their right to kiss in public. May God save this bunch of misguided youth.

Some in Kerala feel that kissing in public will keep moral policing at bay

A cafe in Kozhikode named Downtown was vandalized few days back by a group of Yuva Morcha members. The attack was after Jai Hind TV, a Malayalam news channel reported that there were immoral activities, including drugs, going on inside the cafe. The video footage had showed a couple kissing.

The owner, though shocked upon hearing the allegations, re-opened the cafe the same evening. Many showed their support to the cafe owner by visiting the place. Few influential people, including those from the cine industry, had posted messages in social networking websites condemning the attack and supporting the cafe. 

I am in full support of those who condemned the attack. The members of the Yuva Morcha who are involved in the attack need to be brought to book. Violence can never be justified. 

But, taking this as an opportunity, in the garb of showing their protest against moral policing, a group of individuals have come together. This group plans to organize an event called the "Kiss of Love" in the city of Cochin in Kerala. 

The event managers have invited people to be at Marine Drive on 2 November evening with their "spouse or lover." People have been asked to publicly hug and kiss their partners. This is to defy the organizations that indulge in moral policing, the organizers say. 

They have made a Facebook page "Kiss Of Love" and an event inviting people. At the time of writing, the page had been liked by 3,521 people and 1,700 people had accepted to take part in the event.   

"Kiss of Love," the organizers say is an event be to defy moral policing. "We cannot stand moral policing any more; let us put an end to it. There is a limit to everything. Our society should be free from all this evil," the event co-ordinator said. 

Can people get more stupid? To defy and try putting an end to moral policing this group of people have, of all things, this as a solution? Ridiculous! And they call themselves "Right Thinkers!" 

They are soliciting people to publicly engage in an act that is usually done in private. Tomorrow if an incident of moral policing occurs again what will they suggest? 

True, India is a country where people have vast freedom. But, the "right thinkers" like these should not exploit it.

The same people who had condemned the cafe attack and inspired people to go to the cafe should put some sense into these right thinkers' heads and ask them to withdraw this event.       

Hon'ble Prime Minister of India erred, sidelined ethics

The connection between one of India's largest business group owned by the Ambanis and the Hon'ble Prime Minister of India needs no elucidation.

Such intimate connection between politicians and big businessmen will always be questioned. The extent to which a politician can be close to a businessman may be best decided by a politician himself. 

Today, Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi was in Mumbai to inaugurate the Sir H.N. Reliance Foundation Hospital and Research Centre. Only selected news organizations were permitted to cover the event. News channel CNN IBN, of which Reliance owns majority stake, was present. 

The channel telecast the full event live. According to me, and according to few people whom I spoke to, it was unethical on the part of the news channel to do this. 

However, what is depressing and even more unethical is the fact that Mrs. Nita Ambani's speech was tweeted live by the official Twitter handle of the Prime Minister of India. 

Mrs. Nita Ambani is a private individual and her speech was not required to be tweeted at all. If she had to say something that was important for the world to know, given that the official Twitter handle of the PM of India is followed by politicians of numerous countries and various international organizations, a single tweet could have still been justifiable. Instead, the fact is that there were seven tweets mentioning what she had said. And the content of it - did it have anything worth to be tweeted by the official Twitter handle of the Prime Minister of India? No, it did not.

Here are few of the tweets by PMOIndia.

In a short time you have launched a number of impactful initiatives that have a deep connect with healthcare: Mrs. Nita Ambani to PM
— PMO India (@PMOIndia) October 25, 2014

We are witnessing a new India under your visionary leadership. You have captured imagination of billions across the world: Mrs. Nita Ambani
— PMO India (@PMOIndia) October 25, 2014

But, the Prime Minister and Mrs. Ambani are friends, right? Friends can do such things, can't they? Of course, they can. But, here is the more depressing issue. If the Prime Minister felt that his friend's speech was to be tweeted live, it could have been done through his personal Twitter handle. The fact is that his personal Twitter handle (@narendramodi) has 7.34 million followers, way more than the Prime Minister's official handle (@PMOIndia) which has only 3.14 million. 

It seems to me that the intention, therefore, was not to make what Mrs. Ambani said reach more number of people but, perhaps, was to give an "official" recognition to a close and a needy friend.  

I hold this act by the Prime Minister completely unethical. Just because one has money and (s)he is your friend, what they have to say cannot find place in the Prime Minister of India's official tweets.

But, alas, who am I? Just an ordinary Indian citizen, neither moneyed nor influential. All that I can do is to express my displeasure, nothing more, nothing less. 

P.S.: For the unethical conduct of the news channel, I vow to not watch CNN IBN hence.

Added later - He is what a senior colleague of mine had to say about the issue.
"All said and done one needs to understand that neither Nita Ambani nor Mukesh Ambani are on Twitter and by live tweeting Nita Ambani's vision the PM of India seems to have become their voice on Twitter."

My letter to Shri Narendra Modi on the issue of Shri Bimal Nepal's photograph

The Honourable Prime Minister of India

October 24, 2014

Subject: Request to issue clarification and/or apology - Mr Bimal Nepal

My dear Modiji,

It was real pleasure to see the entire nation united and happy on the day of Diwali over your decision to spend the auspicious day with our dear soldiers at Siachen. Your gesture was appreciated by almost all political parties and most political observers. I take this opportunity to firstly thank you for your generous decision.

Whilst you made the nation proud on the day of Diwali, some of your followers were bringing shame to our country by abusing and trolling an award-wining photographer on Facebook. I am not sure whether you have been apprised about the issue because it is of comparatively lesser or of no significance at all to be brought to the knowledge a Prime Minister of a country. But, as a Prime Minister who likes to hear from his people and, as one who cares even about small and minute issues, I think this must be brought to your notice.

Mr Bimal Nepal is a Nepal-born US-based award-wining photographer who, in his Facebook page on October 21, the day of Dhanteras, claimed that the photograph that your Facebook page used for greeting the people was his, and that it was used without his permission.

He claims that all of his photographs are protected by US copyright laws. For the moment, let us keep the legality aside. For a photographer's work to be shared by the Prime Minister of a country like ours is in itself a great honour. But, one cannot use this as a shield to deflect the issue of not taking his permission. It is basic courtesy that one takes prior permission or give due credit to the creator of the art before using it. Just like how we respect the brave soldiers we must also respect artists and their contribution to the society.

This may be a trivial issue for many but now that he has raised the concern, your Facebook page managers are duty bound to issue a clarification, sir. The mistake, yes it is a mistake, that they committed is a small one. But however small the mistake on ones part is, an apology and/or adequate correction only makes us great.

You are from the land of Gujarat which produced greats like Mahatma Gandhiji, Sardar Patel and Morarjibhai Desai. All the three had kept ethics above everything in their lives. I am sure you will be able to understand.

I truly trust that you will ask your Facebook page managers to do the needful. A small positive gesture from your side will instil a lot of confidence in the people of Nepal, America and here in India. In today's world where ethics is taking backstage, a word from you will be seen as a great effort in changing the status quo.

I should also bring to your notice that some of your followers are trolling him on his Facebook page. I wish that you put out a small advice for them urging them to refrain form such slander.

A 140-character tweet from the Honourable Prime Minister of India can make a lot of change!

Jai Hind!

P.S.: I am making this letter public so that the probability of it reaching you is more.

Your friend,
Siddharth Mohan Nair
Kerala, India.

Why protests against Shri Yesudas' "jeans" comment is blown out of proportion

The legendary singer and recipient of many a prestigious awards including the Padma Bhushan, Shri K.J. Yesudas' comment that women should avoid wearing jeans created a furore, especially in the social media. 

He had made this comment while addressing students of Sri Swathi Thirunal College of Music in Thiruvananthapuram. The seventy-six-year-old singer had said the following: 

 What should be covered must be covered. Women should not trouble others by wearing jeans. When they wear jean, all you can notice are the things beyond those jeans. Women should not try to become like men but must behave modestly. The attire is inappropriate of Indian culture and what lends beauty to a woman is her modesty and politeness.

There already prevails an atmosphere in India where many feel that women are unsafe. The increasing number of crimes reported against women in the recent years has only resulted in further reinforcing this sad truth.

Even in the national capital women do not feel safe; and this is a shame to us, our society. There is no belittling of the fact that those men who indulge in such activities against women are wrong. No mercy should be shown to such people. 

However, just like there are always more ways than one to prevent some wrong from happening, even in this particular case of harassment against women, there needs to be concerted and coherent action. Whilst on one hand it need not be said that men who indulge in these acts are wrong, but, on the other, it is to be understood that at some instances provocation caused by means of the dress what is worn triggers these men to act in a wrong way. 

Women who wear clothes that expose their bodies are more prone to abuse. I do not intend to say that it is because of such clothes, or, that only because of such clothes, women have to go through such wrongs. There are cases where even a 'properly' dressed woman does undergo harassment. All that people like Shri Yesudas intend to say is that avoiding such attire can, to an extent, prevent the wrong from happening.       

He had only made that comment as a piece of advice to the college students. He was not forcing his view on anyone. He said that to them, in much likelihood, as a man who is as old as their parents.

Women's rights activists say that he is no one to make such comments. What women wear is their individual freedom, they assert. What Shri Yesudas did was merely an act of expressing his mind. It really does not matter as long as it does not hurt the feelings of any section of people. And it goes without saying that no women were 'hurt' by his comments. 

The President of the Kerala unit of Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) Smt Anu Chacko has demanded that the police register a case against the singer for his comment, which she feels was a "threat to all the women." However, the police refused to heed to her demand. This makes it abundantly clear as to what extent the people have stretched their responses.

The fact that this respectable singer was trolled, and still continues to be, in all platforms one can think of for a comment like this is something that one needs to seriously ponder.

There are many educational institutions and even work places where dress code is prescribed for men and women. For instance, in the Government Law College in Tamil Nadu it is clearly written in the rules that the girl students are supposed to wear a kameez that is long enough that it extends till the knee and salwar that is stitched. It is clearly written that leggings and jeans are not to be worn as salwar. Why do women’s rights activists not agitate against this? 

It is, therefore, clear that only when it suits us, we think of our freedom and choice of the dress that we wish to wear. We conveniently forget about it when there are laid down restrictions which cannot be questioned.

Just as many claim that they have the right to wear what they feel, others have the right to speak; the only caveat being it should not cause harm

Senior journalist Shri Rajdeep Sardesai tweeted saying “Maybe legendary singers like Yesudas should stick to what they do best?” Is it necessary that experts in one field should not speak on any other field? If this is the rule, in which field is a journalist specialized? Doesn’t a journalist question or engage in every possible discussion under the sun? Therefore, we cannot simply say that a singer should stick to his profession alone and not express his views on any other issue.

A section of women in Kerala complained to the police that the auto rickshaw drivers should not be allowed to wear veshti or lungi because they were exposing their legs beyond the limits of decency, causing discomfort to women. The transport officials issued a circular making it compulsory that auto drivers wear trousers. Now, is this not an infringement into the freedom of men? Even men can have the same discomfort when they see women exposing their bodies. Would it not be funny if men had told the women that it was their right to wear what they wanted and that none should question their choice of dress?       

Shri Yesudas' comments should not have been taken as nothing more than a small bit of advice from an old, honourable man. Rather, the so-called rights activists chose to make an issue out of this, so much so, that even some foreign newspapers have carried this news. By doing so, we have only lowered the status of our country in the eyes of other countries.

After speaking to many people I am sure that there are many men and concerned parents who find nothing wrong in what the singer has said. But, they shy away to engage in a discussion with those who find fault with Shri Yesudas. Why? The only reason is that in today’s atmosphere it does not go down well even to suggest something to a woman with an intention to help her from getting abused. The trend is to find fault with men, and that alone!

I am sure that by writing this I will be seen as “prejudiced,” “chauvinist,” and what not. But, I strongly feel that I must speak side of the reality.