Bharat kI khoj mein
Mohan Bhagwatji ke India versus Bharat pravachanon ne mujhe bahut deep thought mein dal diya hai. Tab se I’ve been thinking ki which one is where and which one is a better, safer place for women.
Tabhi, suddenly, mere dimag ki batti jali and I figured ki reality mein mujhe Bharat-India mile ya na mile, TV pe toh Bharat ka hi bol-bala hai. So I decided to visit some TV shows, those special ones with Devi Mas, Pitashris, Prabhu log and other halo-carrying personages.
Hai, but kitna ajeeb-o-gareeb hai yeh Bharat desh. Yahan toh Bharatiya nari par atyachaar sadiyon purani parampara hai. And in every sadi Bharat-waasis invent new-new styles, mahilaon par atyachar karne ke liye.
Ab Ramayan (Zee) ko hi le lo. Pehle toh Ravan ne Sitaji ko kidnap kar liya, that too in the day time, from her own house in Bharat, and not while she was returning from a late-night party in India. And then, after Ramji finally got to Lanka with his Vanar Sena and rescued Sitaji, he first made her walk through fire to prove her pavitrata and still dumped her because of some two-bit local gossip. Agar Sitaji nahin bhi kehtin, tab bhi Dharti Ma gusse se phat jaatin.
And what about Mahabharat where the eldest Pandav, Yudhishtir, gave away his wife to his arch enemies in a game of dice. Yes, it was Dushasana who dragged Draupadi to the Mahasabha and Duryodhan who maroed some really cheap ones, but the fact is that in that hall, on that day, jab menstruating Draupadi ko strip kiya ja raha tha, Bharat ke sare big-big, diggaj heroes were present — Vidurji, Bhishma Pitamah, Dronacharya, Dhritrashtra...
Chalo, I thought, maybe because all these serials have gents log as heroes, that’s why this is happening. So I turned to the story of a powerful female god set in Bharat. Hai, but it’s the same kalesh here too, in Jai Jag Janani Maa Durga (Colors).
Manuvrat is a good king who worships Durgaji; Kalikey is an asur who wants to nash karo all humans and humanity on Dharti. Gods are worried about this and appeal to Durga.
But before Durgaji can get to Kalikey, he comes to Manuvrat’s palace, looks at the Kunwari Kanyas who are busy doing Gods ki puja and says, “Main tum sab ki pavitrata khandit karoonga” and pulls their dupattas. In a second, without wasting a thought, all the kanyas dive into the hawan kund. Mass suicide. Yehi solution hai hamare Bharat desh mein, for any victim of a sexual assault. Aur hamare Bhagwan log is ka approval dete hain. Yaar, seriously, I’ll take my chance with India. This Bharat seems like a very scary place.
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