The Days Of Men

On March the 8th, 2014 Google proudly put up the following doodle. The occasion was that of the International Women's Day. It made me happy. Happy about the fact that the world does pay attention to the cause of womanhood and that women in general, feel the solemn sense of pride that must be solely theirs to have been a woman - on a special day, just dedicated to them.


Not many know and fewer give a damn but today is International Men's Day. I know .. You may now go ahead and laugh it out. Google shares my view and very creatively put this up to mark the day. I'm not taking offense because as they say- after all, every day of the year is a Man's day, free to strut about, feeling awesomely male and invincibly virile. The reactions to the existence of a "Men's Day" is a mile wide and an inch deep. - Ranging from "How dare they... " to "Why do they even need one ...". It ranges from astonishment, to ridicule, to plain indifference.  And this makes me feel a little let down. Not that a particular designated day does anything significant for my self esteem as a man, but just that no one seems to give a damn.

Despite thousands of years of so called civilization of the human race, we remain majorly a patriarchal world and there is no denying that. And therein lies my inherent support for the cause of Women's rights. Having said that though, I sometimes feel, maybe incorrectly, that Men's issues hardly make it to the agenda and I wonder why..! I mean to most of us - What even are "men's issues"  - do they even exist ?!  Yes they do and its sad men, and more importantly, women are silent about it, despite being champions of the fight against gender bias.

On average, every year, more men around the world will be diagnosed of prostate cancer than women for breast cancer. While I read about a fund raiser for breast cancer just two days ago, I cannot recall one instance in my entire life of even a roadside pamphlet on the former. I don't claim the medical community to have been biased or some male obsessed argument of the like.  It is just that while disease and death is gender neutral, the attention and keenness for awareness is not; and that ought not to be the case. Millions of dollars are spent for support in cases of single motherhood, domestic violence etc. All usually under the blanket term of "Women's Aid/empowerment". Agreed, when it comes to domestic violence or workplace harrassment- men are much less susceptible compared to women, but is that reason enough to pay less heed to a victim just because he is a man and should 'take care of his own shit'..?! I think not. And its not like male victims are all that a fringe either. As per statistics in India, 53% of victims of child abuse are boys !

And this brings me to my next point. To many, it is difficult to comprehend that men can even be abused. Aren't guys meant to always like it..? No. We don't. We are all so fed full on media junk about the male obsession for boobs, sex and everything vaginal that rape of a man is beyond comprehension. Somehow, I feel that it is demeaning above almost everything- that we are this peculiar creation of nature that is forever consumed by lust- and for whom predation and procreation is by far, the defining instinct. Rape victims are provided anonymity, not rape accused- especially if male. In fact, in the eyes of the general public, a male accused is guilty before trial. Not every one is a rapist, molester or wife beater. In fact, an overwhelming majority is not. Unfortunately on the flip side, male rape, molestation or physically abused is a story no newspaper reports, no news channel covers and very few organizations care about.

Speaking of organizations by the way, just a passing glance  and two cents on gender ratio at workplace. Choosing female applicants at job interviews to maintain gender ratio is not gender equality but the stark opposite of it. Women more often than not, take offence to this "male claim" and its not difficult see their point; but only after acknowledging the existence of a minor  misinterpretation. As a disclaimer, no one is saying a woman is going to make it to a job just because she is a woman. Women slog hard, very hard at college to get their degrees - nonetheless they are not exclusive in this pursuit. The male classmate slogged just as hard. Merit and business requirement should dictate hiring; not 'gender ratio at workplace'. Reductio ad absurdum: Why is there no discussion on gender ratio in coal mining, hazardous waste disposal ? Women empowerment does not start at the HR department of a company. It starts  earlier, much much earlier. It starts at home, at kindergarten where going or not going to school and continuing there, and attending college later is not a decision made on the fact of a child being a boy or a girl. Hiring solely to maintain/improve gender ratio is not gender equality, its gender bias. A freebie which eventually robs her of self and peer side respect.

As confession, Yes ! This is a rant. Consequently, not all points may follow strictly logical reasoning. It is a vent to some bottled up frustration resulting from all the propaganda that dubs us collectively as sexual perverts, violent miscreants, emotionally insufficient jerks. Propaganda that makes us feel apologetic of every harm that was ever done to a lady; which by the way does no good to anyone or any cause. Propaganda that almost makes us feel ashamed for the very accident of birth as a male. Opinions and common 'wisdom' that I can never love my daughter or my son as much as their mother. And this is neither fair nor acceptable.

The average guy can be any of the following. He could be the son who wants to make the most of his talents to prove his worth to the world, to his parent and most importantly to himself. He could be a brother who would fight with and for his sister. He could also be the husband or the partner who would and does happily give up everything for a smile on her face. He could be the father under whose fortitude, every child has sought emotional refuge and security. He could be a friend with whom you share stories and gossip over a cup of coffee and some cookies. 

He could also be the guy who likes to laze on his messy bed on a Sunday afternoon, the guy who loves to discuss cars, superheroes, the new girl in the dorm and global warming or he could be just a guy who wants to sit by a lake simply throwing rocks into the water and be a complete bloke.

Less bashing. More bonding. 

Governance, God and Gujarat

I am no expert with economics in general. But then, when I hear all the hoo-ha about all the great governance and the great economic strides that have apparently transformed Gujarat in a relatively short political span of 12 years- to me, it just somehow seems too good to be true. The sad part however is that to most us, all this seems to perfectly align, ipso facto, regardless of whether the 'facto' is actually existent or not and if at all existent, presents any corroborative evidence to this economic epiphany that Mr. Modi seems to have shown his people. Of course, if this stellar growth and development were true, the choice in the ongoing and upcoming General elections would be an easy one. But do they really all add up..?

BJP and Narendra Modi's electoral campaign has one main focus. Good governance and economic development; and of course the belief and make belief that he has been the one, and the only one, to have been true to all these promises in Gujarat. The argument, nonetheless losses quite a lot of its sheen in the light of some statistical data. The story of Gujarat's economic robustness is not unique to Modi. Gujarat has been outperforming the All India average GDP growth rate since the 1980's which of course is a testament to it industrious people.  To put it into figures, before Modi, Gujarat performed on average 1.1% higher than the national GDP figures and post Modi this average has been 1.3%. While being above average is always good and so is the improvement, I do not see this as stellar growth by a long shot. In my opinion, The Gaurdian, made a very objective observation about this, "Though Modi's stock is rising high, evidence for the success of Modinomics is unconvincing."  Then of course there is the rural electrification brilliance. Unlike the claims, Gujarat is neither 100% rural electrified and definitely not the first to be so. As of 31st January this year, according to a report by the Ministry of Power, 14 other states are ahead of Gujarat, mind you at 100%. There is also a power surplus theory afloat that people of Gujrat, even in the villages, have no idea of what a power cut is. I do not know what 11 lakh housholds, which roughly translates to about half a million people, think of this; as according to the 2011 census they do not have electricity as their primary course of illumination. Is it just me or can it be that there actually are power cuts or in some cases no power at all. 35 villages still to be electrified as per data by the way.

So much about the power surplus, lets talk about industrial investment - Modi's core competency - selling the idea of Gujarat to the world. Among Indian states, Gujarat ranks 5th. While fifth is not bad at all but why lie about facts. I assume, lies are not something that we desire from our prospective Prime Minister. And is economic development everything..? I would generally take Amatya Sen's and Raghuram Rajan's word over Narendra Modi's. Maybe because between the former two, they share a Nobel prize, great intellectual capacities, credits of having predicted the 2008 financial crisis or may be just because they do not need to use gimmicky "clever"  AK47 genre of punch lines to convey a point. Nonetheless, according to them, the HDI (Human Development Index) and the CDI (Composite Development Index) figures in Gujarat are quite disappointing to say the least. Google it for yourselves and realize the trickery first hand. I am no congress supporter but my voice is only against all this falsehood. BJP's constant refrain is that Congress has never done anything. Ever...! And supposedly, AAP has no 'vision' for the country. The irony however is that neither has the BJP made any clarifications on its own developmental blueprints. Their favorite phrase of course is "The Gujarat model of development" Well...whatever that is. No one really seems articulate enough to let us know. He often asks, "I have no family. Who will I be corrupt for?” I don't know, maybe his Public Relations Officer. He seems to have done a pretty good job with the hogwash.

Having talked about the 'less important' governance and growth, let us shed some light on India's favorite pass-time, Religion and the favorite board game of the Indian politician, Religious sectarianism. If you go to the New York Times website and search for an article called Timeline of the Riots in Modi’s Gujarat, one can plausibly see why Modi has been so unapologetic. An action will have a reaction is his reasoning because obviously rioting is the better thing to do ..!! As opposed to say, not setting fire to entire neighborhoods, killing people, killing children- born and unborn and mass raping women. Mr. Modi has a standard and in some ways a pretty decent counter for this- that of having been re-elected as Chief minister. This too, unfortunately, like a lot of his other 'facts' is a little too simplistic and really lacks some judicial reasoning. If winning elections were to exonerate someone of  blame, why have courts at all. Lets all decide convictions on opinion polls. The thousands of cases pending in court could obviously use some help. Then of course you have the court verdicts which have 'exonerated' Modi. But no one questions on what grounds and circumstances. The court suspects but has "Not enough evidence for conviction" I hope at least a few of you have heard/read the chilling confessions by Babu Bajrangi, "Narendrabhai got me out of jail…… He kept on changing judges…. He set it up so as to ensure my release, otherwise I wouldn’t have been out yet... ". You think a person who has say over "changing judges" has no control over the lowly constable or an SI who does the investigative 'errands' for the Gujrat police. Who are we trying to fool..? Religious divisiveness sometimes just stoops to really ridiculous levels in the Modi stable. In Kerala, for instance during a campaign he said, "Kerala the nursery of terrorism". No doubt, there are serious concerns but I have experienced social cultures from 5 states in India now and being a Malayali myself. While things are not rosy, its is far from a nursery of terrorism. 

I can't, by the way, speak of Modi, without speaking about the RSS. That was after all his training ground. In the onset I'd like to say, I am not completely against the RSS, especially for the kind of relief work their young members have done in the past. However, currently living in Germany, I cannot but stop the Hitlerjungend (Hitler youth) picture baring down on my thought process because RSS's founding was  inspired by The Fascist regime in Italy. RSS also holds Hitler in high regard for his staunch adherence to the principle of racial and cultural purity. This is not rambling by the way. Those interested can read the, Encyclopedia of modern worldwide extremists and extremist groups" - Stephen E Atkins. It is not my intension to paint a bad picture of the RSS but only to bring an objective view on its ideas and principles, because some charity here and some volunteering there is not what you are in your entirety. The principles you stand for, are to me, a major factor. RSS intellectual M S Golwalkar put it down plainly. Vaisudhaiva Kutumbakam and Indian values- which in itself is a good idea to start with. The problem is when they assume their idea of India to be the only idea and that this idea is so good and therapeutic that it is worth shoving down peoples throat. I hope they realize that the very diversity of India that they are so proud of is the reason why a monochromatic India is neither healthy nor justified. I am a Christian by religious faith but I think of myself a little more Indian than Christian because things to do with me and my maker are personal to me. However, my being Indian and the sense of pride associating its history, culture and ancient civilization is very public. Despite this, when history text books in Gujarat call Christians, Muslims and Parsees foreigners, it pinches pretty badly. I am not sure how many understand this but the promise of a better economy does not help. Really, it does not! It just feels a little servile and cheap to me. "We will call you foreigners in the textbooks. In exchange, the economy will be better and  your monthly salary will eventually see better days." You know, it feels quite demeaning, not despite, but precisely because of the promise of better economic sense.

Probably this voice of mine comes too little, too late and maybe not too many will like or even read it but then, that is never a reason to shut up. Whether you vote for Modi or against Modi - no matter. But let it not be based on knowledge via the grapevine. Research well, vote wisely.