Monday, February 9, 2009

Muthalik's mother

I don't think the Union Minister for Women and Child Development, Renuka Chowdhury, understands the majority of women in our country. This is obvious from her latest utterance on the matter of Pramod Muthalik and his values. "I wonder how his mother raised him," Ms Chowdhury sniffed the other day. "We'll have to ask her where he gets this attitude."

We can imagine what Muthalik's mother will say to Ms Chowdhury in answer to that one. It could be any of the following: "Raised him? He raised himself. You think I had the time for it?" Or "He takes after his father. His father used to beat me even if I peeped out of the back door". Or "Women should be women. They shouldn't behave like men." Or, "My mother always said, teach a girl books and one day she'll cut your nose." Or "Such girls can do what they like in Bengaluru, Mumbai and Dilli. Not in Mangalore. We are good, clean, decent people here. We respect our elders. Pramod would have beaten up his younger sisters if they had stepped inside a pub, wouldn't he? These girls were like his sisters. He taught them a lesson for their own good and I'm very proud of him."

Where would that leave Ms Chowdhury?

2 comments:

SUR NOTES said...

Its the classic rhetoric of "Family values" and "Sacred Mother" that boomerangs messily.

Akin to the "lets give them bangles for beating up women" rhetoric/call for action.

Lovely, pithy post Shanta.

Ps. Am curious about your take on the pink chaddi campaign.

-Surabhi

shanta said...

Pink chaddis is a sassy idea. It makes us feel really smart. Pramod Muthalik thinks he is very smart when he says, in return for pink chaddis we will give pink saris. Score? One all.