Is India A Dangerous Country For Women? - A Response to CNN's iReport: India - A Story You Never Wanted To Hear

I came across an iReport published on CNN entitled "India: A Story You Never Wanted To Hear" while I was perusing through my daily Facebook rounds and immediately I was drawn to the title - the story of this young undergraduate student had everything - a young woman drawn to the exotic and oriental Indian culture choosing to study abroad and learn the rich history that India has. However, what was disheartening and hurtful in her experience was that she proclaimed about her experience in India as being traumatic so much so that she had begun to show signs of PTSD and had to remove herself from her social settings to recover from the harassment, eve-teasing, and the bitter and nightmarish experiences she had had in India. She was not quite specific where her experiences had happened but she did indicate that as a foreigner, she was harassed by the shopkeepers who wouldn't stop haggling, the men who wouldn't stop jeering and passing sexual advances. This story adds more fuel to the fire of the already shamed India - a country that is assumed in the mainstream media as being chaotic, lawless, and furthermore a nation that continues to be immersed in patriarchal systems that demeans and oppresses a woman's subjectivity and her person hood  The same country, which worships goddesses and mothers simultaneously will treat women like sexual objects ready to obey every command. 

I want to begin by stating my position and my stake in the woman question of India. Needless to say, as a scholar I am made to question everything and everything  but also over the course of the past four years I have read and read scholars who have written extensively on the subject - from Partha Chatterjee to Leela Fernandes to Ania Loomba to of course Gayatri Spivak and the list continues. I am also careful because I do not want to universalize the experiences of women or belittle in any way, shape, or form the experiences of this young girl - instead I see her experience as a counter to my own. Furthermore, I respect her views though I am not wholeheartedly in accordance with what she has written but I can relate to many of her experiences. However, as an Indian and American woman myself, I feel like I have a stake in her article and what is being said about my country and it did emotionally hurt me. So here is my opinion about the article and a response to her claims and experiences: 


Rape and eve-teasing culture is a universal phenomenon and not regionally-specific. While not comparable to her experience, I also experienced eve-teasing and even felt violated when a random guy at an Australian bar in London, England just went by after briefly hitting on my hips like as if it was a normal and everyday occurrence. Because I belong to a culture that practices a don't-ask-don't-tell policy, I am going to use the word - intimacy is rarely discussed in home settings. It is assumed that as a young woman, you will wait until the right time with the right guy after you are married and will lead a honorable life without the danger of pre-marital pregnancy and single motherhood that will isolate and ostracize you from the society. To this day, I continue to respect the wishes of my parents and am proud of my values. At the same time, due to my extensive study, I have also realized that I may not apply the same rules to my son or daughter. Thus in my opinion, what she experienced was a product of popular culture and racial profiling- in essence- men and women alike assumed quite wrongfully that if you belong to the west, you are sexually easy and available and if you are alone, you are DEFINITELY there to have "fun." However, I want to add that it is not limited to "western" girls alone but women who belong to various classes are also equally subjected when need be - again this Eve teasing is more regionally specific! 

 Indian men are not out to get "some" - they are not violent brutes out to attack any woman they see - perhaps the ones she experienced who may fall into such a category are products of a popular culture that encouraged eve-teasing with films in the 1980s and 90s, which revolved around the heroes singing songs around the streets trying to draw the attention of the woman they are attracted to. There is more to the story than what has been told thus far in the media. 

Jason Burke has written a meaningful article that paints the life stories of the men who were involved in the rape case. Although the four men have been sentenced to death, there needs to be more work that needs to be done to resolve the issue. I am not wholly convinced by the abused goddess campaign though I am grateful for their effort to make a relevant point about the vulnerability of women in India. Growing up, I read a very problematic book called Elizabeth Bumiller's May You Be The Mother of A Hundred Sons. This was one of the most jarring non-fiction accounts I have read of a woman's experience in India. In a very superficial manner, the author examines the struggles that Indian women face and she highlights all types of issue starting from 18-year-old Raj Kanvar's sati-like death in 1987, which prompted her to write the book and continues on to discuss female infanticide all over India. In the Indian society, yes, many types women are revered as goddesses and mothers but it only limits their agency and the way they are perceived in India. Their roles are somewhat limited and if a woman does choose to become independent and self-reliant, she is viewed as the "other" and an outsider to this day. Although the woman involved in the Delhi rape case was shaping her own career path but because she was out "late" in the night, she provoked the danger and was severely and violently raped almost as a punishment - as if she had committed a crime! The change however will not come from stopping women from freely roaming the streets in India, it will come from educating children both boys and girls to treat each other with respect and dignity, by encouraging girls to become self-defensive and learn the tricks and trades to make the right decisions and choices. Without this basic step to educate children, change will not be imminent any time soon but unfortunately, will only prolong and further worsen the situation in India. This is only the tip of the iceberg but to me, it is the starting point where education system should be radically changed and have curriculum that is designed around sex education from a young age, and open discussion in households will make a radical difference in the ways children are raised. If India is now becoming more stable economically, then perhaps it should invest in development projects (if it hasn't already!) on providing free education, providing sex education, creating educational programs that are free for women and men for self-defense, and so on. The attitude is at the heart of the situation which needs to change and it only comes from within! 

Eight months later, at the conclusion of the trial of her killers, it is difficult to argue that J's ordeal and death has made much difference in India, at least so far: the rapes and sexual assaults that are now highlighted daily by the Indian media act simply as a reminder of how widespread violence to women is in the country.

Clearly, there is more work that needs to be done. When this article came out, I was ready to post an angered and frustrated response although I understood and could relate to the experience this woman had experienced in my home country but before I could, Mumbai rape case took place leaving me puzzled and confused. There is a lot of work that needs to be done in India to eradicate this environment for women and others who feel marginalized in the society. However, that being said, it is not always the case based on the part of class you belong to but this article does bring us food for thought! I also want to make a note that these are just starting points towards a larger depth of study. 

Images & Source: ibntimes.com, ireport.cnn.com, blogspot.com,  thehindu.com, wallstreetjournal, and huffingtonpost.com
video: youtube 

© Nidhi Shrivastava 2014 This content is subject to copyrights. Please ask for my permission before using this content for any purpose. 

My Thoughts on Rohit Shetty's Chennai Express

Just around the time of India's Independence Day, I went to see Rohit Shetty's Chennai Express (2013) starring the gorgeous and talented Deepika Padukone and Bollywood Baadshah Shah Rukh Khan. The movie was a typical Rohit Shetty film - filled with humor, laughter, and action - with quirky jokes that never failed to make me laugh and cry until my stomach was hurting. However, the film also in many ways depicted the South Indian culture and its illustration of the South Indian culture sparked controversy. The film's poster and trailer were criticized the filmmakers for demeaning the South Indian culture and language even saying that Deepika Padukone's accent sounds more like Malyalam than Tamil.

Chennai Express Poster via boxofficecapsule.net

Deepika Padukone, who is from South India herself, defended the film saying that she would never spoof her own culture. She said, :"I don't understand why people are jumping to conclusion without even seeing the film. We all are South Indians, Rohit is a South Indian and I think except for SRK most of the crew was from South.Why would we spoof our own culture? For years, our films have been based in Punjab but now few films have started setting their stories in South India. I think people are not yet used to it. It is a comedy and larger-than-life film so dialogues are meant to be funny," 

Recently, Manu Joseph released a powerful article that requires some deep thought and provokes thoughts on a nation -  Joseph writes: 

It is common for Indian intellectuals, who have the time for such exercises, to wonder what unites India. Cricket, democracy and even Hindi films are often cited as the glues. Yet, what really unites India is, very simply, its habit of being India. India is the proof that a nation needs to have nothing in common to remain a nation. In fact, increasingly, the very idea of “national” is losing its heft. There are no national political figures anymore; provincial leaders, issues and interests are resurgent; and Delhi as a center of power and culture has been, while not destroyed, greatly diminished. Yet, India is more assured than ever that it is, in fact, India.

Joseph calls India a country which is both a "myth and a fact." 

To some extent, I am drawn to the idealism that Joseph draws on and its a beautiful idea that Indians are reunited despite the fact that we have nothing in common with each other yet we remain a nation but is the issue of unity, "Indian-ness", and India so easily resolved? It almost seems as though we are not facing and learning to overcome our differences to become a united nation. It is also interesting that Shetty released the film during the time nearing the 67th Indian Independence Day! 

Here are my following observations regarding the film, its significance in the larger context, and India: 

• Until we see ourselves as a nation, we will never be able to see the humor, which the film is attempting to generate. Yes, I do agree to some extent it does ridicule the culture but I do not think it was intentional on the part of the filmmaker. 
• There are also many films like Akshay Kumar's Khiladi 786, Singh is King, and other films that try to draw on humor to highlight quirks of the various ethnicity that are existing in India and outside. If I remember correctly, Kal Ho Na Ho made fun of Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) and Gujaratis. Humor is used as part of the entertainment and more like a plot device. While sometimes rightfully humor can be offensive to many, it is used to highlight subtle complexities and nuances of the culture being shown in the film. So, in Chennai Express, humor was used to counter the tensions that the hero experienced in the film. 
• Joseph also rightfully points out the clash of the two major languages - Tamil and Hindi - which are highlighted in the film. When I was in Chennai in 2009, I noticed that foreign tourists and ex-Pats were treated better than people from North India. I was uncomfortable using Hindi and spoke primarily in (Broken) English when eating out at restaurants or using auto rikshaws. Part of me was dying to learn the language but I was only interning for two months there, I did however wish that I had an extra language to lay claim to considering that I belong to the country which has 28 languages and God knows how many dialogues. Instead of seeing it as a negative, I think the fact that the film brings together both languages in unity in the cultural visual text, I think it hints towards a more united outlook of India as a nation! 
• The heroine in the film, Meenamma (Deepika Padukone) was an independent, bold, and strong woman who was traveling by herself in the country. The film highlighted an important issue, which I am passionate about - it talked about the subjectivity of women in India, their choice to develop their careers, or marry the man of their choice. Although her age was unknown, she ended up marrying a man who was 40 years old (which would still be considered a taboo in India). Furthermore, the film showed that Meenamma was vocal, extrovert yet modest and continued to maintain her traditional characteristics. In other words, she occupied her own space and was the driving force behind the plot of the film. Rahul (of course Shah Rukh)'s character was of a typical romantic hero, but what was memorable in this film was his defense of Meenamma's subjectivity. However, what I found slightly questionable was when towards the end of the film, he asked her if she would nod when he asked her a question - and she nodded - when he asked her to marry him. While I understand that we are interdependent creatures and we need/want companionship - in many ways - the film still paid heed to tradition though it highlighted and brought into question an important issue that continues to be relavant today! 

So, here are my thoughts on the film! Its worth a watch once but its definitely something I will show to my students one day to spark discussion and find thoughts on identification, social identity, unity, "Indian", Indian nationhood! 

The movie is currently playing in theatres. For the official website, please visit http://www.chennaiexp2013.com/

Sources: nytimes.com, timesofindia.com, indiatoday.intoday.in, anokhimedia.com, and imdb.com

Images: boxofficecapsule.net, cdn.koimoi.net, and indiatoday.in

© Nidhi Shrivastava 2014 This content is subject to copyrights. Please ask for my permission before using this content for any purpose.