The old order changeth…

The old order changeth…yielding place to new

(595 words)

By: Kalidas Sawkar

The more developed northern hemisphere of the globe is in turmoil, the USA and the Europe are witnessing economic and commercial protests on the scales seen for the first time, post WW II; India is having its own share of the tumult and is counting number of freedoms it wants, but what is making impact is the political and Governmental upheaval that is going in the Islamic world. All these are protests of various kinds, economic, social and political but can be summarised in a nutshell, the protests are against the establishment and hierarchy of the haves vs. have-nots. Old system is being challenged and the younger newer generation wants a larger share, having been told by the developments in societal, scientific and economic thoughts that they do not lag behind their peers in any way, in fact could be better. Arguments could follow but to illustrate interestingly, Veena Malik and her cover picture on FHM magazine would make a great impact as an example. The whole world loves a beautiful woman and they even love to hate her. Veena Malik’s photo would serve to conjoin economic, political and conservative vs liberal perceptions of archetypical societies of the world where culture hegemony has ruled supreme for an unduly long time.
The free and ever penetrating media has made the world knowledgeable on line and that, too, peacefully and quickly. If, we make a ‘deep impact’ and blast a meteor millions of kilometres away and bring back to Earth the material spewed by the rocket sent on it, just across the border, in India, things are happening; a raunchy Bollywood movie, ‘A dirty Picture’, where a scantily clad but charming woman is being wowed and appreciated by Indians, but, in Pakistan another woman is closeted by her society in a burqa. Whatever women there may opine, it is a woman’s biological need, social function and health requisite to be seen as much as to see. Rest of the world, too, is slowly waking up to its security needs and banning the burqa in public places. Essentially, what is achieved by making a woman wear a burqa, besides the demand of a segment of the religion? As Mark Twain experienced in his ‘Innocents abroad’, even a woman clad in burqa is well adept to signal a man of her romantic inclinations.
If, in India Anna Hazare can attract the multidimensional, cross cultural and multi-layered country together, it is an anguish of its citizenry that cries out against centuries old corruption by politicians, officialdom, corporates and even spiritual leaders. The process up to now has been nonviolent but if left unheeded would someday explode just as it has done during the ‘Arab spring’
(Referring back to our example, have a studious look at this charming and mild form of protest, not at what has been or not exposed but with what this was achieved. (This micro-mini shorty/panty is green in colour, with a star distinctly seen and just a crescent moon is missing to complete the Pakistani flag; more, a few pockets are strategically placed and a loud and clear abbreviation of ISI is seen on one arm, but what sends a signal is the hand grenade in the other hand with its pin about to be detached. Sex is a strong instinct and a good model makes it explosive.)Veena has just dropped a bomb on Pakistani terror cum socio-political system, that too doing it from the soils of rival neighbouring country. Would Pakistani society wake up or it wants to go invite the Arab spring into its nation? It would be dangerous considering the N-arsenal in that country.

Published in the Herald of 23rd December 2011, may be for diplomatic reasons sentence in bracket is omitted in published version.