Rajasthan's Gehlot, Karnataka's Yeduyarappa, and now even infamous smoke-phobic Ramadoss have all unequivocally sounded off the "pub culture" in India. It apparently goes against the "traditional Indian culture". If the pub culture in India is what I know it to be; people unwinding to music and drinks in an ambience conducive to the same, then this is a culture that I have grown up on. My entire formative adolscent years were in these places. It is my culture! Being an Indian citizen, isn't it ironic that a culture that I thought was mine is being brandished as anti-Indian!
Look at all the ironies around us today:
1) "pub culture" is being touted as the root of all evils, and politicians are "voicing concerns" over girls and guys walking hand in hand into pubs. But then, the violence in the Mangalore pub attacks were not caused by people drinking and socialising inside the pub, it was caused by outsiders, who didn't hesitate to bruatally showcase the attacks for a cameraman present there as well and let the whole country see what they are up to. If "pub culture" really is the problem, how come it is not the people inside the pubs that's ruining this country and making headlines!
2) Politicians and Activists are talking about going back to the "Indian culture", something that according to them has dwindled in todays times. They are resorting to violence to ensure this happens. I wonder, was violence itself ever really a part of our "culture"! Wasn't it the exact opposite practiced by our proud showcase to the international community - Gandhi? Isn't it ironic that violence, which is against our "culture" to be used to go back to our lost "culture"!!
3) The people behind all this violence go by the name __ sena. The __ could be replaced with any Gods name you can think of. Is the work of God actually to vandalise and cause harm to innocent people? Isn't the whole point of religion to teach us good values and behave like good human beings? Sena's today are originating at such a fast pace, that it seems like they are soon going to run out of God's names even.
Who are these people? Who gave them the right to do God's work? Who defined "culture" to them?Aren't we living in a land of ironies? I increasingly feel I'm living in a country I can't seem to relate to anymore. It's almost as if I have outgrown my own nation. I feel the country itself has not been able to keep up with me. And I'm just a regular kid, who's in fact never been out of this country. Isn't this the biggest irony of them all - a person feeling he's not a part of his own country!
I feel saddened by everything that's happening. Worse, I feel scared. I don't know how it was to a be a part of colonized India, but I don't feel like I have any freedom at all now. I don't feel like I'm a part of a democracy. I feel like I'm ruled by people who don't understand me, people who want to drive things down my throat, and will even resort to violence to ensure this. I could have very well been one of those people who were attacked in that Mangalore pub. It's almost the same feeling as sitting in Leopold and having terrorists fire at us. No, this feels worse.. The people responsible for Mangalore are around me right now. I am living with them.. This is definitely worse..
