What about the woman's fate?

People who know me would probably call me a bit of a feminist, not the one that says I will wear a sleeveless blouse with hair sticking out of my armpits, but the one that says, "if a man can do it, why not a woman?" So this blog is a string of thoughts as a reaction to Shashi Tharoor's article in the Times of India asking the Indian woman to revive the sari and his defensive foll;ow-up. Before I begin this post, let me make one thing clear. I admire some of his columns and respect Tharoor's worldwide experiences, and sometimes his little observations about lifestyles that bring a smile to the reader's face. But this one brought, not a smile, but a volley of rebukes.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Opinion/Columnists/Shashi_Tharoor/SHASHI_ON_SUNDAY/Save_the_sari_from_a_sorry_fate/articleshow/1877334.cms
The problem, Tharoor, is not as much in westernization or in wasting the time tying the sari (more on that to follow), but more in the fact that unlike you, a middle-class Indian woman is constantly subjected to what we subtly call as "eve teasing". After "googling" (is that even an English word?) the word, eve teasing (which apparently is a term used mostly in India), I found some of these intersting links:
http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/mp/2002/09/10/stories/2002091000070100.htm
http://erasmus-in-india.blogspot.com/2006/07/bosharivale.html
Practically speaking, an average Indian woman has to get on that bus which always arrives late and mostly at an acute angle with the road due to the huge population it is carrying, thanks to our "birth control" and "great" transportation resources. The same graceful garment that adorns the woman's body does not support itself. Rather, it takes a couple of safety pins which are not solid rivets, either. With the maddening crowd that pulls you in all directions, it get tougher to even hold on to your purse or a grip to balance, let alone the dress. By the time a woman gets out of this bus, the pins would have mostly ripped holes in the sari and collapsed the pleats that she spent several minutes to gather carefully.
With that point in place, I am now embarking upon the major dirt on the face of India, eve teasing or rather molestation (lets call a spade a spade). An average Indian woman is subjected to anything from just unabashed stares (usually pointed at the bosoms) to sexual assualt. Majority of men stare at a woman's chest shamelessly even when talking to her. It never strikes them how offensive this is or theysimply dont care (that is not just Indian men, but lets restrict this blog to Indian men). Groping happens everyday in buses, trains, public places, even while traveling in an auto rickshaw. The reflexes of our males sure perform quickly when it comes to pinching or groping a woman and disappearing immediately. This is just a glimpse of what happens everyday. When confronted with these issues, the simple answer that most women get from men and sometimes from women too is, "what did you do to entice him?" or "why were you dressed like that?" This is the society that questioned my mother, "What did you do to drive your husband to seek other women?" when my father was rejoicing promiscuously with several women and finally left us. So I expect nothing more equitable from them. Everytime I visit India, I admonish myself for having the anatomy of a woman!
Agreed, men would molest irrespective of the dress you wear. But surely even a least reasonable person would realize how easy it is to molest a woman in a sari as opposed to a salwar kameez? Women in saris are subjected to anything including getting their saris quietly removed and some more unspeakable acts (I dont want to give ideas to any predators, just in case). Even though I am a professor of statistics (not of South Asian culture or something where I am expected to) in a western nation, I adore the dress and wear it (sometimes even to class) when I feel like. I wear salwar kameez often to work. It is not about preserving my Indianness but about accepting change in such a way that it does not transform me altogether. Its about being given a choice.
But the Indian woman has recently been given the freedom to wear what she wants unlike the man who always could wear what he wanted (at least since Independence). The decline in the use of sari can be seen as an act of being freed from the chains that she was confined to. It could be seen as an act of preserving herself in whatever way she can so as to feel secure or as an act of embracing the culture of the west. Give her a choice and let her decide what to wear. If she feels like wearing a sari, let her. But dont tell her that by giving up her sari, she is giving up her culture. That reverse psychology doesnt work. Everybody knows that sari is the most graceful dress a woman can wear. But we'ld like to cater to the society's brain and development than to its genitals and eyes. As you said, you consider yourself to be a representative of India in the global arena. Similarly, we, the Indian women consider ourselves to be representatives of the free-willed Indian woman (which is an oxymoron but at least we try) who are simply trying to protect our body, our psyche, and our life.
In a society that strives to be equivocal, that wants women to compete equally, why are only women made as cultural ambassadors? Agreed the veshti (or the mundu) is not as graceful as a sari. But nonetheless, it is a beautiful garment. Why dont Indian men carry anything that shows themselves as Indians (although I do know a few handful who turn up with ashes on their forehead to quantum physics lectures in Texas)? Walk down the street and try to identify an Indian man without considering his skin color or accent. Can you really do that? If you think that women are better ambassadors for some reason, can you at least promise us that these molesters will severely be taken to task? Can we be sure that if we filed a complaint with the police, these men will not show up again the next day to take revenge on us by bringing a few more such specimens? The law does not protect us, neither does our society, on the other hand we are penalised for voicing our concerns, what more do you expect from us? Surely, you as a well-educated man with a handful of books articles, and several other achievements to his credit can understand that India is far from providing such "luxuries". I dont think I will ever live to see such day and neither will you. There is not a single day I thank that we are not Saudi Arabia, Libya or Pakistan where the girl who is raped is penalised. But we Indians are just a tiny (a very tiny) step above that.
Sari would have retained its stature, had one of the two happened. Either, women stayed at home and in the kitchen where there is no one to give them that nasty glare when the garment shifts, or in a hypothetical utopian society where women are respected. Give us an utopian society, a society where a woman REALLY is acknowledged to be equal to a man, where a woman is not seen as an object of pleasure, or been shattered by a hypocritical society that wants women to progress and still will have fun groping them, and then see what we can do! Then you will understand that most women are quick to embrace the western culture only because it offers them immediate freedom, an escape from the shackles they are subjected to at home.

Dance - for self or for others?

kitathaka tharikita thom...

I cannot begin to describe the feeling that swells in me when I hear these sounds. The beauty of dance transcends all cultures, languages, beliefs, and barriers. The inner transformation that a dancer undergoes when painting the fabric of space is so ethereal... Dance teaches you so many things when you are dancing for yourself. It brings such inner peace like nothing else (at least for me) which is the most important thing of all. Everything else such as getting applauded by thousands of people or being flashed across the front pages of a newspaper is immaterial if you are a true dancer. Yes, the appreciation helps, but is just a side effect and never a part of the equation that contains dance, self-realization, joy and peace. In a statistician's terms, you can call appreciation a covariate and it remains just that. I do not restrict this discussion only to Bharatanatyam or Kathak but to all dance forms (although on a personal level, I do believe that classical and folk dances from Bharatanatyam to ballet, and karagam to chhau are way above non-classical dance forms such as bollywood or informal dance forms such as salsa).

While the latter dance forms, in most, instances, serve as a visual treat to the onlookers, the former dance forms uplift the psyche of the dancer and the audience. Although this is a personal view, I believe it would be hard for anyone with average reasoning to contradict the fact that dancing salsa to Ricky Martin or bollywood to "You are my Sonia" cannot compare to dancing the ballet to Mozart or Bharatanatyam/Kathak to a Thillana/Tarana or kavadi to an "Arohara". There is a deeper meaning in the latter. It might not cater to the masses. They can take it or leave it. If they do not want to be taught the art of fine taste, why trouble them. These are probably the people who call Dan Brown a great author and cannot appreciate Tolkein or Wodehouse. Nonetheless, since I have tried some of these dance forms, there is a common quality to all of them and that is dancing for self. Setting this topic for another time, I will continue to talk about dance, in general.

The topic I had in mind when I started this blog, is the difference between dancing for one's self and dancing for others. I started out as a Bharatanatyam dancer and so did not care much for the appreciation of others because that is not what you are taught to do. As a student of classical dance, you are required to learn the do's and dont's of classical dance and apply it to bring out the bhava (or the essence) of the music that you are performing to. So that is what you concentrate on which means, you forget that there is an audience present. Yes, you can see them but that almost feels like a dream. You don’t care who or how many people are sitting there when you go on the stage. The applause almost merges with the background and almost never reaches your ears because you are too ecstatic to care about it (unlike what they show in Indian movies where the dancer literally stops to receive the applause in the middle of the dance). Isn’t that the condition under which one would bring out the most of the emotions in the dance?, when one is immersed in the performance, the lyrics and the music that one is least bothered about anything else?

In the Indian dance arena, unfortunately, the naive audience of today has not been provided with enough examples of good dancing that he/she can appreciate good from not so good to absolute crap. In the present times, the audience are carried away by name, fame, and other distractions such as the looks of the dancer (more about looks of a dancer later, but it is certainly a topic worth talking about). Let’s start with Bharatnatyam. If you ask anyone about a good Bharatanatyam dancer, due to lack of better knowledge, they would pick Shobana, mainly because they have seen her dance in Movies and the Vande Mataram Album. The two video links below showcase her dancing talent.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=0hbHEf7TRMA
http://youtube.com/watch?v=TT7EhwHjmuc

But understand that this was the result of several takes (that were probably not more than a minute each). Now, let’s see how much she has gotten away with being known nationally just because she is a movie actress. Watch the video in the link below:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Lr0Jrhj7Eq4
This is a tired Shobana, out of breath, performing very simple steps (or adavus) that are not even difficult. It just contains hand movements and overdone neck movements (attamis.. BTW woman, you might want to go easy on that) and yet her elbows are sagging (which is a big NO in Bharatanatyam) and there is absolutely no aramandi. This not just a single instance, she continues to give bharatanatyam shows on Broadway and tours the U.S. every year parading as a "good" Bharatanatyam dancer। Dont get me wrong, the lady seems to have mastered the techniques long ago as a student itself, but she doesnt work hard enough to maintain her standard. Instead she is happy with the substandard dance she performs and has done nothing to improve it whatsoever. I dont want this blog to be a virtual flagellation for Shobana. There are several other dancers with similar attitude (Sonal Mansingh, Sheila Mehta, ... the list is endless).

Natya Shastra says, "Yatho bhavam thatho rasaaha" meaning that the audience appreciation follows the bhavam or the essence that you portray. Looking at these dancers, one is left to wonder is "yatho naamam thatho rasaaha" or is "yatho rasaaha thatho natyam" because? Would such dancers even dance if it were not for the naive audience who gape at them and have already decided that the show would be a good one because the dancer is famous?

Au contraire, I will show you a good dancer who has maintained her standards after being awarded the PadmaSri (which doesnt mean much nowadays because even Aamir and Shahrukh have been awarded those but nonetheless), has been called the dance goddess by the Guardian, and is undisputedly one of the best Bharatanatyam dancers of today.

Behold the goddess:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=CuJqFGYA_HU
All these awards have not made her lax. Instead, she still continues to reign the dance arena with her strict standards, adhering to the laws of the dance and yet bringing fresh ideas by experimenting. Another fine example is Alarmel Valli who has been awarded the padmasri, padmabhushan, and the Chevalier des Arts at des Lettres by the French Govt. There are many more who dance for the true meaning of dance for the true joy of dance and for the true feeling that dance provides i.e., Guru Kelucharan Mahapatra, Pdt. Birju Maharaj,... even this list is endless.

But can the naive viewer differentiate between these two sects of dancers? Not many can। Instead they get carried away by the name and the looks। I agree, Shobana is an extremely beautiful woman, but that does not make her a good dancer. Big, beautiful eyes do not equal great dance. So for the naive viewer, the next time, you make a statement about a dancer, please make sure know what you are talking about (I have had people who have argued with me for hours saying that some of the aforementioned careless dancers are good). And to those careless dancers, try to realize that you are mutilating the art form just for materialistic things like money/fame. You owe it to the art that you once respected!

I will continue my ramblings in the next blog by turning to the (in)famous Bollywood, Tamil and Telugu Cinema where people cant differentiate between shaking your hips and dancing.