The moral of the story!

I was watching a really funny Hindi movie the other day. I was quite enjoying its slap-stick humor and its idiotic nonsense that doesn't really require anybody to tax their gray cells. It was all about a family with a man, woman and their only child, a daughter. The daughter gets married and like her mother, rules the roost in her home. I was in splits to see how the two husbands tip-toed around the house and invariably got in to some trouble or the other everyday. The plot however came to its peak when a friend of the family decided he had to intervene and teach the husbands a lesson or two on 'being men'. He then went on to tell them that the fact that they were unhappy was because they had let 'their women' run wild. He said that the key to a man's happiness lay in being able to 'control' their wives. Hold on, it gets worse! He then tells them how to execute their manliness. "Slap them a couple of times everyday and they'll know who's boss." That was his advice to them and the moral of this 3-hour long story.

Do I really need to describe my utter disgust? I find it terribly difficult to understand how this movie ever made it to the screens of movie halls. The Indian population, largely uneducated, tends to blindly follow their heroes in Hindi films. Bollywood is without doubt the biggest influencer in India. Actors (and cricketers) are celestial beings. So, I would have thought that these actors, producers, writers, directors, infact everyone in Bollywood, would have some sense of responsibility for the kind of message they were communicating to the public.

Men who treat their women badly deserve your sympathy and not anger. They are ignorant and probably find this as their only means of expressing their frustrations and feelings of low self worth. Women who tolerate this and stick by their husbands are not to be blamed, as many people tend to think. They instead need to be saluted for being able to transcend themselves beyond the surface situation to viewing a larger picture of maintaining peace in the family or protecting their children.

It is said that women shared an equal status with men in ancient Indian society. During the medieval period it deteriorated after various conquests. But, as I have always believed, everything has a life cycle. If not during my lifetime, I do know that women will one day rise again. It is after all the fallen who rise after having learnt from trials and tribulations.

If you are reading this and know of anyone who is being ill-treated at home by her husband, take it upon yourself to provide her support and understanding. If need be, report her husband to the authorities. You'll be surprised to see the laws protecting women today.