KOLKATA
TOASTMASTERS
Club #1179292 District 41 Division G Area 2
Creating Communicators In Calcutta
CREATING COMMUNICATORS IN CALCUTTA
The Times… They are Changing
-TM Naveen Misra ACG,ALB
This is the age of ‘awakening’. This is a time when con-servation is becoming a theme thought, a time where civilized society is redefining what ‘civilized’ would mean. The past year has redefined the ‘nadir’ which we have hit as far as respect for the sexes and / or causes. At the outset, I would like to emphasize that I am not trying to put the cat amongst the pigeons or stir up a hornet's nest. I would rather like to think of myself as a male of a species voicing... fear. Before you jump to hasty conclusions, let me take the example of a female from another species…
The African wilderness has a species of spider, the fe-male of which is known as the Black Widow. This is a species where the females seduces the male into sub-mission, and on being carnally satisfied, goes onto consume the male as fodder. Strange isn’t it? Cope to think of it, isn’t this similar to Copulation as a result of marriage, norms of society, then devastation of the male leading to widow-hood. Result - Black Widow. In today's India, indeed the world, situations are chang-ing fast. This is an India that feels that the weak must be provided power and the benign be given verve. I too strongly advocate the feeling of empowering women with tools which surely will be a scabbard in those, light but no way weak, hands. However, I would like to disagree to this distribution of power as well.
Here is where, I repeat, at the risk of being ridiculed, that the male needs to be understood too. By far and large, the male is, and will, remain subservient (again a risk I take of using this term) to the female form. Take this, in India the female form or SHAKTI is devoutly worshipped, in South India we have a matriar-chal tribe. South Africa, as depicted through the media, boasts of a nomadic tribe where the right of se-lecting a suitor is only of the young girls and the men are willing to bleed for companionship. In the animal kingdom too things are not that different. The queen bee does not work, she delegates. The army of ants is headed by a female.
Even the lioness has the lions fighting for attention, often vocally as well! Readers, we are voicing opinion about the safety of the "weaker sex".
I am agreeable to the cause of the safety but being termed weaker...? Just as all men would not fall in the category of demeaned or degenerate so also not everyone from the female power house would be within the ambit of what is generally believed as ‘weak’.
What I fear, but then we are not talking of, for a change here, about the rule BUT about an exception and the chances of that exception being lethal. We will form laws and put the keepers of law in place. We will respect equality and promote a culture which builds a strong society. I am with my mother, sister, wife, friend, and women colleagues, in this devoted thought. However, because I am part of their inner circle I have a fear and only they can help rest it…
I am a man, what if I am abused by some lady? Oh, did I mean Adam-teased? Well yes, why not? Men will laugh and call me names...my fear will get stronger...women will swat it away...just as we men thought that a Park Street incident or an incident from the capital city could not ever happen. So also this thought, which might be a trivia now, but tomor-row could be a fact beyond fiction.
What if I am seduced and then either on being "consumed" or for having the audacity of refusal, brought to court? Should I refrain from appreciating my family member for having good looks or being dressed in a manner which deserves a compliment JUST because I might be termed "loose"? Would all ladies just not look at "healthy compliments?" What Touch - a touch is generally the most common form of civilized expression. What else is a hand shake or touching your elder's feet? Animals' neck each other or pet. If you hug a lady it might be accepted or it might not be, as my inner circle tells me that women under-stand the "intention" of such a touch or even a pat.
Great! What if a woman does the same thing to a far lesser, expectedly, intelligent male counterpart?
What should the "weaker sex" be ex-pected to do, or what would be an expected response for the initiator? I use the term initiator with a lot of thought. Today, we all are aware of the situation where a shout or scream from a lady can have valiant neighbor-hood knights, till now slouching cops and a very supportive media scamper-ing to assist and ensure that the "offender" does not get away lightly. Legal processes are being electrified and some "offenders" electrocuted. They say what is done cannot be un-done...could be true for some "offenders" too!
I stand to be misunderstood; but the intent is not what it might appear. I am sure that just as me, a male, a lot of women too would have thoughts about us...just as a lot of men still think and protect the inner circle, not because of any obligation or be-cause they are by any means weaker or deprived BUT because we respect the womb which bought out the man just as much as we feel charmed about the fact that every Adam feels attracted to the nubile charms of the female force of an Eve and hence aspires to get her into his inner circle. So also every lady builds and help builds an inner circle with men being a firm part of the infrastructure.
It is time that we also understand that empowerment is necessary but should be accompanied with a proper mind set, or else complete power here too might lead to complete corruption. The times are changing and in the cacoph-ony of the masses we may not neces-sary be churning out any elixir. If revo-lutions are not guided, if voices are not modulated, if focus is not kept apoliti-cal, the tables will turn. You will be the jury to decide who is then... the "weaker sex".