Mindsets!
We Goans need to be immensely grateful to the Dhavlikar family for their superb entertainment, and all free. Sudin's sister-in-law maintains convent schools have a negative effect on children and so Hindu parents should stop sending their children to these schools. What fun! Will they? Anyway, how did Lata Dhavlikar reach this profound conclusion? She also claims western culture is the cause of rapes in India. As we live in a democracy she should be given an opportunity to defend her theory and we should not criticize her without hearing her explanation. So, media people please ask her. Sudin Dhavilkar has a different opinion. He claims convent schools are good. As we all know, a galaxy of eminent people from all walks of life have been educated in convent schools. Sudin has got his facts right, his sister-in-law has not. My beef with Sudin is his comment on the Sadhu who walked naked in Margao. He says he is against it because we are in the twenty-first century. Is it technology we are discussing or mindsets? Sadhus have been walking naked all over India and particularly along the holy Ganga river for millennium as they still do today. The minister's comments against our age-old tradition reveals a damaged mindset. Prior to the invasion of the Muslims our Hindu mindset was liberal and pure. The Muslims brought with them a repressed mindset and this was followed by a Victorian and Christian set of values which is full of guilt regarding our bodies, and unfortunately is a part of our cultural values today; Hindus, Christians, Muslims et al are imbued with the same mindset. As always, there are exceptions. Tell me, did the West or Islam give the world the Kama Sutra? And, our ancient erotic sculptures? We should be proud of our age-old traditions. The sadhu can walk proudly down the streets of Margao along with Digambar by his side because he is pure of heart. I applaud an ex-CM of Goa for walking the talk! It is possible only for men and women who are pure of heart. Any child, of course, can do so - until he or she loses purity of heart and becomes impure. Tailpiece: No, it is not necessary for every Indian to walk down the street naked as it would completely destroy the garment industry leaving millions without jobs. I'm against it. What we need to remember is this: only men and women who are innocent are able to do so!
