Why I support Kiss of love

If in the above picture, the nakedness offends you more than the abuse, beating, harm done to the woman. You are Part of the Problem. 

 

  I support Kiss of love

Kiss of Love protest #KissOfLove is a non-violent protest against moral policing. It started in Kerala and later spread to other parts of India.

It is as simple as that. It is against moral policing, which has nothing moral about it. It is against people who think they have a righteous high moral standing over others and that too backed by the cultural and religious values that make no sense.  These are the same people who are bystanders for everything right from an accident to someone teasing a girl or goons beating up someone, why? “It doesn’t concern us,” they say. “Why should I interfere?”, “Not my problem.” These are the same people who turn up in numbers, mind you in numbers not alone, as they don’t have an existence on their own, no thinking capacity, no individuality, no standing but in groups they can cause menace, terror, destruction, damage and even murder. For what? Because something offended them, something which they supposedly do not think is in line with their so called culture, tradition and religion.

It started because things were going out of hand. The moral policing was way beyond normal tolerance. Even the police were acting beyond their powers. The Law does not have anything about how someone dresses, where someone goes, or whether someone hugs or kisses in public. It has one word ‘obscene’ which is left for interpretation and these religious bigots made it very narrow. Hence this protest! All this is happening despite the fact that the Supreme Court of India and Delhi High Court have made it clear that kissing in public is not an obscene act and no criminal proceedings can be initiated, for kissing in public, through landmark judgments.

I am sad (not surprised) at how the media is portraying the Kiss of Love protest. It has lost its aim, and its way and is just being portrayed as something rude and against tradition and society. Not surprised because the media is falling in line with the government in power, the government with its militant religious wings let off leash the #RSS #VHP #Bajrang Dal and others.

 

#Firstpost one of the premier online news website of the country, has a headline which reads “Right issue, wrong tactic: Why Kiss of Love protests miss the mark.” It also goes on to say that All the attention is on the kiss rather than the travesty of moral policing. (Of course, that a reporter spent his time counting the kisses at a kissing-protest speaks volumes about our comfort level with the act.) This clearly shows the ownership and news, truth or a unbiased view's conflict.

 

Isn’t that the basic problem? The media is missing the point or deliberately making sure they miss it and not the protest. The protest is not missing the point. It is bang on the point. It is an expression of counter-power against the government, police and the organizations that have taken up the baton of moral policing. It is a reaction to say that this is what you think is wrong so we are doing it in public, in numbers just to tell you that this is OK. It is just an expression of love, of friendship, or care, or attachment, of emotions and nothing of nudity and obscenity.

 

It is not about kissing in public. It is about the ban, taboo, the moral policing on it, the social stigma that is attached to holding someone’s hands, hugging someone and expressing in public. About not making out in public, no one would want to make out in public, against the claims of the so called sophisticated, cultural people whose moral and ethical standings are hurt by it.

 

The whole point of this is a fight for Rights, Freedom, Equality. It’s about the Right of one person over his/her body, the clothes they wear, the time to go out, and the place they decide to go or not to go to.  It’s as simple as that. No one has the right to stop someone or abuse someone because they think it is obscene or that a girl of wearing too clothes or something. It’s about Freedom of Expression. The freedom to express their love, their affection via hugs, kisses and holding someone and not making out in public as the people who are opposing this protest and cutting it down on this issue. And it’s against Inequality, the protest is against the power the self-policing organizations think they have over others; to beat-up and abuse the so called violators of their superficial and hypocritical code.

 

It is very easy to put down the protest which people are doing and saying that all those supporting this, let your moms and sisters kiss a stranger and that is OK? And people are blindly following the west and all sorts of ludicrous and vulgar comments, while claiming the protest to be vulgar saying that the protest will give rise to increase in forced kisses, sexism, eve teasing and all. These are the people who have no idea what the protest is all about and are blinded by some crappy religious, cultural beliefs and or are the majority of the mob, mobocracy, and power in numbers. It is not following anyone, it is about the basic rights of individuals which people clearly are missing, as they want to as most of them do not know that rights are for and why are they needed for. They are just giving it a bad name for the sake of it. Even the media and many others who understand it are giving it a bad name becoming pets of the government. This is ridiculous!

 

This is where you miss it all. It is about personal relations, friendship and not random people kissing for the sake of it. The aim is to let people express their love, friendship and emotions without the barrier or law or some crazy misled male chauvinists who think they have a greater stake in the society.

 

I support this campaign for the things I have written and also anything that is against personal freedom. And something whose basis is religion and culture, opposed to basic common sense and freedom, for me this is surely worth fighting for.

 

Anand Mangnale.

A Night when Love and Hate Collide

Peter was talking to a friend and walking…walking is something which had become an integral part of his day. Today he had walked a little less compared to the last 3 days and he wasn’t too hungry so he thought he would walk to MacDonald’s  and have a roll at least as he wanted to walk some more. He was walking down the usual road, usual as in the one he had walked on for the last 3 days. It was huge with all the coffee shops and other brand outlets and more predominantly 1 shop in every 3 seemed to have an Arabic name, owned by Arabic, Iranian or Middle Eastern people in general. There were so many people sitting outside these restaurants named ‘Lebanon,' ‘Beirut.” Nearly all of them had halal written on it. He was amazed at the number of people sitting outside these restaurants and having Hookah and speaking in Arabic. When they spoke in English he realized that they were discussing America and other topics. Peter has always been aware of his surroundings and absorbing things as much as he could. And now that he was in London for the first time his senses were extra sensitive. Seeing all that made him think about how people turn any place into their own, sell their own type of food, display their own colors around their shops and homes, speak their language with their own and fit in everywhere. It was natural and felt good that humans could adapt so well! He said, 'hello' and entered the fast food outlet.

Waiting in the queue, the attendant gave him a smile of recognition as he had been going there for the last 3 days. The place wasn't great, but it was good enough for a fast food joint.  There were 3 kids having fun, abusing each other, near the counter. One was trying to get into the washroom and he thought someone was inside, but when he opened it the other guy ran inside teasing him. They were playing around. Peter ordered a roll and waited. The ‘kids’ were abusive. One of them came out and said something to a girl, she asked him what he said and he was like you are a 'fucking idiot,' as if he was talking to his friend. That girl was shocked and looked around and the guy repeated it with more disrespect. A guy intervened and asked the kid to be respectful and stop the nonsense. This was when the kid tried to punch the guy and so another guy came in and it turned into a push-pull fight.

The other bystanders who knew nothing of what was happening intervened on the kid’s behalf and tried to defend them by saying they were just kids. Seeing this, the kid shed crocodile tears, and it made the others there especially the girls come and shout at the guys who were in a fight with the kids. They were saying, 'let it go they are just kids.' The bigger guys were saying, 'that’s why they got to learn some respect. They can’t disrespect a girl.' Another guy came and said, 'at least not my girlfriend, I will not take it.' One of the guys skipped the place and called up the police. Soon the shouting increased and more and more people began getting involved. Peter was watching all this and moved a step back as he had been warned thousands of times not to get involved in anything like this. Keeping this in mind, he had to force himself from telling the girls and the people who were backing up the kids how badly they were behaving.

In all this the staff had forgotten Peter’s roll, he signaled to the staff and the waiter was like, ohh yeah, the roll. Peter took the roll and headed out, as he exited the police were already there and one of the two guys had already sensed that the police were coming and had run away. The fight was now taken out of the fast food outlet. The people outside realized that the kids were Arabs from the same area and the others were British; so all the Arab’s were interested in what had happened and again started feeling bad about what the kid had told them. The main person, a young, smart, business like guy in the suit whose girlfriend had been abused did not budge. Peter looked at him and imagined what was going on through his mind. Normally people would feel it is anger, but Peter sensed it to be love. All that was going on in the mind of the guy in the suit was love, his love for his girlfriend. The promises he had made to her, to be with her and protect her against all the harm that comes her way. It was the way she looked at him when the kids abused her. It ticked him off, he wondered how this could happen to her when he was around and how could he stand there and not do anything. Peter admired the guy who knew how to stand up for his Rights, for Justice and for Love.  

The 2-3 girls who had nothing to do with any of it were shouting on the road. When more people gathered and the police got there, they just walked off smiling, as if they had done a great job. Peter felt like giving them a hearing, but it wasn't worth it. The area being dominantly Arab, people were already shouting, the police called for backup and in few minutes another car filled with cops along with a cop van arrived along with the kids’ father and someone else with him. Soon it became visible how much power projection they could show. It was less about the fight, but in a way more about the power or numbers. In all this, Peter admired one thing; that the guy in the suit neither ran off nor was he visibly afraid of anything, though it was intimidating. He was cool and was saying the same thing that he had said earlier. It wasn’t acceptable; it did not matter if they were kids. It does not give them the right to do it and that nothing could justify what they had done.

Peter was finishing his roll watching all this. Another 30-32yr old Arab guy asked what was happening. Peter told him in brief what had happened. And he said that it was nice to see someone standing up to these kids. Peter did not get it; he asked him what he meant. The guy said he travels through this area every day and knows who these kids are. He said that they are rich spoilt brats whose family own shops, restaurants and cafes around the area. And after 11 pm these and others guys in the area stand at the corners of dark streets with knives and mug people. The police know about it but can’t do much as they are in majority here and are well connected. Of course politics and minority comes into play in this particular scenario. Peter was on the move to the hostel, as it was already late and he had to get out of this as he was getting tempted to go and take guy’s side and tell him how he admired that he had stood up to them. He was also tempted to tell the police how right the guy in the suit was. Peter was that sort of guy who admired the right thing, standing up for someone. He was a man who wouldn’t care where he was and how many people were against him and how the odds were against him when it came to his love or justice.  

As Peter left, the guy in the suit was taken inside McDonalds and sat with the police, while the number of Arabs outside increased.This Incident made Peter think of how the minority can use their presence in a majority while being in a specific area and pretend to be the victim in order to get things done for them. It’s sad that these things cut down the seriousness of true incidents of harassment and make you doubt some genuine cases of injustice. Unfortunately, that’s the way the world operates, he thought… As he left, he was not worried about what was going to happen to the guy in the suit or whether the police were going to charge him or not or if the Arabs were going to make a bigger scene and do something or just let it go. The only thing which was going on in his mind was the admiration for the guy in the suit for standing up for right and also for his Love.  Peter knew the importance of Love and being loved and was happy that it still mattered in the world.  It is said that everything we do in life is in a way to get more love….