A Novel Valentine's Day Protest

It is going to be a stand off this Valentine's Day and it's been a long time coming. For years, it was becoming quite a norm for certain regressive thinkers to deride any freedom enjoyed by women in India as "against the culture of the country". They tried their best to impose their Taliban-esque set of morals on us. With bully-boy tactics and tacit support of like minded people in politics and police, and a callous contempt for law and liberty, they have tried every trick in the book to suppress the youth. Somehow Valentine's Day has been singled out without fail as a day when these bullies would take to the streets and beat up young couples or bully them. Their reason? Valentine's Day is a western concept and so out of place in our society!!

This is India, the land that gave the world the Kama Sutra and Tantric Sex! Of course the youth celebrates the day, clandestinely.

However things have come to such a stage that the youth has had enough. A few days ago, in a town on the western coast called Mangalore, a few young people had gathered together in a pub. The bully boys or "moral police", as they called themselves, attacked them with sticks, stones and fists. They even slapped women, pulled their hair and called them all sorts of vile names. They justify their act by saying that they are the guardians of the country's morality - which leads the public to infer that women should not drink, smoke, or be economically independent. They should sit at home, be available for use by men, make babies and get beaten up. As a parent, I had always told my children to lie low on this day and make up for lost time later.

Things are changing. Women these days have chutzpah and the power of the internet. The resourceful Cyber Women of India have found a way to get back at the bullies! Enter a group on Face book that was founded after this incident. They call themselves the Consortium of Pub-going Loose and Forward Women and these are girls with attitude attitude. The number of members is multiplying every minute thanks to the effort of not only women, but men with an open mind too. The members are from all over the world.
Their action plan is interesting. On Valentine's Day, members from all over the country are going to mail the Chief of the Goons gifts of pink chaddis or pink panties. Collection centers have been set up all over the country to collect these panties. The Revenge of the Pink Panties has got extensive coverage in all the leading dailies and even BBC has been covering it.

A clarion call has been given to all women in the country to go to a pub and drink on Valentine's Day. If you don't drink, you can at least have a glass of juice. A strong message has been sent to the regressive goons to keep their noses out of things that do not concern them.

Cheers to the Power of the Pink Underwear!