Mitti ki kushboo . . .

Back to blogging after almost a week... thanks to some germs that kept me down for most of the weekend and the beginning of this week.

I am fully recovered now and back to my good old blogging self.

Over the last week, while lying in bed and watching SUN TV (with a few heavy antihistamines inside me), I couldn't help notice the news. There is a frenzy in Tamil Nadu over actress "Kushboo"'s comments on the Tamil woman and premarital sex !!

For those of you who are not from Tamil Nadu, or India for that matter, here is a brief glossary of terms that can rapidly bring you up to speed on the issue at hand :

India : country halfway across globe where things work differently than in United States

Tamil Nadu : A southern state where most politicians are ex-actors (they may still be acting a role even after entering politics!) or ex- movie script writers who now rile up the Tamil folk with their speeches (a.k.a dialogues) and where all actors want to become politicians. and this brings us to

Kushboo.. (literally means sweet smell) : an actress in Tamil Movies, TV serials who has been around for quite some time. Her claim to fame was that she was considered to be so ethereal that some citizens of Tamil Nadu decided to build a temple for her (literally with her statue instead of god's) in the early 1990's.

and last but not the least,

Pre-marital sex ! There will be no links provided for this section of the glossary, so the reader is recommended to go find their own web references. However, this much will be said : Kushboo has made some remark in a recent TV interview that "almost all Tamil women have had premarital sex "!!.

The response : The same people who built a temple for godess kushboo have now taken to the streets with stones and brooms and have even filed grievance cases in the Chennai High court (I kid you not folks ) !!

Mmm.. why is Kushboo's word so valuable compared to anyone else's. Why should she apologize to everyone for what she holds as a personal view. She might have had sex before marriage, and might have seen all her movie buddies have sex before marriage.. So much so, that she thinks it is an okay or normal thing to do. Why should she be dragged to court because of that. This is a general population, beating up an individual for making a "generic statement" which goes against average opinion. Where has freedom of speech gone in India ?

A lot of people say a lot of things in Tamil Nadu that used to offend me on a daily basis. I couldnt take them all to court. But what is more silly is that "Kushboo" is not some elected representative of the Tamil people, who just made a statement that goes against them. She is just an actress..

By the way, I have also been listening to ARR's music for the movie "Swades" and one of the lines in the song "Yeh Jo Des Hai Tera" (means : this land of yours )is

Mitti ki kushboo, tu kaise bulaayega ?
tu chahe kahin jaaye, tu lautke ayega !

Translation :

the sweet smell of your motherland, how can you forget ?
you can go wherever you want, but it will make you return !

and everytime I hear these words, not only do I remember the sweet smell of my motherland, but I am also painfully reminded of what is happening today with actress Kushboo..