Otherwise, why would heads turn at a gay couple holding hands in the streets today? We are certainly aware of gay rights prevalent in other countries, but we refuse to accept them. Cultural tolerance is a habitual truant in our classrooms.
The liberal, vocal Indian attracts the ire of the system as easily as milk attracts flies. Case in point is the issue of banning political cartoons from the tenth grade NTSE Political Science textbooks, a few years ago. The satirical cartoons, emblematic of democracy and free speech, were meant to enliven the text for students. But they struck the wrong note with thin-skinned politicians, who came cracking their whips right away. .
The conductor of an orchestra is an important, usually plump little man in our imaginations. He gives the orchestra, if you will, a 'voice'. He guides assorted, confused notes into harmony. But what if there was a gun to his head, and he was forced to direct the instruments to play just a single note? What kind of an orchestra are we creating then, by subduing its voice? A liberal attitude goes hand-in-hand with free speech. One is incomplete without the other. .
Instead of promoting free speech until it harms, our politicians are bent upon censoring any speech that offends. Being vocal about our issues in the society is a taboo. One raises his voice, and ten rush to silence him. Our daughters have the liberty to read and write. But where does it evaporate, when it comes to choosing the appropriate age for marriage? Why is their voice still irrelevant in such an important arena? Or take the case of dowry. The reality is that it exists in the twenty- first century, like an unspoken rule. But how many of us would actually be willing to acknowledge this practice and discuss it openly, given the flak we would face in our communities, is a different question altogether. .
Fear grips the bravest of hearts. Volunteers of women-oriented NGOs tell us this tale only too well.
