Satyameva Jayate-1, 2 & 3

Thanks to Aamir for his wonderful show "Satyameva Jayate" (SJ). The show awoke the blogger in me after so many months of dormancy. The show is simple and to-the-point. I am not expecting it to be a big changer of "Indian Attitude". However, if it brings change in even one individual per episode, I think, the purpose is at least half served. I suggest Aamir should have the tagline of the show as "Re-discovery of India". The show reflects on the horrible attitudes we, Indians, accept, ignore and rationalize in the name of traditions or rather "largely accepted" societal norms. This helps many to rediscover, who we are, as a nation.

The first show covered the topic "Female Feticide" that is rampant in India. The insights and statistics given in the show reflect the kind of attitude Indians have towards women. And, in a larger context what kind of an arrogant crowd we are. 

I could not get a chance for the past two weeks to finish this off. So, I have decided to write about three episodes together.

The three episodes were focused on the "weaker" sections of our society- Women and Children. I remember, there was a saying (or some leader said that) which means that a society is really civilized if the weak in the society are not exploited. By those terms, we (Indians) are far from being civilized.

My Insights after watching the three episodes:

1. The first and the third episode, deal with how we treat our women. Whenever someone talks of "culture" in India, it is mostly related to oppression of women. Men, somehow, are born superior.
2. The Indian Psyche itself is democratic in nature. It is "For" the people "by" the people and "of " the people. Most of them actually live by these principles literally. They live, their lives for others, do things approved by others and their actions , decisions and whole life is "of" others. This nature of ours has a terrible impact on how we bring up our children. This is one major cause for child sexual abuse in India or rather for any atrocity, like, the well-accepted dowry system, domestic violence etc. Any practice accepted by the majority makes a mad-thing into a serious custom.
3. I am not sure whether any of us actually remember the aspects of being human. We kill our own kind, we exploit our own kind (rather tender ones), we have brutal instincts, and in what way are we different from any of the wild beings?
4. Indians live in a constant state of denial. And this denial takes different forms. It helps us to rationalize our deeds or misdeeds. The attitudes of , "It is OK as long as it does not happen to me". "It is OK as long as the other person is suffering" " It is bad only if others do it" etc. , is rampant and appreciated.
5. Education- largely misunderstood word in Indian context. Earning a degree is considered education and "trivial" things like building a positive character, become a socially conscious citizen are not considered to be part of this Education. And, no one cares. All the three episodes show that all these crimes are mostly committed by the educated lot. What a joke? How many educated are really Educated? I think, we better start calling them degree-holders. As everything is done in India, even Education is also part of those umpteen status symbols like car, refrigerator, TV etc. 

There are many things that crossed my mind, jotted a few and will jot down as we sail through coming episodes of SJ.