Thursday, May 17, 2007

Where were all these chauvinists before the twentieth century?


Three great examples of what is possible when art could flourish without being threatened by VHP-type crazies:

Example 1.

Example 2.

Example 3.

6 Comments:

  1. J. Alfred Prufrock said...

    Humans have lusted and dissembled ever since the fig leaf. Live with it.

    J.A.P.

  2. gaddeswarup said...

    More such and other wonderful poems can be found in "Women Writing in India: 600 B.C. to the Present, : The Twentieth Century (Women Writing in India)" by Susie Thor and K.Lalita. See in particular Muddupalani's poems. There is a review by Anita Desai:
    http://www.nybooks.com/articles/3031
    There are some heart wrenching poems by Budhists nuns saying that they preferred the nun's life to the misery of married life. Interestingly, the earliest known (women's) poems are in Tamil from the Samgam period.

  3. gaddeswarup said...

    I do not have the book with me ( I am travelling). The earlist poems by Budhist nuns (in the collection) were in some Prakrits. Then Tamil for a long time, then Kannada, Marathi and so on. I vaguely remembered the chronology during the Khushbu controversity but am not completely certain of the details.

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  5. truti said...

    http://tinyurl.com/2n4znm

    http://tinyurl.com/3c8xne

    Interesting development at the Mahatma Gandhi University in Kottayam,

    Amid the nationwide debate on 'moral policing' on art, a group of students in a church-run college in Kerala have landed in trouble for making a short film on homosexuality.

    Four students, including the producer and director of the five-minute film as well those who acted in it, were suspended by the authorities of St Joseph's College of Communication at Changanassery in Kottayam district recently.

    While the students facing the action hold that this as an infringement on freedom of artistic expression, the college authorities said that the action was taken as the issue involved gross breach of discipline as the campus film was shot on the campus without prior permission.

    'We have nothing more to say now as the matter is before the Mahatma Gandhi University to which the college is affiliated, Fr Sebastian Punnassery, director of the college told PTI.

    According to Jeo Baby, final year student of MA, cinema and television, his film 'Secret minds' had only reflected the reality that homosexuality was present in society.

    He told PTI that the film 'is a serious movie on gay subject with only music and no dialogue. The college authorities came to know about it when the film was submitted for a campus film festival conducted by a leading film society,' he said.

    Jeo said it was not his first film as he had made works on begging in "God's own country" and it had won campus film prizes.

    In the memo issued to the students, the college authorities had held that the film had obscene scenes capable of misleading young minds.

    M G University sources said the appeal of the students seeking revocation of their suspension would be considered by the vice-chancellor later this month.


    JAP how come you miss the taaza khabar?

  6. barbarindian said...

    Another one:

    Young couples sitting near the 14th century Jama Masjid at Ferozeshah Kotla in the Capital were roughed by Muslim activists for allegedly indulging in "obscene acts".