Liberalism or Soft Porn In Media?

If by "frank discussions on sex" you mean lecturing pre-schoolers on the proper use of a condom, I don't agree. And believe me, there are vocal people out there who feel that should be done.

Regarding Bollywood, I'd say that the industry is protected and inbred, and as a result has decayed to the point where every film has to have a scene of a woman gyrating while water pours over her body. Better-quality films are not allowed to be made by the mafia monopolies that own that industry.

We have seen the 21st century, let wait for 22nd century.

Sanjay, No condom promotion among pre school kids! I never ever mentioned nor meant that. :-)

there are multiple themes that are raised in your article Abhishek. i am picking u a few threads.

1. 'kamasutra' country, 2. the commoditization of women and female sexuality 3. some women 'leveraging' the trend (2) to make a fast buck and their '60' seconds of fame as it were.

while, only rich kings/queens could have commissioned the art we believe that sexuality or expression of it was by/for the rich and powerful.

i might disagree with that. unfortunately the documented stuff is all about or by the rich and powerful. hence some tentative hypotheses. a little deeper search, we can find folk songs expressing sexuality fairly freely. i do not know how old lavani or mujra are and they are 'sexual', some times sensous. and they do gyrate and oscillate.

i wd agree with the need to junk 'victorian' values. they never were our values. here one might want to explore the histories of three kinds of people - city dwellers, villagers and the tribal. thanks to the British, there is some documentation, some meaningless laws (based on misunderstanding of alien cultures, especially tribes and given their ethno-centricism) which give us some understanding at least about some tribes. the murias and mundas seem to have had a fairly evolved system of dating and managing the 'growth' issues of young people.

the description of female anatomy sexually or otherwise was not new. even ramayana speaks about it freely. the English translations get 'sanitized' though. of course could my mom have taught me ramayana, as it were?

Jayadeva's songs do express fairly well. i can't put a date on his songs. some research some other time :)

and about deifying 'womanhood or anyhood' i wd be scared, for every time i deified, i found feet of clay and i denounced the deity! simpler that they are human:) deification and demonization in my experience have been two sides of the same coin! i may have a queerer pitch - the moment you do not want to respect someone - what they stand for, deify them! and if possible, make a stone sculpture of them. and go on with life!

about 2., and 3., it is true. while there are repressed people out there, the repression of the creators needs to be checked too. most of them would be middle-class, urban folks. especially the ad folks.

@sanjay

i do believe, that children once they reach puberty or about to reach it, need to know about their bodies, the mysteries surrounding them, the myths - so that they can grow healthy with a healthy attitude towards sexuality and sex.

unfortunately, in India, while we push our children to learn everything from some institute or other (there are institutes which help one get into institutes which help get into institutes), we do not believe that we should also help them learn in an open way and from credible sources about 'life'. sex and sexuality are a part of life, in my view.

"we should also help them learn in an open way and from credible sources about 'life'. sex and sexuality are a part of life.."

No way, that will increse crime against women/rape/sexual abuse/eve teasing...
sorry this are not my view..

This are the view of Indian Great NGO and Law makers...

That is the reson, date sex baned.. but study show the average age of first sex is less then 17 years in India...

At last, do not underestimate today's child..

Who teach the function of Mobile phone to thier parents..Kids.
Who teach how to collect the Malika MMS - Kids.
Who teach how to play adult video game.. Kids.
Who teach what cloth he/she should wear...Kids.
Who stop the fight between mum and dad-- Kids.

List is too long...including this kid also...

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@Balaji,
The context of the write up was for the "modern times" so as to say. Hence, I couldn't detail the history of kama sutra as it is. I remember having read the history of Indian sexuality and how it "evolved". In Hinduism, the classical texts speak of sexuality by worshipping the female form and the womb.

We have female deities who represent the power and the ability to cause destruction. At the same time, it is the female representation in form of godess Saraswati associatied with learning and fine arts as the opposite of the "destructive forces".

These symbolic representations were very mich a part of our culture and never Kama Sutra.

The details, again would be out of context. There are several write ups in hindi though, about the same issue. Gita Press brings out a voluminous book on Hinduism and associated symbolisms. Interestingly, it is the "ling" that is worshipped as a symbol of the great Shiva.

Screw the Brits for causing mayhem. Congress is leaving no stone unturned to keep their legacy alive.We could do well without the legions of morons in the media too.

i wd love to join you where the brits and congress are concerned. except that i do not dig gang-bangs :)

i'd agree that the feminine principle is greatly appreciated in hinduism. and hence the female deities. just do'nt have the energy to write on the female cults and male cults and their origins. just got out of a viral attack :)

so in sankhya - the prakriti and purush - yin and yang, as the primordial entities and everything as a play between them.

i have a slight challenge in going 100% over hindu symbolism and scriptures.

some where i quoted in these portals about - sayaneshu rambha, karyeshu mantri, bhojyeshu maata and kshamaya dharitri - as a depiction of women. a pragmatic, utilitarian view i guess.

there are symbolisms galore, and multitude of myths - especially the sadhvi myths - which essentially construct women in the image of 'mens desires'. sad, but true.

the beauty of hinduism is that it captures the 'mind' and enslaves people. like most religions try to do. but hinduism is a past master at the game. the beauty is the enslaved start believing the argument of the 'master'. whether a dalit or a woman. the methodology is same.

tough to fight. what to do? we are like this only:)

anyways, i do not want to take the beauty of the symbolisms and value of myth or rituals in human existence. my only problem is with those myths, rituals and symbolisms which do not lend themselves to 'times', and try to enslave.

for dharma to be relevant, it must lend itself to 'kaala dharma'.

thanks for making me think.

and about kamasutra, i would be as proud for the 'zero' that we believe gave to the world. what elegance! i can't imagine writing in roman numerals:)

except that it sounds preposterous to try any one of them. i guess you need to be more than nadia comaneci or some other athlete!

digression;

do you notice, the indian penchant for numbers? someother time some other space.