Let me feed you some excreta

Times have changed with newer forms of communication coming in and most of us are now part of some group on Whatsapp. I’m here posting a conversation on one such group where I am usually silent but then one guy had to announce that he had Dengue and the whole group rose up to provide cures. 

DM: Down with Dengue

GD: Take care DM

SL: Take care DM. Get well soon.  How is your platelet count?

DM: Platelets count is healthy @1.8l

SL: That's good news. Take care nevertheless

SS: Use goat milk. Baba ramdev advise

DM: :)                                   

DA: Take care DM they say papaya leaf juice is best to improve the count but it is very bitter

DM: :)

AR: Papaya tender leaves boiled in water is good for platelets...drink lots of water with lemon and sugar

SG: Take care DM. Wish you  a speedy  recovery

UK: Take care of your self DM.. Get well soon

UK: Dengue Prevention/Stop with Dr.Reckeweg's R88 and Eupatorium Perf-200 German Homoeopathic medicine. This is Reckweg series of homeopathic medicine. Can be taken parallel to your treatment..

DM: Thanks friends

SUK: Plz share kare ......kisi ko bhi dengue ya normal fever se platelates kam ho rahe ho to is👆 homeopathic drops ko 2-2 hrs me 3 to 4 drops plain water mei daal kar de ......2 days only ....platelates down nahi jayengi ......plz share bcz this safe for kids also 🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏

SUK: Get Well Soon DM

DM: Thanks SUK

At this point I could take it no more and so I pitched in with my made up bogus cure:

AM: There is a 100% cure for Dengue. Take one teaspoon of cow dung that is 2 days old, stir it into 300ml of cow urine, boil it for 5 mins and leave it in a copper tumbler overnight. Drink it first thing in the morning before brushing your teeth.

I thought people would get the absurdity in such untested belief but no, a conversation began. So I thought I would take it further with more sarcasm hoping they would eventually get it.

DA: AM are you serious or just joking

AM: Serious man. Why will I joke about such an issue?

DA: This probably will taste worse than papaya leaf juice

AM: Not sure about that but it works. There's this Kerala ayurveda doctor who prescribed this to a friend. He was ok in one day

DA: Then you need to publicise this on Facebook and media and write to aap I never heard of this but i know cow urine and dung works wonders i am doing organic farming and they insist only from nati cows it is not the cow but the food it eats  most nati cows only live on grass they dont need bhoosa and supplements which the modern cows are full of

AM: Yes yes.. He was told the dung has to be organic

DA: Ayurveda is much better than western medicine it is a shame that our so called hindu nationalist government is running to invite foreign pharma companies to patent and market their poison in india and not trying to market our rich heritage globally.

AM: You are absolutely right. I hope the fools realise the advancements that were made in our glorious country in the ancient past. Like our prime minister said, we had head transplantation in ancient India.. See Ganesha? We also had aeroplanes. People are fools now believing in so called modern medicine

DA: Now i dont know if your joking about the head transplant but check out this great link from sadguru about the true origin of ganesha - http://www.ishafoundation.org/blog/yoga-meditation/history-of-yoga/shivas-ganas-demented-or-celestial/

AM: Sadguru is so knowledgeable.. He knows everything. I've heard him talk about how Rudrakshas are actually tear drops of Lord Shiva. Some fools think it's the seed of a tree

At this point the conversation stopped. I am wondering if they finally got it. I think I have made my point. Every one in this country is a doctor with a ready to hand out alternative cure. The reason I put this up is to show you how easy it is to fool people in India. Any idiot who can talk with a straight face can get people to believe in them and make them do as is told. Just because someone has the ability to make nonsense sound profound, does not make it a fact.

What the hell is 'Indian' culture?

I feel compelled to write this blog after the outrage generated by the misogynistic statements made by someone as respected as Mr. Yesudas. Over the last 24 hours the social media is abuzz with the insensitive comment he made referring to how women wearing jeans is against Indian culture. 

“What should be covered must be covered. Our culture involves the beauty which should be covered. Women should not trouble others by wearing jeans. When they put on jeans, men are tempted to look beyond that (jeans). Women’s beauty lies in their modesty. They should not try to become like men. They should not force others to do unnecessary things by wearing jeans, which would give them magnetism,” - K J Yesudas

Now I could like most people who spotted the sexist comment from Yesudas, have overlooked it and walked on but I think it is time that people spoke out against it. A man of his stature holds a great deal of influence on the people and as is claimed by some sections of the press, his comments drew applause. In effect what he did was legitimise the thoughts of those who too felt women should dress in ‘a’ particular way. So what I now ask is to Yesudas and those who think like him – What is ‘Indian’ culture?

This will be the most complicated question to answer considering that we as a country are perhaps the most diverse community in the world. We have scores of religions. Within each religion we have hundreds of variations. Within each variation we have numerous regional variations. Within each regional variation we have more variations based on castes and tribes. We have no singular ‘Indian’ culture so who gets to decide what that culture is? This in itself in a mighty mountain of a road block but let’s try and assume there really is a singular Indian culture for the sake of moving forward with this argument. Also to keep this moving let’s for the moment overlook the absurd idea that we must somehow continue following our ancient culture even in today’s day and age for such a yardstick will open the Pandora’s Box where among various cultural practices we will have to go back to burning women alive on the funeral pyres of their dead husbands. So here we are in 2014 with the tiniest fraction of a population who question beliefs and the rest who just follow what is told to them. Unfortunately for the followers the ones educating them are ignorant fools themselves.

For instance, look at these pictures below:

Surely in the minds of all those cultural crusaders looking at this now, this is not Indian culture. This is immodest and is influenced by western cultures.

Mr. Yesudas, you are from the south of India and here is the truth you don’t know. The attire that you think is Indian or to be more specific, the attire you think is Keralite is in fact not the way it was till very recently in history. The reason our women started dressing that way is not because of ‘Indian’ culture but because of forced Victorian moral values. The dress that you think is Indian culture is actually the one that is western. 

Now look at these pictures below. They were shot more than a 100 years ago and this is how a section of south Indian women dressed.

Now go back to the earlier pictures of ladies in off shoulder dresses. Do they still look western to you? Do they look immodest to you? 

Well here is another shocker for your ignorant self for the majority of women were dressed as shown below.

It was only as recently as 1865 that a decree by the British Governor forced women to cover their breasts so if you really want to promote Indian culture then you will have to force our women to go topless. So please, I request you to apologise and go back to the people with this new found knowledge so that you don’t let those fools who applauded for your lousy comment feel that they were right. Firstly accept the fact that things change with time.Embrace that change for it is change that leads to progress no matter how uncomfortable you are with that change but despite that if looking at a woman dressed in jeans is stirring hormones in you then that is your problem not hers. Stay away from telling people how to dress. Close your eyes and look away if it is too much for you to handle but please shut up.

References:

Cover you breasts - British Governor

The Project Gutenberg EBook of Castes and Tribes of Southern India, by  Edgar Thurston and K. Rangachari Volume 1 of 7

The Project Gutenberg EBook of Castes and Tribes of Southern India, by  Edgar Thurston and K. Rangachari Volume 2 of 7 

The Project Gutenberg EBook of Castes and Tribes of Southern India, by  Edgar Thurston and K. Rangachari Volume 3 of 7 

The Project Gutenberg EBook of Castes and Tribes of Southern India, by  Edgar Thurston and K. Rangachari Volume 4 of 7 

The Project Gutenberg EBook of Castes and Tribes of Southern India, by  Edgar Thurston and K. Rangachari Volume 5 of 7 

The Project Gutenberg EBook of Castes and Tribes of Southern India, by  Edgar Thurston and K. Rangachari Volume 6 of 7 

The Project Gutenberg EBook of Castes and Tribes of Southern India, by  Edgar Thurston and K. Rangachari Volume 7 of 7