Thousands of Indians,many fuming over a recent assault on women in a Mangalore pub,are vowing to fill bars on Valentine's Day and send cartons of pink panties to Sri Ram Sene that has branded outgoing females immoral. A consortium of pub-going,loose and forward women,founded by four women on social networking website Facebook has,in a matter of days,attracted more than 25,000 members with over 2,000 posts about the self-appointed moral police. The women said their mission was to go bar-hopping on February 14 and send hundreds of pink knickers to Sri Ram Sene,that has said pubs are for men,and that women should stay at home and cook for their husbands. Collection centres have sprung up in several cities,with volunteers calling for bright pink old-fashioned knickers as gifts to the Sri Ram Sene as a mark of defiance. "Girl power! Go girls,go. Show Ram Sene who's the boss," reads one post on Facebook from Larkins Dsouza. There is a separate campaign to Walk to the nearest pub and buy a drink and raise a toast,that has found supporters from Toronto to Bangkok to Sydney,with even teetotallers saying they will get a drink on Saturday to show solidarity. "Though I don't promote smoking or drinking for both sexes,we definitely don't need hooligans telling us what to do and what not. Best of luck!",reads one post from Iftehar Ahsan. There are more heated discussion threads as well that range from the limits of independence to religion and politics,reflecting the struggle facing a country that has long battled to balance its deep-rooted traditions with rapid modernisation. Not to be outdone,the Sri Ram Sene,which has cautioned shops and pubs in Karnataka against marking Valentine's Day,has promised to gift pink saris to women and marry off canoodling couples to make them respectable.
