Great Indian Sexcapade

It is with amusement and concern that I have been forced to follow the brouhaha over and investigation into the MMS sex scandal. When it all began I was outraged by the boy’s “ungentlemanly” conduct but realised soon that the media perception was more of moral umbrage and sinful glee. News channels showed clippings even while condemning and suddenly the police took it up as a great challenge — after all this was a case in which they knew the names of the parties involved and also, perhaps, that the publicity could not harm them. The attention of our nation is so easily drawn to sex and sleaze that every other investigation can be brushed under the carpet. It was in everybody’s interest to make merry with these students’ sexapade.

It is interesting that the police have been so quick and willing to spend taxpayers’ money to send teams to Mumbai and Kharagpur to trace the sale of these CDs through the Internet when there is a flourishing trade in illegal CDs of all kinds including the basest of pornography which they are unwilling or unable to crack down on. Neither of these students was forced into performing anything against their wishes, nor is there any allegation of unauthorised filming so far as the media has informed us. What all this amounts to is the silliness of adolescence — all of us know of similar incidents from our school life and we should also remember that the average age of school students has increased after the adoption of 12 years in the school system.

If there is a lesson in this for us it is as a comment on the consumerist (media) culture that we seem to have embraced so wholeheartedly that tempted the two actors to see themselves as performing (private) acts for public consumption. We are all such ready and avid consumers, as this MMS has proved. Why are the police so keen on this witch-hunt when there are thousands of other pressing cases, even in the area of sexual offences like rape and sexual exploitation? Why are we giving so much attention to this pathetic attempt at enforcing law and order?

Khushwant Singh has said that we Indians are obsessed with sex even while we pose to be moral and above such “sinful acts”. The MMS episode is a wonderful gift to us, allowing us to exercise our prurient interest in sex as well as our moral superiority and outrage. At the most, the two students have abused the trust of their guardians and well wishers, and misused technology. Others have derived entertainment and profit from this. So have we all, while punishing others for it. We are so keen to arrest everyone involved in this sexapade even as we are more than willing to watch the clip or talk about it with glee. This case and investigation need to be buried immediately. What perhaps should be investigated is our interest in it.

The writer is associate professor, School of Languages, JNU