Growing City

The arrest of two women in the city on charges of soliciting `customers' did not raise many eyebrows, let alone a storm in the teacup. Th...

The arrest of two women in the city on charges of soliciting `customers’ did not raise many eyebrows, let alone a storm in the teacup. This reaction, from Chandigarh — a town full of educated, thinking masses, who pride themselves on family values and on bringing up their kids with the just right blend of modernism and Indianness — does call for some serious thought.

But more than that, we need to ponder over the reasons that forced the women into this `profession’. As per the reports, both women were in need of financial help, which they were not receiving from their respective families, and to save face in society, they opted for a way that offered easy money: by offering one’s body for use by killing the voice within.

What is important is that these women had been leading normal lives otherwise, mixing with the likes of us, as neighhbours, friends and acquaintances and this is the need which propelled them on to the path of prostitution. How?

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For all our rhetoric of cohesive Indian society that assimilates all, we have, in reality, become a fragmented society, torn into little pieces called individuals, with no collective support worth the name for anyone whose family cannot support him or her. In our mad race to keep up with the Joneses, and to save face in a society maddened by the consumerist frenzy, we have no place for values, for sensitivity, for support — we can only compete, with our neighbours, with friends, with relatives. We have no place, no respect for those who cannot flaunt or afford the lifestyle that we pursue.

The noveau riche culture which has percolated down to the lowest levels of society has place only for those who have money. How you obtain that money is of no relevance: as long as your dark deeds don’t come out in the open, when it becomes necessary to shun your company.

For all our voluble display of affection in public, in our hearts, we know the truth: each one of us has only himself or herself to depend upon. A family cannot even count upon its own members’ support in times of need. We all know the criterion of respect: you will be treated according to the car you drive in, a Mercedes obviously gets more respect than a Maruti. And yet we have to live in a society where on the surface, all is hunky-dory and everybody loves everybody.

It is this dichotomy that is cutting into the roots of our social fabric, making us take the easy way out: it’s difficult to gain respect as a school teacher working sincerely but it’s easier to have friends for the asking when you’re a housewife with loads of money, whose source only you know.

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As long as we perpetuate this social system, we can go on with our lives without a thought for those women or the vicious cycle of which we are as much a part as they, only we happen to be luckier. But why do we need to bother, let someone else do the thinking. Let’s just worry about making more money. That’s all that counts after all, isn’t it?

The writer is working as a sub-editor with The Indian Express.

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