Kiss and tell

There is nothing quite as tyrannical as the tyranny of a small mind. It can colour the most innocent of situations in the most lurid of hues, it can spin controversies out of thin air and transmogrify an innocuous show of affection into a nation8217;s shame. It can, in short, transport a world on the brink of the 21st century right back to the Middle Ages. There are no two ways about it. The controversy over the grandfatherly peck that noted author Khushwant Singh planted on the cheek of the daughter of Pakistan High Commissioner Ashraf Jehangir Qazi is not just irrelevant, unnecessary and downright silly, it is symptomatic of a sick attitude. As Khushwant Singh himself pointed out, his friendship with the Qazi family goes back at least a generation. If his harmless greeting has resulted in leading Pakistan to 8220;lower its head in shame8221;, as a section of the Pakistan press seems to make out, all that can be said is that the country8217;s self-esteem seems to be an extremely fragile construct.

Qazi was quite rightlyincensed over what he characterised as a 8220;shameful interpretation of an innocent gesture8221;. Unfortunately for him, his government, instead of rising to the defence of its envoy and treating this storm in a salon with the contempt it deserved, preferred to kowtow to the Talibanised sentiments of the country8217;s provincial press and ask the poor High Commissioner to explain why he had exposed the country to such an embarrassment by allowing his family to attend Singh8217;s book launch function. This is not the first time that an ugly spin has been given, almost deliberately, to innocuous socialising between Pakistanis and Indians. Some years ago, the affectionate greeting that a senior Indian journalist had accorded the wife of a Pakistan envoy, a gesture that was also recorded in a newspaper photograph, was blown out of context and the chattering and nattering over the issue went on for weeks on end. Such puritanism constitutes rank hypocrisy. It seems that the two nations are more comfortable exchanging artilleryfire than the harmless gestures of social discourse.

In case there are any in India who feel tempted to act superior about this country8217;s liberal credentials in these matters, they would do well to hold their smirks. There have been innumerable instances when the moral police in India went apoplectic over similar 8220;affronts8221; to 8220;national pride8221;. When filmstar Padmini Kolhapure, still in her giddy-headed teens, grabbed a clearly fazed Prince Charles and kissed him for the camera, the land of the Kama Sutra debated for hours on end on the scandal of it all. A few years later, when the grand old man of the anti-apartheid struggle, Nelson Mandela, affectionately greeted Shabana Azmi, who happened to be sharing a podium with him, with a kiss, he almost upset this country8217;s sense of national honour. This obsession with kisses seems to be something of a subcontinental passion. It is truly amazing how India and Pakistan can stomach all manner of ghastly crime against women in their respective countries, whetherit be desertion or harassment or rape, yet get so indignant over such a frivolous issue as a social kiss.