Two friends, one man and another a woman, both liberals of Hindu-Muslim parentage, called me up the other day with a query. They wanted to know the message of a Daler Mehndi song, the video clip of which was shown all too on the television. The number sang of knives being aimed at the heart and the refrain of Sanu kattea (we were chopped off).‘‘What’s all this about stabbing and chopping?’’ they wanted to know. Before I could launch off on a lecture on love and linguistics - they said, ‘‘It is a part of the BJP-sponsored propaganda against the Muslims.’’How’s that? I asked perplexed. They pointed out that in the refrain of the song the singer shook his hands downward with an emphasis on the chopping. This they said is a direct pointer toward circumcision and forced conversion. Now this was a bit much. After all Daler Mehndi is a simple straight guy singing on matters of the heart. How come his singing would travel so low? I offered my justification. Stabbing, chopping , churning and even killing arevery much a part of the macho love-lingo of Punjab.But my friends could see nothing but saffron. I let them talk on for it is difficult to argue from the standpoint of a member of the majority accepted in the liberal fold even though not supported by inter-religious parentage or marriage. Love affairs are no authentication. They went on to tell me that after all gestures are coloured by the times and so Daler Mehndi was giving out this message even without realizing it.Some years ago another set of liberals had got me all excited by saying Gulzar’s title song to the Hindi version of Kipling’s Jungle Book was a satire on the Bharatiya Janata Party for the song had the line chaddi pehan ke phool khila hai (a flower blossoms wearing undies). And I was swayed into asking Gulzar about it. Now it was a sad thing really for Gulzar, of Maachis fame, is a romantic island for many a middle-aged woman, including yours truly. One would rather talk to him of the moon or the night. And certainly not of chaddi of theRSS brand. And Gulzar was so shocked by this interpretation that he took some time to deny it with a big NO.This time, made wiser by experience, I decided not to take the query to the singer. But my friends insisted that Daler and the media hype that made him coincided with the saffron brotherhood of which the Akalis, representatives of the Sikhs, are a part. The great Sikh-Muslim animosity, which had mellowed down in the days of Punjab terrorism, is back to square one. One may recall that Akali Dal (Badal) sent a delegation in the masjid girao morcha of the Shiv Sena. The camp where the Shiv Sainiks lived was very tellingly named Guru Gobind Singh Nagar. More recently there was the public display of the RSS wing of the Sikhs in the Capital. The Sikhs are a minority too but a privileged one. Poor Daler! Fame and crores came to him when the predominant colour in the body politic happens to be saffron.I wish I could file away what my friends have to say under the famous ‘persecution complex’ label. Butalthough a member of the majority, I have experienced life as the second sex. I recall what it was to be teased, pushed and pinched in the bus every day on the way to college. Tired of the humiliation, I decided I would teach the next man who troubled me a good lesson. One day I felt a hand crawl up my back beneath the shawl. As it reached my shoulder, I caught it. Then I turned around to confront the offender. To my surprise the hand belonged to a poor woman labourer. She was carrying a child in one arm and seeking support with the other. So there is something common in seeing red in a poor woman’s hand or saffron in a rich man’s song.
