Commentary / Dilip D'Souza

Imminent Inanity in Bangalore

One day about two years ago, a good friend of mine, a thoughtful, bright young man, told me that two young ladies had 'put India on the map.' Their achievements had got the rest of the world looking at us, he went on. India was being taken more seriously; these two women had sent our image in the world skyrocketing. So earnest was my friend, so sure of what he was saying --I could not help believing him.

I met another friend of mine a few days ago. Her parents emigrated to the USA several years ago. She was born and grew up there and has now chosen to come to India for a research project. I asked her if she had heard of either of the two women who had 'put India on the map.' She had not. So much for being taken more seriously, even if my poll sample of one is somewhat small.

And who were these two achieving ladies? Sushmita Sen, Miss Universe in 1994, and Aishwarya Rai, Miss World that same year. That year, these two lovely ladies won the world's splashiest beauty contests. It was the first time an Indian had won either crown. Perhaps it was also the first time both titles had gone to women from the same country. I don't know.

Here in India, we went through a year of celebrations and hype, typified by my friend's comment about the world taking us more seriously. If you were reading only the Indian press that year, you could be forgiven for concluding that little that was of any significance happened anywhere in 1994.

In 1996, we're going one step further. This November, India is going to actually hold the Miss World Contest itself, in Bangalore. Yes, dozens of beautiful women from all over the world will descend on India's Garden City in about a month, parading themselves before judges, showing great camaraderie in the teeth of fierce competition, smiling nonstop for the cameras that will be everywhere, offering streams of -- forgive me, my cynicism is showing -- profound inanities ('As Miss World, I will work to end my hunger -- sorry, world hunger) for our consumption.

Only, they will jet off to the Seychelles for the swimsuit competition. I am sure that as you read these words, there are tears being shed in Bangalore over that.

Swimsuits or not, the Miss World contest has produced decidedly mixed feelings across our country. Groups ranging right across the political spectrum have denounced it angrily. Other groups ranging right across the political spectrum have also welcomed it heartily. If opinion polls in major newspapers show overwhelming support for the show, there are women who have threatened to immolate themselves to stop it from happening.

All of which leaves me entirely confused.

Take what we hear from the people who are promoting the contest, those who want it to happen. They are using the same language my thoughtful friend used two years ago. Staging the Miss World show will 'put Bangalore on the map' (wasn't it there before?); it will 'show that India has arrived' (where?); it will 'build our image in the eyes of the world' (what image is that?).

What's going on here? Surely we must have other, more substantial accomplishments to shout about from our rooftops? Surely our image cannot depend on one glitzy event? But no: it's a bevy of svelte women that a lot of people believe is going to define India -- for Indians, for the world. The very idea that we think we need a Miss World contest to get the world to sit up and notice India is galling. For that reason alone, I feel like picketing the show myself.

But who are the people ranged on this side of that particular fence? And why are they there?

Professor Rajendra Singh, head of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the militant organisation that's behind the so-called Hindu revivalist movement of recent years, offered his view on this the other day. The 'parading of half-naked girls' in the Miss World contest, he said, was a 'complete violation of Indian values and culture which view the woman as a motherly figure.' People who are otherwise stridently critical of the RSS and its brethren in the Hindu fold have expressed similar views.

Make of all that what you will. But dissent is closer than Professor Singh probably bargained for. On the very same day, Bal Thackeray, head of the Shiv Sena, which also says it is the protector of Hindu culture, ridiculed those who were opposing the contest. How much that has to do with his known closeness to the organiser of the contest, I'll leave you to speculate on.

But as you see, opposition to the contest is on the hallowed grounds of 'culture.' Really, what culture are we talking about here? I don't know about motherly figures, but I do know that we view girls with a definitely jaundiced eye. They are aborted before birth, not fed as well as their brothers, not educated as well and seen as liabilities because of the pernicious dowry system. All of which helps explain why we are one of the few countries that have less women than men: at last count, abbot 927 women for every 1,000 men.

Is this unhappy fact also our culture?

Pursuing this elusive culture some more, pick nearly any popular Indian film. You'll find women in it parading about in skimpy or conveniently wet clothes. You'll find cleavage measurable by the yard, suggestive songs and dances.

We love this stuff so much that we have spawned a whole new art-form based on it: performing kids who get up on stage at parties and duplicate the dances, lip-synching the songs as they go, their parents watching proudly. We give these children prizes depending on how closely they reproduce what we've seen on screen dozens of times. This happens in India, it happens among expatriate Indians around the globe.

Is this our culture too?

What's the point? Just this: culture is not some remote ideal that's set in stone, forever immutable, forever virtuous. Culture is what's happening all around us today. It's sublime, it's vulgar, it's ordinary. It's joyous, dismaying, uplifting. It defies every definition, every straitjacket. And that's precisely why it is so powerful. If our culture encompasses the films we make and flock to see, it certainly has space for a Miss World contest. So when I hear that our culture is being threatened by the arrival of Miss World aspirants, that's galling too. For that reason alone, I feel like trying to get a ticket to the show.

Is it any wonder that I am so confused?

But in the end, I fervently wish the show would just go away somewhere else. There are two reasons for that: Neither has to do with our culture.

The first concerns the huge sums of money that will be spent on the contest. I wish the wealthy, powerful men behind it would instead spend the money in some other way that leaves a lasting, beneficial effect on the country: drinking water, health care, food, education. I realise that's probably an unpopular suggestion in an age of mobile phones and Visa power. But let me offer this thought: Imagine the effect that would have on our image in the world.

The second reason is more personal. If the contest vanishes, at least there will be a few less inanities I'll have to hear. Whether it is the 'I want to help the world's children' variety or the 'we will put Bangalore on the map' variety.