Sanctimony, pretentious – these are terms almost every Indian can easily relate to.
Someone has correctly said that truth is always hard to bear but maybe now is the time to face the reality that we Indians are hypocrites.
We say something, we do something else, and we hope for something entirely different.
Oxymorons have never been atough for us. In fact, they are so deeply ingrained in our society and in our individual psyches, that it always comes in our way while dealing with anything.
Indian women have always bore the brunt of these hypocrisies:
•Every other day we boast of being progressive, but still cannot bear the sight of a woman consuming alcohol.
•We have always been proactive when it comes to participating in candle marches against the brutal rape cases, but that enthusiasm never comes in the way of turning a blind eye towards a girl being molested next door.
•We always blabber about equality of rights and what not, but still cannot refrain from frowning at a widow actually moving on with her life.
Not only women, men also haven’t been exempted from these eccentricities:
•We never fall back at supporting gender equality but still mocking a house husband has been a favourite job for us.
•And pity all those men who have been victims of violence or molestation, because we Indians never even consider that possibility, so unravelling it would still be a distant dream.
On one side, we remonstrate against the discrimination being done to Indians overseas, but on the other, we still associate nasty tags to our fellow countrymen.
We always talk about being unconventional but when it comes to our children’s future, it should be either Medical or Engineering.
We would never talk about sex in public but still are the 2nd most populous country in the world.
We love keeping our homes spruced up but littering on the roads, “Ah, we never even thought about it”.
We would always say, “We Indians are very loving,” but then gay marriage will still be a big nuisance for us.
And the best amongst these being, We would ostentatiously call ourselves Feminists but would never give up any of the privileges that come with being a woman.
The main cause of this is we are seeking to attain the modern standards of the west while still clinging on to the traditional values of our past. Another blunder is that we always give more importance to what others think rather than sticking to our own beliefs.
Maybe now is the time to clean up the mess that we’ve made over the years, maybe now is the time to get rid of all our double standards and maybe now is the time to take a stand: [envoke_twitter_link]Either to cling onto past traditions or completely move past conservative thoughts and beliefs[/envoke_twitter_link].