“Dhoom pichak” literally happened at IIT Bombay fest,“MOOD INDIGO” this year. Many people enthusiastically attended Mood Indigo to revive their fond memories of the early 2000’s when Maeri & Dhoom Pichak Dhoom by Dr. Palash Sen echoed in the minds of every individual.
Nobody anticipated that years later “ROTI” would be in more controversial for him than his work!
Confused?
Let’s take an insight into what actually happened at IIT-B that sparked such an outrage.
This is an excerpt from Arpita Phukan Bishwas’s blog, who is a research student at IIT-B. According to the blog, Palash Sen while performing at the fest said that women are the most beautiful “creatures” in the world while men are more ” intelligent”. He also added that IIT guys will find better looking girls outside who will make “ROTIS” for them, if they don’t find enough beautiful girls on the campus. He also reportedly advised women to become as intelligent as boys to come to IIT. She claimed his remarks to be “sexist” and were intended to malign the image of women. She demanded a public apology from Euphoria & the organizers of Mood Indigo. She also urged that Euphoria should be banned from IIT-B’s campus and requested other educational institutions to do the same.
Within hours of the controversy, social networking sites were ablaze with furious comments and Palash Sen was termed as “SEXIST” and “MISOGYNOUS “ It shouldn’t be a surprise for us if anybody alleges him to be a “RAPIST “too…. ALAS! This also gave an opportunity to our much acclaimed “feminists” and ” women activists” to have an issue to debate on and gain publicity. To this, “Mr. misinterpreted Sen” had lots to say in his defence.
- He more or less agreed with the blog but claimed his comments have been misconstrued.
- He added that he is an entertainer and not an activist. He cannot always speak in a politically correct language.
- He insisted that some portions of the blog are incorrect.
- He clarified that he wasn’t referring to a woman’s physical beauty.
- He stated that the blog made an incomplete statement and he had said that women will make rotis for men and men will massage their feet.
- Not denying his “men are more intelligent” statement, he said he wanted to encourage women in India to study more and get into IITs and he completely believes in gender equality.
- He apologized to a girl who came backdoor after being offended by his “sexist remarks” justifying that his intentions were not to hurt anybody’s sentiments.
- He even asked Arpita to meet him personally so that he could apologize to her but in vain.
The most disturbing element in this entire “baseless” controversy is that youth fails to differentiate between SEXISM AND HARMLESS HUMOR. How can his comments be sexist when most of his songs are based on women shown in a glorified way? Maeri would always remind one of his mother. It is strange that people are saying things like “misogynous”, “insane”,”retard” without even knowing the person.
True, his comments may have seemed awkward, but such a hue and cry for a trifle issue like this was uncalled for. AN EPITOME OF OUR COUNTRY’S MOB MENTALITY INDEED! It is also a reflection of the fact that women are very “fussy” and are always ready to get offended. Guys don’t find it offensive when someone says “jhoru ka ghulam” ,“men are dogs”, “all men are the same”…and so on. Then why so much hue and cry by women? Instead his statement should have been a motivating factor for them.
It is a fact that there are hardly any girl in IITs. Instead of creating such an uproar about absolutely nothing they should have channelized their energies in working hard. It is an example of sheer exaggeration which led to a possible dent in euphoria’s future. Euphoria is actually facing the music now. If such jokes were to be taken seriously then Sardars would have definitely formed their own country, Bengalis would never have spoken to Hindi speaking people and Tamils would not have allowed access to any Hindi speaking native in their state…just to name a few. Indians have turned from “insensitive” to “hypersensitive”. Apparently Palash Sen was pretty right when he said that he chose the wrong country to express his opinion. How far is it justified for IIT-B to ban Euphoria, even without a notice? It is actually a question on our “right to freedom of speech and expression” and our so called “Democracy”.
